Altoids has a pretty wide variety of flavors and their newest innovation (from late 2006) is offering their most popular mint flavors covered in dark chocolate. This summer Wrigley’s has not only brought out a new mint flavor, Creme de Menthe, they also offer it in the Altoids Dark Chocolate Dipped Mints format.
The dark brown tin with gold and green accents looks rich and inviting. It was easy to spot on the rack at the checkout at Safeway when I was up in the Bay Area and I was lucky enough to catch them on sale, too, at only $1.50 for the package.
The tin design has been revised a bit in the past year. (Here’s the old and here’s the new.) Inside is a kraft brown waxed paper liner.
The dark chocolate covered mints don’t look like much and look identical to the previous varieties. They smell, well, minty and chocolatey.
I prefer crunching mine. The chocolate cleaves off pretty easily and the mint inside has a satisfying crunch. But the chocolate is pretty good too, though tastes more of mint than chocolate, it’s creamy and has a buttery melt and dry finish.
I can’t quite peg what Creme de Menthe is in the first place, so all I can say is that this variety is for people who would like Altoids but find them too strong.
These are like eating a hardened Junior Mint. The dark chocolate complements the mellow mint well, the mint lingers and feels fresh and cool longer after it’s gone.
I ate the whole tin. While the curiously strong Peppermint variety keeps me from eating more than, say, eight or ten in one sitting, it took me only two sessions to eat this whole package. But of course the package only holds 1.76 ounces, so it wasn’t a huge binge. And my breath smells pretty good now. I think I might prefer the softer bite of something like Junior Mints, Dutch Mints or York Peppermint Patties, but I have to say that the crunch was different enough that these aren’t quite interchangeable. (But they are more expensive.)
As with all the traditional Altoids mints, these have gelatin in them and are unsuitable for vegetarians.
Related Candies
- Altoids Chocolate Dipped Ginger Mints
- York Mints
- Junior Mints - Heart Shaped
- Chocolate Dipped Altoids
- Jelly Belly - Full Line
- York Pinkermint Patties
Name: |
Altoids Dark Chocolate Dipped Mints - Creme de Menthe |
RATING:
- SUPERB
- YUMMY
- TASTY
- WORTH IT
- TEMPTING
- PLEASANT
- BENIGN
- UNAPPEALING
- APPALLING
- INEDIBLE
|
Brand: |
Wrigley's (now Mars) |
Place Purchased: |
Safeway (Oakland) |
Price: |
$1.50 (on sale) |
Size: |
1.76 ounces |
Calories per ounce: |
152 |
Categories: |
Chocolate, Chalk, Mint, United States, Wrigley's |
I always pass on the chocolate-covered Altoids because I’m worried that the curiously strong mints will curiously overpower the curiously dark flavor of curiousity. buh…I mean chocolate.
Gah. I’m all curious-ed OUT.
::ga-DUNK!::
p.s. so, flavor-wise, these are more of a thumbs-up than the Junior Mints? as much as I like my Junior Mints I hate how syrupy, throat-tinglingly sweet they get after half a handful. just the right amount of sweetness? not too cloying?
I’m a pretty big mint lover but I hate Altoids,I guess they are too strong for me
and I don’t like Andes mints either, creme de menthe always makes me think of them
As soon as I read this review, I went to Ralphs during my lunch break and purchased these. These are awesome! I like Altoids but they can be kind of strong. But these are perfect! Yummy chocolate and yummy mint! It really is like a hard Junior Mint-but better quality and less sweet. My mouth in minty fresh!
Oh I WANT!!!!
I tried these recently and I very much like them as well, but I also did like the original ones. I just hope they don’t come out with yogurt covered mints.
Aliiice - yes that it! They’re not a burningly sweet as Junior Mints. I still like both for different reasons - JM are just mellower (and of course a fraction fo the price).
Marvo - if they do come out with yogurt versions I’ll leave that to you to review (along with the Eel Soda).
i once at a whole tin of altoids on a flight from here to los angeles. the curiously strong minty-ness starts to reek out of your pores, and your breath is fantastic. however, the next day, my breath was evil! i hope the same thing doesn’t happen with these.
These definitely carry less of a kick than plain old peppermint Altoids, but they are still pretty powerful. I couldn’t eat more than two. I still have to give the thumbs up to ginger as the best Altoids flavor, but I wouldn’t turn up my nose at these if they were offered to me.
=O
I can’t believe I just found this blog, it makes me so happy. *loves candy*
By the way, vegetarians can eat gelatin; vegans cannot.
These new Dark Chocolate Creme de Menthe Altoids are the bomb, the best. I would say, yes, they are for those of us who cannot handle the full Altoids punch. Keep ‘em comin’
I could tell that there was a difference between the Creme De Menthe and the Peppermint Altoids, but I wasn’t quite sure what it was. I gave a Creme De Menthe Altoid to a friend, and she had an answer right away: The CDM altoids start out tasting like those mints they have at weddings, but after a minute or so, they taste the same as the Peppermint Altoids.
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