Tirol Chocolate – Coffee Jelly
Why do I do this to myself? I don’t drink coffee, nor do I enjoy the flavour profile. Yet here I am with a full bag of seven coffee flavoured chocolate pieces. I can’t tell you I’m going to be the best judge of whether these are good, but I will damn well try my best.
I feel like I just opened a can of wake-up-juice. While I don’t enjoy coffee, something about the smell is very enticing and appetizing. Coffee is definitely one of those things I enjoy smelling than consuming. Unless it’s coming out of someone’s mouth. Although I wouldn’t want to “consume” someone’s coffee breathe…if that were even possible. I get that caffeine is a powerful substance, but do people really enjoy it for the taste alone? I’m not talking about those ridiculous flavoured coffees or the drinks that have so much cream and sugar that they’re basically just a milk dessert. I have to be in the minority on this though, since like black jujubes, it’s a huge industry and they wouldn’t be popular if people didn’t enjoy it.
If coffee flavour is what you’re looking for, this has it in spades. Much to my chagrin. If there’s other flavours in this, I certainly can’t tell. Coffee as a flavour I find, is very overpowering, so coffee fans can rejoice at this. If you don’t like coffee, well you might still kind of enjoy this. It really comes back to the idea of coffee. Unlike actual coffee that is very acidic and bitter depending on how you drink it, this is mostly just the aroma or “essence” of coffee and is more what you’d expect from a coffee flavoured chocolate or ice cream. Just the pleasant notes for the most part. That being said, I’m still not crazy about it because even the essence of coffee is not to my liking. If it was paired with something, maybe my opinion would change.
So the texture of the jelly in the centre is not quite what I was expecting. It isn’t as chewy or firm as mochi versions, but it’s also not liquid or gel like. It’s somewhere in between that is reminiscent of their standard coffee flavour but not as sticky. It’s got an almost firm-ish, caramel consistency to the centre. Unlike a real caramel though, there’s probably more gelatin in this as it doesn’t seem to stick to the teeth – something which I can appreciate. Well, not as much as a caramel but still maybe slightly. I’m not sure what it is about this, but I actually enjoy the original coffee flavour more. The filling is much stickier than this, but I kind of like the caramel like filling as opposed to this more jelly filling. I can kind of see why the standard coffee flavour is so popular.
The good thing about these is there’s really no ambiguity to whether you would enjoy this or not. If you like coffee or the flavour of coffee, this leans in 100% into that. If not, steer clear. It’s simple as that. A wise man once said that you have to experience a many number of things you don’t enjoy to know what you truly appreciate. Personally, this is one of the flavours I can cross off my list to get closer to what I like through process of elimination.
