(click to enlarge)
Sometimes new ideas are so obvious you wonder why they weren’t thought of earlier. Altoids, the curiously strong mint, covered with dark chocolate – it’s one of those things that should have been done a long time ago. Despite the fact that these don’t officially hit stores until December, the gang at Altoids sent me two tins of each flavor so I could get a sneak peek at what’s to come and share my thoughts on them.
The tins they come in are the same size and shape of their naked brethren but with a dark chocolate color to them and the tins say things like “curiously chocolate” and “a curious and original chocolate experience”. Each one is generously dipped in dark chocolate making them look like small Junior Mints. There is a noticeable seam all around the circumference of the mint (barely visible in the above pic) which must be due to the way they dip them.
When I got the package opened, I went straight for the cinnamon, my favorite Altoids flavor. The chocolate works surprisingly well with the cinnamon. The chocolate looks and tastes just like the chocolate on a Junior Mint and is nice and sweet and tastes great. You can suck on them for a minute and melt all the chocolate off and you are left with a plain Altoid or you can just chew it up right away – both ways deliver great taste.
I tried the peppermint next and it was even better than the cinnamon. It’s like a crunchy Junior Mint. I found myself just crunching them up immediately and reaching for another. Great stuff. Here’s my prediction: within a year or so we will see individually wrapped Chocolate-Dipped Peppermint Altoids mints used as after-dinner mints at high-end restaurants. You heard it here first. If Altoids isn’t already working on this, they should get to work.
As for the Ginger, I had my first plain Ginger Altoids yesterday and hated it. Call me a wimp, call me what you will, but those are rough. I didn’t think covering them in chocolate would help, but I gave it a try. Nope. Not good. I had to eat some of the Cinnamon and Peppermint ones afterward to get that ginger taste out of my mouth. If you already like Ginger Altoids, you might like the chocolate-dipped ones, otherwise, I would steer clear.
The Peppermint and Cinnamon ones are great though. Look for them in stores soon.
I can\’t wait to try these. Is the chocolate a pretty good quality? Also, are they the suger free smalls Altoids or with sugar?
RESPONSE: They are regular sized Altoids with sugar.
November 16th, 2006 at 11:44 pm–Brian
Those look amazingly good.
November 17th, 2006 at 6:16 pmI got a tin of the dark chocolate-coated ones tonight and they really are tasty!!! :9 The dark chocolate melts on your tongue nicely and inside is the pure, unaltered fresh “curiously strong” mint! They would be perfect for after dinner if you were too full to have dessert. You get your yummy chocolate, and freshen your breath at the same time! ^_^v
December 4th, 2006 at 11:48 pmI just heard about them from a happenstance search on the Make: blog and did a Google search on them. They sound absolutely delicious–if I see any in stores I’ll be sure to pick up a box. Unless some of you have an extra one you’d like to share? :)
December 12th, 2006 at 3:46 pm[...] That’s right… Chocolate-covered Altoids have come to the rescue! I can’t stop, it’s like chocolate-covered coffee beans — only.. uhm, without the caffeine.. and.. minty. [...]
December 25th, 2006 at 3:20 pmYou have got to be kidding. This stuff is crap. If this is chocolate why doesn’t it melt. I think this is chocolate candle wax.
January 1st, 2007 at 3:16 pmlearn to read goober… the main ingredient is cocoa… 50% cocoa.
January 2nd, 2007 at 12:36 pmI’ll have to agree with what Heather said. My favorite of the three is the cinnamon, then the ginger, then the peppermint.
January 4th, 2007 at 8:19 pmMy Husband, who is a truck driver, recently bought me a tin of the Altoids Chocolate Dipped Peppermints. I couldn’t agree more that they should have done this a LONG time ago. They are just like little crunchy Junior Mints, and you can’t eat just one! I hope they do market them bigger and indivuadly wrapped, I would buy them…
January 6th, 2007 at 4:57 pmGinger? I don’t think that sounds good at all… but, I’ll be trying the Cinnamon flavored as soon as I find some locally.
Sounds like these could be eaten just like candy. Treats for the movie theater perhaps?
January 11th, 2007 at 2:14 pm[...] http://candyaddict.com/blog/2006/11/16/candy-review-altoids-dark-chocolate-dipped-mints/ [...]
March 16th, 2007 at 9:59 pmI think the ginger ones are delicious! they definitely cannot be appreciated if you just eat one. After eating 3, i realized that these are unlike any other candy out there and are absolutely wonderful! I have tostop myself from eatin a tin, each time i open it.
March 29th, 2007 at 10:29 pmI picked these up at the store a few days ago and I’ve been munching them pretty hard. Hands down my new favorite breathe freshener.
April 16th, 2007 at 5:09 pmWHERE CAN I FIND CHOCOLATE COVERED ALTOIDS IN THE DENVER AREA? ANY ONE OUT THERE IN THE LISTENING AUDIENCE WHO CAN HELP ME WOULD BE MUCH APPRECIATED!!! I HAVE TRIED WAL-MART ,TARGET, LOCAL GROCERY STORES. CANNOT GO THE AMAZON OR E-BAY ROUTE. NEED A NEW CANDY FIX. TIRED OF THE SAME OLD STUFF. THANKS- FELLOW ADDICTS!!
May 10th, 2007 at 4:23 pmI would like for one of these so called boxes of chocolate, dark chocolate mints would be sent to me for free. I need mints, for i was once the mint champion of all Eastern Australia and i would really fancy some free mints sent to my home. If anyone has any beef with my love for mints contact me at Becoming_Leviathan@hotmail.com
… Becoming_Leviathan.
May 11th, 2007 at 1:09 amI picked up a tin of the choc-covered Cinnamon Altoids in Chicago and loved them. Anybody know where I can get them in New York City?
August 3rd, 2007 at 2:41 pmJim – I picked up a couple of tins from the drugstore on the corner of 2nd and 90th/91st… it’s one of the chains but cant remember which one. Either way – they’re at almost all the major chain stores.
August 7th, 2007 at 5:02 pmI just went to the kitchen in our office. There on the table were three individual packets of these dark chocolate mints that somebody left there. I thought, dark chocolate is supposed to be good for you, I’ll try one packet. Each packet had three mints in it. I’m glad that I took all three packets back to my desk cause I wolfed them down one after the other. They are fantastic! I won’t have to think twice if I want to buy them.
August 13th, 2007 at 1:29 pmi Love the chocolate covered altoids. they are a great little bit of chocolate (and have few calories if you are watching them). reminds me of my high school days and the altoid eating contests we had in class-if only they were chocolate covered then!
August 30th, 2007 at 10:31 amI have found the chocolate covered ginger to be my favorite. Once I start a box, it does not last long. I have not seen the plain ginger where I live.
November 6th, 2007 at 11:04 pmThe cinnamon is pretty good too~
UGH! these things made me sick, i cant even look at them! but i blame only myself for i ate a whole tin in under an hour lol
November 7th, 2007 at 4:47 pmMy favorite is the chocolate cinnamon. A close second is the chocolate ginger which sneaks up on you nicely and is perfect after Chinese dinner. I’ve tasted the chocolate peppermint but I’ll skip on those, it just isn’t the sort of mint flavor I like – you can have mine!
December 1st, 2008 at 10:30 am