Starbucks, the candy Say hello to Starbucks chocolates, but don't say hello to them at Starbucks. In one of the more peculiar marketing arrangements, Starbucks chocolates are sold at supermarkets and drugstores, but not at Starbucks. They're certainly pricey enough to be sold at the coffee shops: The current selection is 2.64-ounce collections of 16 tasting squares (milk, dark and mocha dark chocolate assortment; or chai, passion and citron chocolate-tea assortment), 4.2-ounce bags of 10 chai, mocha, vanilla or espresso truffles, and 3.5-ounce bags of chocolate-covered coffee beans, each with a suggested price of $4.99 to $5.49, and 3-ounce chocolate bars (milk, dark and mocha dark) with a suggested price of $2.99. (Yes, the tasting squares cost about twice as much per ounce as the bars.)
According to the labels, all are "manufactured for Artisan Confections Company," which is Hershey's upscale subsidiary, but it's not clear who actually produces them. (Serious chocolatemakers Scharffen Berger, Dagoba and Joseph Schmidt all are divisions of Artisan.)
International darkness Everybody's climbing onto the dark-chocolate wagon, including Kraft's General Foods International Hot Beverages (which used to be General Foods International Coffees, but there are several flavors with no coffee). Complementing Suisse Mocha ("the flavors of delicious milk chocolate and rich, creamy coffee swirled together") there's now Dark Mayan Chocolate ("decadent dark cocoa swirled together with rich, creamy coffee and a hint of cinnamon flavor"). Mayans haven't been a nation for some time now, but apparently Kraft doesn't want to take "international" out of the name, too.
And pudding darkness On the same point, Mr. Tidbit notes that dark chocolate and dark chocolate raspberry are among the new flavors of Kraft's Jell-O sugar-free refrigerated pudding snacks, but he must say they are perhaps darker in color than in flavor. And one of the flavors of Kraft's new South Beach Living brand of sugar-free refrigerated pudding snacks is dark chocolate vanilla marble. Mr. Tidbit liked that one better than the Jell-O brand's dark chocolate, but it costs 50 percent more.
