Starbucks has a very small test running of a few sweet snacks.  I found them at the same Starbucks store where I found the test automated coffee brewer.   In fact, in the photo from that previous blog article, you can kind of see the test snacks sitting on the counter, adjacent to the pastry case.  The three test snacks were Mango Morsels Drenched in Dark Chocolate made by TCHO Chocolates; Caramelized Graham Crackers made by Kika’s Treats; and lastly, Sea Salt Caramels by Liddabit Sweets.

Would any of those three items appeal to you?

I think Starbucks can do no wrong by partnering with TCHO Chocolates.  They are truly a premier and gourmet chocolatier, and they produce delicious sweets.  Starbucks has offered chocolates made by TCHO in the past, as seen in the photo for this previous blog post about Verona coffee.  Of the three snacks here, the TCHO Chocolates were the clear winner.  The mango morsels taste wonderful, and the dark chocolate was just the right amount of sweetness.  This was sooo good!  Please beloved Starbucks, throw your arms open wide to TCHO Chocolates.

The caramelized graham crackers weren’t terrible, but they had an odd texture to them.  I expect graham crackers to have a crisp ‘snap’ to them, and these were a bit too soft, and they weren’t quite sweet enough for me either.  I didn’t like the sea salt by Liddabit Sweets.  I’m not sure what Starbucks was thinking.  They were gooey to eat.  They weren’t even very salty.  I browsed the Liddabit Sweets webpage and saw a number of delicious looking treats, but I don’t think this item is their finest.  Of course, taste is highly subjective.

I definitely feel like each and every time that I write about a ‘test’ item, I need to remind my readers that Starbucks tests a gazillion things, and most never launch nation-wide in stores.  To browse more articles about test items, click here.  Starbucks has tested everything from the Honey Vanilla Vivanno, to Refreshers, to the Apple Crumble Frappuccino, to digital menu-boards.

Would you buy or want any of these three items?

(I apologize for the pace of articles lately at this blog.  Somehow I’ve just had a lot to write about.)