Dean's Sweets - Truffles, Buttercreams, and Bars (Assorted)

So, I heard about this nut-free choco operation (running out of Portland, ME) after my disappointing experience with those tofu-filled chocos. I picked a variety of flavors, and got a variety of tastes! Overall it seems like a good quality place (though pricey, of course).

Milk Chocolate Truffle: Great. Basically what you'd want, what you'd expect. Milky, firm outside, and smooth creamy inside. 8/10.

Blueberry Truffle: Sounded interesting, but this wasn't for me. Dark choco exterior, with a very ... tangy? bitter? blueberry inside. Reminds me of the blueberry Seth Ellis truffle, which is good quality but also wasn't for me. I think these bitter fruit flavor truffles are just not my bag, but it seemed to be along the lines of a standard blueberry truffle, so if you like them then you'd like this. For me, 4/10.

Salted Caramel: I think it's my favorite, possibly just because I really like caramel. It's quite good. A lot of salt flavor, and a thick caramel which is very sweet. Dense stuff! 8/10

Brandy Truffle: This one was just average. It wasn't too bitter like the blueberry, but it wasn't amazingly smooth either. If you really like brandy, maybe it is a good choice. I enjoyed it, but wouldn't get it again since there are much better flavors. Actually, the more I eat them, the more I like it, so I might need to rethink this. It's pretty good. 7/10

Champagne Truffle: I think I like this flavor extra much because the inside ganache is based on white choco, not dark choco. The outside is a nice dark choco, the inside is a sweet, mild white choco. It's not really fizzy or particularly champagney - maybe more like an Irish Creme? - but I'm a fan! 8/10

Coffee Truffle: Though I adore coffee and truffle, this wasn't my favorite. The inside is very strong, but not necessarily in a coffee tasting way. A lot of dark chocolate kind of flavor. 5/10

Dark & Stormy Truffle: Wow! Unlike Champagne/Coffee, this really did taste like its namesake drink.   A strong gingery flavor and I guess a bit of rum too. A fun experience, mid tier for me. 7/10

Maple Truffle: This is dark chocolate with....what looks like peanut butter inside?! Egads! I know it isn't, but it has that color, which is creepy. Unlike the other buttercreams, it doesn't really have a white chocolate taste; just what I'd call "creamy maple". I really love the texture of it, but I don't know if maple is a flavor I like very much in general. 6/10

Vanilla Buttercream – Milk : Dude, this was so good! Milk chocolate with little white sprinkles on top, with an eggy/marshmallowy textured "buttercream" inside which was just generic fluffy sweet mash. I only figured it was a vanilla one by process of elimination! But I love it! 8/10

Nog Truffle – Dark : "Nog" because there's no egg, apparently! This is a limited edition, but I'm OK with that. The inside was white...choco? Don't know, but it basically just tasted like alcohol -- too strong alcohol! It seems good but alcohol actually doesn't taste that good, you know? Like pure tequila. Interesting, but not for me I think. 6/10

Nog Truffle – White : Similar to the dark choco version, I love white choco but the inside is just too strong alc for me! I got a mild cinnamon flavor on this one, too, but still not my favorite. 7/10

Raspberry Truffle – Dark: As promised, this is "simple, smooth, and delicious"! Great raspberry and dark chocolate flavors. I think I even got some raspberry seeds in there (?!). Tastes very good. 7/10

Espresso Buttercream – Dark : OK, buttercreams are lit. This is super duper coffee-y, I shouldn't have eaten the little espresso bean topper on its own because it was a lot of coffee, lol. Great flavor though, the inside is fluffy but the flavor notes are really just coffee and dark choco. 7/10

Double Dark Truffle: I don't know if I really WANT unadulterated dark choco. Just very dark flavor. Definitely smooth inside for sure, but a bit much for this girl. 6/10.

Coconut Truffle: This was a fun one! It has real coconut in it, covered in dark choco, so it's kind of like a Mounds Bar (which I sadly can't eat due to allergy labels). Yum. 8/10

Orange Truffle: I was a little scared I mixed this one up with the chai (which I avoid due to anise), because it tasted a lot like chai. I guess I was expecting "orange" to be a little sweeter somehow, especially with dark choco outsides. Maybe too liquour-y for my preference, if that makes sense. OK but not my #1. 6/10

Stout Truffle: I love beeer! But, I didn't really taste any beer here, sadly. Just tasted like Dark Choco to me. 6/10

London Fog Truffle – Dark: Was not sure how I'd feel about a tea flavored truffle, but you know, I think I like it! I definitely get the Earl Grey (which is black tea, my top tea) flavor, but the strong dark choco helps to balance that out. The inside has a layer of white (butter)cream on top, which is super stylin' and I guess is like the milk for your tea -- just adds a little sweetness but overall I basically get strong tea+choco flavors. Very unique and definitely better than I thought, so if you love tea you'd probably love it. 7/10

London Fog Truffle – White: This one had the white part on the bottom, not the top! Wild. The tea part was still very Tea, a little grittier (is there real leaf in it?). I love white choco, and it's great here too, but it allows the tea to shine through more, which I think I disprefer. Still good. 6/10 

Brown Sugar Cinnamon Truffle: aka Cinnamon Brown Sugar (on the website) -- I'm assuming the order doesn't matter, especially since I mainly got cinnamon flavor myself. These are dark-choco coated, and the inside ganache is also fairly dark. And it smells (and, kinda tastes) like a cinnamon raisin bagel, which is wild. I guess the cinnamon is more prominent than the brown sugar, but it also has this bready flavor, for real. I like it, it's fun, but I don't love it. (Would rather have a Bagel and then a plain choco, separately!) 6/10

Peppermint Truffle: This tasted basically like a York Peppermint Patty - strong mint and dark choco, refreshing. It took me a while to get into it (I think the tea flavors infused it a little bit nearby lol) but it was tasty once I did! 7/10

Vanilla Buttercream – Dark: Just like the milk choco, this was really good! Creamy, sweet, nice, like a special choco treat. 8/10 

Maine Moonshine Truffle: This is dark choco coated, and the inside, while creamy, basically tasted like generic alcohol filling. Not a super standout for me, 6/10.

Tequila Lime Truffle: Now this is a boozy truffle I can get behind. Also dark choco coated, and the inside was a nice really bright lime flavor, and also super creamy filling especially for a dark choco. I enjoyed it more than the Dark and Stormy even, really nice. 8/10.

Single-Malt Scotch Truffle: Oh no, this is literally the worst tasting truffle I've ever had. At least I am not allergic to it, but that's really all I have to say in its favor. The outside is normal dark choco, but the inside tastes like Very Strong Burnt Rubber. What on earth? To be fair, I don't love scotch, but this seemed much worse than even a shot of scotch would be. I literally could not finish it and had to spit it out. If you don't love scotch, stay far far away! 2/10

Chai Truffle: Holy heck, I ate this fully by accident because it had a coconut piece on top so I thought it was the coconut one, all the while thinking "this sure tastes like chai". But I didn't die, and was like "wow! why not?" until I googled and found that star anise (which is in this truffle) is NOT the same, or even close to, anise (which I am allergic to). So it was a lot of excitement for nothing. Anyway, this was OK, and it didn't kill me, so I like that. Spicy and tasted like the Aztec hocho. 6/10?

Raspberry Buttercream: As is typical of buttercreams, I liked this. I think it was actually dark choco although the description said milk choco, but that's OK because the inside is sweet and creamy enough to make up for it. Plus the cream was a bright pink, which is fun! 7/10
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Chocolate Bars and Squares (not truffles):

Brandied Orange Bar: The choco bars were all good (though small!!). This one tastes just like a chocolate orange.

Mocha Latte Bar: Very coffee-y! Pretty, too.

Maine Chip Bar: Could have used more chips, actually, but this was sweet and smooth and salty; probably my favorite bar so far.

Lemon Ginger in White Chocolate: I thought this was really amazing! It had bits of lemon fruit mixed in to lovely white choco, with ginger powder on top. Good strong flavors and I love white choco. 8/10

Blueberries and Cranberries in White Chocolate: This was also good, but mostly just tasted like white chocolate to me; no strong berry flavor came through. Still good though. 8/10

English Breakfast with Puffed Rice in Milk Chocolate: OK, this was also really good. It made me nervous 'cause it looks like there could be allergens inside, but it mostly tasted like creamy milk chocolate with rice crisps in it. No strong tea flavor. But really good! 8/10

Overall
Cost: 3/10 (the shipping is the kicker)
Taste: 7/10