When Passions Collide

One of the candies I grew up adoring is Almond Roca. A "buttercrunch" center, coated in chocolate and almonds — yummy. It's made in Tacoma, Washington, and I remember seeing the factory store, built to resemble the pink butter-tub containers the Roca used to come in. (They've since upgraded to metal tins.)

Almond Roca was a forbidden pleasure during the years of Orthodontia. The center was too crunchy-sticky, and the almonds were just trouble waiting to happen with braces. I was overjoyed on a vacation to Seattle when we found our hotel's restaraunt had an Almond Roca-flavored ice cream sundae — they had melted down the Roca pieces and made a drizzle-waffle-cone base. <sigh>

Imagine my joy, then, when I discovered a Starbucks nearby selling tins of Mocha Roca, Almond Roca with a mocha-chocolate coating. Given my established obsession with coffee (and in particular, Starbucks coffee), this is a match made in heaven. Yum.