Ranking 9 Hershey’s Kisses flavors, including Café Moka and Chocolate Meltaway

A kiss is just a kiss, unless it’s a Hershey’s Kiss.

From candy dishes to holiday baked goods, the chocolate drops are one of those iconic candies that have been enjoyed for more than 100 years.

Kisses, with their foil wrapping and signature tissue-paper plume, were one of the first candies produced by Milton S. Hershey. Today, they are one of the most popular drug store candies and sold in an array of flavors, colors and sizes.

The first Kisses were produced in 1907 and were individually wrapped by hand. Unlike molded Wilbur Buds from Lititz, Pa., Hershey used automated machinery to produce Kisses.

Milton Hershey also thought to wrap the candies so they wouldn’t melt in people’s hands.

“What he was so gifted at was mass production,” said candy historian Beth Kimmerle, author of Chocolate: The Sweet History, in a Time story. “But with the Kiss, he also figured out how to package it, how to market it, into something that’s really iconic.”

Nobody knows for sure how the company arrived at the name Kiss. Some suspect it had to do with the “smooch” noise the machines made as they dispensed the chocolates onto the belt.

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From original milk chocolate Kisses, Hershey’s has expanded the line to dozens of flavors – some seasonal and limited-edition such as candy cane, chocolate truffle, pumpkin spice and coconut cream.

In an effort to determine the best Kiss, we purchased nine different flavors - basically the only ones available in the summer, including two specialty flavors we tracked down at Chocolate World in Hershey - and got down to unwrapping. Our team of testers included PennLive Life & Culture Editor Chris Mautner, Social Media Producer Megan Lavey-Heaton, Intern Bennett Leckrone and Food and Dining Reporter Sue Gleiter.

We snacked on them all in the name of giving you this definitive ranking of the best.

9. Cookies 'n' Crème

The crunchy bits of cookies go against everything we know about Kisses. For some, it’s a good thing. The solidified white chocolate didn’t win many votes with our team. Maybe our bag was stale. One taster said they reminded him of old Oreos.

8. Milk Chocolate Meltaway

This is one we tracked down at Chocolate World. It’s like pudding in the middle. So soft and squishy. It’s also a bit weak, almost like the milk chocolate Kiss’ softer cousin.

7. Hugs

Somewhere a marketing genius came up with the very clever Hugs name. The Hug wraps white chocolate with a hint of milk chocolate. For a white chocolate lover, the Hug is the one to buy. Dare we say, it’s better than the Cookies n’ Cream.

6. Milk chocolate filled with caramel

We had high expectations for the caramel, and we wondered would it taste like Rolos (another Hershey’s product)? The soft, smooth caramel surprised some of our squad who expected a chewy center. Watch out for a sugar rush. We recommend this one if you have a sweet tooth.

5. Almonds

If you’re nuts for nuts, this is your Kiss. We know almond has a fanbase. It’s traditional milk chocolate with a piece of almond, and there’s nothing wrong with it. But while it was good enough, there are better ones on our list.

4. Special Dark

The Special Dark is Hershey’s foray into the growing dark chocolate category. It’s good but not good enough that it ranks at the top of our list. The semi-sweet chocolate has a drier texture and a fruity aftertaste. It’s certainly sweeter than other dark chocolates we’ve tried. But if you like dark chocolate, this is your Kiss.

3. Hershey’s Gold Caramel Crème with Pretzel Bits

This is Hershey’s newest Kiss flavors. The candies play off Hershey’s Gold Bars and combine caramel flavored crème with crunchy pretzel bits for a sweet and salty flavor. It’s got a warm, toasty flavor with a hint of butterscotch. The salty pretzel bits were weirdly addictive and balanced out the creamy caramel creme. We can’t keep our hands out of this bag.

2. Milk Chocolate Filled with Café Moka

We weren’t sure about this one – would the mocha (or moka?) really deliver? Sometimes limited-edition flavors are just that, something we try once and move onto the next big thing. But this one impressed us with an authentic mocha flavor. One of our tasters was so impressed, she said, “I need a minute …. THIS IS amazing!” We declare Café Moka good enough to be part of Hershey’s regular Kiss line.

1. Milk Chocolate

That’s a Hershey’s Kiss all right, and a perfectly poppable piece of chocolate. We don’t mean to be boring, but the original is the best. It’s the traditional hit of chocolate with a satisfying creaminess we’ve all grown up eating. We’ll have another one, please.