How This German Chocolate Shop Created a Sweet Way for Young Admirers to Pass Love Notes | Travel

Located alongside the Neckar River, Heidelberg is home to Germany’s oldest university and other impressive sites like the Old Bridge, Heidelberg Castle and the Student Jail. But it’s also a city of romance thanks to a little café on Haspelgasse and a piece of chocolate that has spun a tale of young lovers and intrigue for generations.

Easily recognized these days by its bright red box adorned with a silhouette of a student in a cap, the “Studentenkuss,” or Student Kiss, is a praline nougat on a waffle wafer covered in dark chocolate, about the size of a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. First Café Knösel, and now today the Studentenkusshaus, just down the street, sell the treats to locals and tourists. The Student Kiss is “a sweet symbol of the city and a charming souvenir,” says Steffen Schmid, project manager of Heidelberg Marketing.

In the 19th century, gifting the confection was a way to show affection. Heidelberg was a thriving university town where sons of nobility and the rising industrialist class went to further their education. At the same time, young ladies of marriageable age flocked to this city to attend finishing schools, all while being on the lookout for a suitable husband.

“It was a destination for education, not so much for girls,” says Patrizia Kern, a city guide in Heidelberg. “If you were a girl in Germany, you were not allowed to study in Heidelberg, not before 1900. The girls were attending finishing school, then finding a husband, then getting married. So, when we talk about the love stories happening in cafés, we’re talking about very young people.”

Etiquette of proper society at the time stipulated that women weren’t allowed to mix and mingle without the watchful eye of their chaperones. The one place where both sexes would converge was Café Knösel, the oldest chocolate shop in town. Founded in 1863 by Fridolin Knösel, it soon became a favorite meeting place for Heidelberg…