The habanero is the hottest chile pepper you'll find in your local grocery stores, and they are very, very hot. The oil in the habanero, as well as many other hot chiles, can be very painful if you get it in your eyes or on open wounds on your hands. Wearing gloves while handling is your best bet.
Unripe habaneros are green, but the color at maturity varies. Common colors are orange and red, but white, brown, and pink are also seen.
Most habaneros rate 200,000 to 300,000 Scoville heat units. Yee ha!! That's hot!!
A variety of the habanero called Red Savina used to be thought of as the hottest pepper, but it seems that now the Bhut Jolokia holds the Guinness World Record as the world's hottest spice, recording over 1,000,000 Scoville units -- that's almost twice as much as the hottest habanero.