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June 2009

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Jitterbeans vs GoGo Beans

GoGo Beans vs JitterbeansChocolate covered coffee beans are nothing new and caffeinated candy has been around for a while.

Here are two new super charged coffee bean candies. GoGo Beans are made by How Do You Take Your Coffee and feature “The Eating Roast” coffee, which are beans that are chosen & roasted to be tastier for consuming than for brewing (I already reviewed their JAVAZ). Jitterbeans are the overclocked version of Crackheads (review here) from Osmanium ... and when I say overclocked I mean it, each piece contains about 20 mg of caffeine so the package has as much as 6 small cups of coffee.

Jitterbeans vs GoGo Beans

GoGo Beans
Size: 2.43 ounces (69 grams)
Price: $2.50
Caffeine Content: approximately 125 mg (about 5 mg per bean)
Calories per ounce: 134
Other Fortifications: ginseng, taurine, B vitamins
Allergens: soy & milk - plus uses confectioners glaze so not vegetarian (but made in a peanut free facility)
Ingredient notes: not real chocolate, contains palm kernel oil, artificial colors: Yellow 6 & Red 40
My source: sample from How Do You Take Your Coffee

GoGo Beans

GoGo Beans are super-fortified and offer both the caffeine inherent in the bean plus an addition kick added to the candy shell plus some special B vitamins, taurine and ginseng. The format is an bean at the center (specially roasted for eating) then a mockolate coating all covered in a thick candy shell.

The shell has a pretty immediate light bitterness which may be the fortification or may be the food coloring. That fades away pretty quickly for me. The inside has a mellow cocoa flavor but not a huge kick for me. The texture is soft and has a decent melt, but at times felt a little waxy. The bean at the center was lovely, just as I found with the Javaz - crunchy and crisp with a strong coffee flavor but no oily bitterness.

JitterbeansJitterbeans
Size: 1.3 ounces (37 grams)
Price: retail $3.00
Caffeine Content: 600 mg (462 mg per ounce)
Calories per ounce: not available
Other Fortifications: none
Allergens: soy, peanuts & nuts - also uses confectioners glaze so not vegan
Ingredient notes: Uses guarana for extra caffeine, artificial colors: Red 40, Yellow 5 & Blue 1
My source: All Candy Expo

The Jitterbeans follow the tried and true format of chocolate over an espresso bean and adds a candy shell. Like the original Crackheads, these are in the classic tuxedo colors of black and white, though there’s no actual white chocolate in there.

JitterbeansThe candy shell is rather thin and offers a sandy crunch. Inside the chocolate is sweet and has a bit of a spicy woodsy ginger flavor to it along with the mellow coffee notes. The extra caffeine isn’t bitter at all though some of the beans in the center had a bitter kick. The whole thing is rather tasty and probably very dangerous for those who don’t know that there’s a lot of caffeine in these and consumes a whole box. I limited myself to three beans in the three different times I tried these. That said, I have a hard time believing they have that much caffeine in them without so much bitterness that I’ve found in other caffeinated candies - maybe someone can comment on the caffeine in “guarana seed extract.”

Both of these are great, durable & portable caffeine supplements. They’re tasty and what’s most important - portionable so you can control exactly how much caffeine you take in. That said, I much prefer the more sedate and non-fortified versions and will stick with the JAVAZ for my candy, coffee & caffeine combination. The addition of artificial colors wasn’t enough of selling point.

Jitterbeans and GoGo Beans get a 6 out of 10 - not bad candy, but not for me.

Related Candies

  1. Beechies Force Chewy Candy
  2. Loud Truck Energy Gummies
  3. Caffe Acapella - Coffee Confections
  4. Trader Joe’s Espresso Chocolate
  5. Pocket Coffee
  6. No Time & Black Black

POSTED BY Cybele AT 9:58 am     CandyReviewCaffeinatedChocolateCoffeeMockolate6-TemptingUnited States

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Topps Wild Berriez Wazoo

Wazoo Wild BerriezA few months ago I stumbled on the Blue Razz Wazoo bar. I knew that there was a companion flavor, the Wild Berriez Wazoo but I had no luck finding it.

Finally on one of my candy jaunts a few weeks ago I found it at IT’SUGAR at Universal City Walk (they’re also a few webstores). The bar is rather sought after ... Topps introduced them with a big marketing campaign including TV commercials, then the company that ran the factory that was making them went under. Hopefully Topps will find someone else to gear up to make the bars soon to combat their elusiveness before interest wanes.

Wazoo Wild Berriez

This bar is My Little Pony Lilac.

The berry scent is actually pretty good, it does smell like raspberry flavor, right down to that woodsy smell that the seeds tend to give jam.

Wazoo Wild BerriezThe bar has the familiar Wazoo structure - two layers of soft edible, fruit-flavored Play Doh covered in solidified raspberry milk. The whole thing is sprinkled with tangy candy beads.

The pink layer is sweet and tastes a bit like cherries & strawberries. It’s soft and chewy and has only the slightest grain to it with a barely perceptible bitter aftertaste (coloring).

The yellow layer, well, I had trouble getting it well separated but it tasted about the same, maybe a more yogurty tang to it.

The lilac coating is similarly yogurty - sweet but with a slight fruity tartness.

Overall, as odd as the bar is, it’s a nice change from the heaviness of chocolate and the lack of a creamy component from fruit chews. The little beads are kind of messy, but as a candy it’s a pretty good new interpretation of the standard bar. I admit, it’s growing on me. The only real disappointment is that the flavor wasn’t that distinct from the Blue Razz. I think for a line of bars like this they should be really different - an orange & lemon one might be fun (kind of like a creamsicle) and probably a cherry one along with the Razz. Or go really off the deep end with a mint bar.

Related Candies

  1. Big Bite Gummy Bear
  2. Junior Fruit Cremes
  3. 3 Musketeers Cherry & Raspberry
  4. Bratz Candy Cosmetics
  5. Gummi Lightning Bugs
  6. Rolly Pop
  7. Kinder Egg
Name: Wild Berriez Wazoo
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Topps
Place Purchased: IT'SUGAR (Universal CityWalk Hollywood)
Price: $1.25
Size: 1.6 ounces
Calories per ounce: 106
Categories: Chew, United States, Topps, Thailand

POSTED BY Cybele AT 10:48 am    

Monday, June 22, 2009

Brach’s Indulge Almonds: Coconut & Caramel

Brach's Indulge Almond EscapesBesides the regular chocolate covered nuts that Brach’s has been making for about a hundred years, Brach’s has more recently branched out into more than the old fashioned pick-a-mix items.

the new Indulge gable-box line includes some boxed chocolate items (like Cherry Creme Clusters) as well as the standard bridge mixes and chocolate covered nuts.

I picked out these two from the samples that Farley’s & Sathers sent me: Coconut Almond Escape and Caramel Almond escape because they both have almonds at the center but were definitely outside of the normal panned nuts offerings.

Besides the color coding of the boxes, it’s hard to tell the candies apart from the pictures on the package ... they’ve obviously taken some artistic license or are able to produce identical candies in both dark and milk chocolate. (Click to see it a bit bigger on Flickr.)

Brach's Indulge Coconut Almond Escape

Coconut Almond Escape is called Rich, creamy, coconut covered almonds coated in luscious dark chocolate.

They make it sound simple but it’s really not. There is an almond at the core and there is a “sweet chocolate” coating (which has lactose as the second ingredient after sugar and before chocolate & cocoa butter). But that white stuff in between goes like this:

sugar, vegetable oil (palm & palm kernel), nonfat milk, titanium dioxide, soy lecithin, vanilla, gum arabic, corn syrup, modified food starch, salt, coconut oil, natural and artificial colors

So that “coconut covering” has very little actual coconut in it ... as far as I can tell the smallest dash of coconut oil and maybe that natural flavoring.

They certainly smell coconutty - like suntan lotion. The pieces are glossy and large. The almonds are crunchy and nicely toasted. The white cream is soft and has a good melt on the tongue ... not quite fondant and rather salty. Sometimes I get a fake butter flavor from it, which turns me off. The whole effect is rather good otherwise and rather different.

I was hoping for the elusive Dark Chocolate Almond Joy experience, but without actual coconut flakes, all the chewy texture is provided by the almonds. It tastes rather fake, but the hit of salt gives them a good munchability. But on the other hand I’m hesitant to recommend a candy that has more coloring (titanium dioxide in this case) than salt. But I don’t know what my daily recommend intake of titanium is. Maybe it makes my cell phone reception better. Or makes me impervious to UV radiation.

Brach's Indulge Caramel Almond Escape

Caramel Almond Escape is Rich creamy, caramel covered almonds in luscious milk chocolate.

I should have photographed these two candies together to show the difference in size. Most of these are about the size of a Peanut M&M.

These milk chocolate pieces look great otherwise, very nicely panned they’re shiny and smooth. I was rather surprised when I opened the package that they smell like maple.

I was hoping for a nice chewy caramel, but probably expecting a Brach’s Milk Maid Caramel.

Instead it’s more like a maple fudge instead of anything resembling a caramel. And it’s an awful like like fake maple.

The nuts are crunchy, but their tiny size leaves the proportions here a bit off as well. I’ve been eating the, but I have a hard time believing that I’d buy them.

Rating: 4 out of 10

It’s nice to see Brach’s bringing production back to the United States, but I’d like to see some less convoluted recipes ... or I’ll just stick to the Bridge Mix, Candy Corn and Spearmint Leaves that they do so well.

Related Candies

  1. Brach’s Indulge Cookie Nibbles
  2. Marich Easter Select Mix
  3. Brach’s Chocolate Candy Corn & Halloween Mix
  4. Almond Joy
  5. World’s Finest Continental Chocolate Almonds
  6. Sconza 70% Dark Chocolate Toffee Almonds
  7. Dove Caramels & Chocolate Covered Almonds
Name: Brach's Indulge Almonds: Coconut & Caramel
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Brach's (Farley's & Sathers)
Place Purchased: samples from Farley's & Sathers
Price: retail $3.49
Size: 6 ounces
Calories per ounce: 156
Categories: Chocolate, Caramel, Coconut, Nuts, United States, Brach's

POSTED BY Cybele AT 2:19 pm    

Friday, June 19, 2009

Snickers Nougabot Bar & Transformer M&Ms

If there’s one thing I think that’s might pull our government out of the red, it might Mars excessive registration of trademarks for their limited edition & marketing tie in candies.

image

For the new Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen movie this summer, Mars has created a line of collectible M&Ms packages that feature different characters from the Transformers pantheon plus M&Ms in Transformers-styled outfits.

The seven packages:

  • Milk Chocolate - Pack 1 of 7 - Chocl-O-Bots (tm) - Optimus Prime

  • Milk Chocolate - Pack 2 of 7 - Chocl-O-Bots (tm) - Bumblebee

  • Milk Chocolate - Pack 3 of 7 - Chocl-O-Bots (tm) - Ironhide

  • Peanut - Pack 4 of 7 - Delect-O-Cons (tm) - Megatron

  • Peanut - Pack 5 of 7 - Delect-O-Cons (tm) - Star Scream

  • Peanut - Pack 6 of 7 - Delect-O-Cons (tm) - Barricade

  • Strawberried Peanut Butter - Pack 7 of 7 - The Twins

  • (Yeah, I’m missing some package images, but that’s all that came with the press kit Mars gave me ... how odd.)

    Snickers & M&Ms for TransformersWhat I think is most interesting about this is that the package is the only thing that’s different (besides, of course the Strawberried Peanut Butter M&Ms). Open up the packet of the M&Ms (mine was Bumblebee 2 of 7) and there’s no fun new design of the M imprint with a twist on the Transformers like they did with Pirates of the Caribbean Pirate Pearls, Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull and Shrek II (basically Mega M&Ms).  The Star Wars ones, though introducing Dark Chocolate M&Ms, did not have fancy imprints.

    What is good news is that the packages are no smaller. With many of the limited editions what you get in addition to “specialness” is less. The Milk Chocolate Chocl-O-Bots packages have the same 1.69 ounces as the standard Milk Chocolate M&Ms.

    The only truly transformed product for the movie tie-in is the Snickers Nougabot (tm). Due to physical laws of the conservation of matter, the energy required for the transformations, the bar is smaller than an unTransformerized one. *

    SnickersFrom the outside the packages look rather similar. (Click to enlarge to read the ingredients if you wish.)

    This isn’t the first time Mars has mucked with the nougat for a movie. Back in 2007 they turned it green for Shrek but left it the same size, because really, how could a Shrek-ified candy be smaller? The traditional bar is 2.07 ounces and the Nougabot is 1.83 ounces.

    Snickers Transformer & Regular

    The difference, otherwise, is really just the addition of Yellow #5. Considering how much some parents hate Yellow #5 (hint: enough to get it banned in Europe), it’s hard to understand why a candy which was formerly artificial coloring free would add it. Further, the Snickers website doesn’t list the Yellow 5 on the page for the Nougabot bar (sorry, can’t link directly to the page because of stupid flash & beware of annoying sounds).

    So how does it taste? About the same. The flavor seemed a little “darker” but I don’t know if that was the caramel batch ... sometimes even big factory candies like Snickers can vary from day to day.

    The only thing I liked about it is the same thing that I prefer about the Snickers Dark, that there’s one less bite in it. Because honestly I think that 1.83 ounces is the perfect size for a Snickers bar.

    * My theory of this kind of violates the whole world of Transformers and many other fantasy, action & sci-fi movies where small things turn into big things without the perceivable addition of extreme amounts of energy. Anyway, in order to turn back and forth without loss of mass, you’d need lots of energy to turn into matter ... conversely to shrink you’d need to have a way to store a huge reservoir of energy (if you wanted to grow again) or release it. I’ve always wondered if Alice became super-dense when she shrank and puffy, aerated & light when she grew.

    Related Candies

    1. Reese’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Bats (Dark Knight)
    2. Snickers Adventure Bar (Indiana Jones)
    3. Snickers Rockin’ Nut Road Bar
    4. Snickers Nut ‘n Butter Crunch
    5. Elvis Reese’s Peanut Butter and Banana Cup
    6. M&Ms Line
    7. Snickers Xtreme

    POSTED BY Cybele AT 7:49 am     CandyReviewSnickersMarsCaramelChocolateKosherLimited EditionM&MsNougatPeanuts7-Worth ItUnited StatesWalgreen's

    Thursday, June 18, 2009

    Ginger Chews: Hot Coffee

    Hot Coffee Ginger ChewsThere are a lot of confections I call traveling candies. They’re candies that both deliver that sweet boost as well as some other function. I often use hot cinnamon for long car rides to keep me focused and of course coffee items like Nips or Coffee Rio are great for a teensy caffeine boost without fluids.

    I also tend to get motion sickness, so ginger candies are a great way to feed my sweet tooth and soothe my tummy.

    Here’s a candy from The Ginger People that combines both the soothing spice of ginger and the kick of coffee: Hot Coffee Ginger Chews.

    Hot Coffee Ginger Chews

    The chews are just like the other ubiquitous Ginger Chews that are available unbranded at Asian markets or from The Ginger People or Chimes. (They’re all made in Indonesia.)

    The soft little translucent chew is coated with a tapioca starch & sugar mixture. They still stick to the wrapper and don’t really look like much when pulled out. Sometimes I can find one that’s still block shaped, but most are smashed.

    Hot Coffee Ginger ChewsThe scent is rather bland. Just sweet and maybe a little woodsy. But I popped one my mouth and the immediate sweetness gave way to quite a few flavors. There’s a strong root & earth component from the ginger then a very strong spicy warm feeling. The coffee kind of kicks in from the background - it’s rather weak coffee note but not tamed by any milk here like so many coffee candies do. It’s a brewed black coffee flavor.

    It makes me wonder why I don’t throw sliced ginger into my coffee. It’s a really nice combination - the sugar is sweet but more like barley sugar with a mellow malty or toasted flavor to it.

    The cumulative effect of these after a half a dozen is a strong and lingering warm sensation. (And a few little bits stuck in my teeth.)

    The drawbacks to these are, first, that they’re vexing to get out of their wrappers. The plastic/mylar stuff is hard to tear open, and never quite opens the whole way. Not exactly easy to open yourself when driving. (This is what navigators were invented for ... not directing you where to go, but to unwrap & hand you your candy.)

    Each piece has about 20 calories and no fat. If there’s caffeine in it, it’s not enough for them to note on the package (it’s a coffee extract so it’s not like some candies where you consume the whole bean). Their website says they’re gluten free (but the package doesn’t). They’re made in a facility that processes peanuts. Should be considered vegan, there’s no Kosher or Halal certification.

    Related Candies

    1. Compartes Chocolates
    2. Mitchell’s Candies
    3. Candy Dump 2008 part 2
    4. VerMints
    5. Anis de Flavigny
    6. Sweetriot!
    7. Ginger Bears
    8. Peanut Butter Ginger Chews
    Name: Hot Coffee Ginger Chews
      RATING:
    • 10 SUPERB
    • 9 YUMMY
    • 8 TASTY
    • 7 WORTH IT
    • 6 TEMPTING
    • 5 PLEASANT
    • 4 BENIGN
    • 3 UNAPPEALING
    • 2 APPALLING
    • 1 INEDIBLE
    Brand: The Ginger People
    Place Purchased: Cost Plus World Market (Farmers Market LA)
    Price: $1.99
    Size: 3 ounces
    Calories per ounce: 93
    Categories: Chew, Coffee, Ginger, Indonesia, The Ginger People, All Natural

    POSTED BY Cybele AT 10:30 am    

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