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.

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  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 Tracker Pixel for Entry    

Comments
  1. Try the spicy apple ginger chew.  It’s very good also.  The ones that most Asian groceries sells are called “Ting Ting Jahe” made from Indonesia smile

    Comment by ian on 6/18/09 at 10:52 am #
  2. I absolutely love these candies.  My sister-in-law (who happens to be named Ginger!) gave me some as a gift about a year ago and they’re the perfect snack to perk me up during long days at work.  I enjoy the plain ginger chews just fine, but the coffee ones are really amazing, in my opinion.

    Comment by MRM on 6/18/09 at 3:15 pm #
  3. Karwei's avatar

    Hey, the plastic wrapper is a huge improvement over the old wax paper one. I’d spend 10 minutes unwrapping one of those, and still end up eating paper.

    Comment by Karwei on 6/18/09 at 6:05 pm #
  4. I like the plain ginger chews and the spicy apple chews, but I wasn’t a fan of the coffee chews. Maybe it was the mix of flavors or the flavor/texture combo, but it just wasn’t working for me.

    Also, it’s a bummer that they stopped doing this, but there used to be ginger chews that came wrapped in an edible rice paper. Those were the best! You could just unwrap them from the outer cover and then pop the whole thing in your mouth! Now they’ve switched over to the wax paper, which definitely isn’t as fun, though I’m guessing it’s easier for them to produce.

    Comment by Cory O'Brien on 6/18/09 at 7:13 pm #
  5. Oooh, I’m going to have to hunt these down.  I adore the peanut butter ginger chews from Chimes… and will put up with the Peppermint ones when I can’t find the PB version. 

    Coffee sounds like a great combo.

    Comment by Amber on 6/19/09 at 4:56 am #
  6. These candies sound really yummy. What stores carry them? I live in upstate NY and haven’t seen them anywhere.

    Comment by Trish on 6/21/09 at 1:46 pm #
  7. I’ve seen the plain ones in Cost Plus. Not sure if they have stores in NY though.

    Comment by Christine on 4/27/10 at 6:37 pm #
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