There are two types of people in this world. There are those who play it safe and those who do not.
The former group slows down at yellow lights, blots the grease from their pizza, and runs the ball on third and one in Madden. The latter blows through red lights, pours grease from their buddy’s slice of pizza onto theirs, and calls an Annexation of Puerto Rico on fourth and forever.
But none of these actions match up to the ultimate litmus test in living safe or dangerous: choosing which Lay’s Do Us a Flavor Chips to buy.
Last year, I faced danger with Lay’s Chicken and Waffles Potato Chips. But, despite my awful experience, I wasn’t going to let the hacked together taste of poultry and Eggo stop me from checking out this year’s finalist out of left field. We’ve seen various salty and sweet chips before, but I’ve never seen potato chips that taste like coffee and milk. As for what Chad Scott was thinking when he submitted cappuccino to Lay’s, well, I’ll play it safe and guess he had good intentions.
After strutting through Harris Teeter with a bag in hand and dropped jaws and slow claps of less intrepid snackers around me*, I opened it, which released a mellow, but prominent coffee aroma. It was stronger than coffee ice cream and only a few notches down from a college English class at 7:30 in the morning. It wasn’t unpleasant, but it definitely was unnatural. In fact, when contacted for comment, Mr. Potato Head confirmed it was certainly the most intense out-of-body experience he’s had since Toy Story 3. Like I said, it’s about living dangerously.
I raised a single chip and brought it closer to my nose, taking a moment to harness my senses in that cultured thing coffee people do before they take a sip. Then I remembered I was sitting in my office with a potato chip held up to my nose, and realized how freaking ridiculous I looked. I sampled the seasoning by licking the fried exterior of the spud clean.
Its flavor is maddeningly indescribable. I’m taken aback at first, completely unable to harness dozens of hours of GRE verbal practice tests in assessing what the flavor is.
It’s slightly bitter with an odd sensation from the aftermath of lactic sweetness. It leaves a light roasted coffee flavor hanging on the roof of your mouth. I taste more chips and I’m dumbfounded, searching for a salty-sweet affirmation of what I thought the chips would taste like.
Instead, I’m only left with the idea of sweetness and a memory of cream, as the way too authentic taste of light roasted coffee continues to linger even as the clashing but familiar earthiness from the potato comes around at the end. Several chips down, and I’m utterly confused.
This is not exactly living dangerously through snacks. Unencumbered, and perhaps believing that stuffing multiple chips into my mouth at once will harness some undiscovered salty-sweet synergy, I find the taste more palatable. There isn’t a salty-sweet combo going on here, the salty flavor is almost nonexistent, but there is a somewhat cocoa-like effect that isn’t too bad. But it’s hardly bold and it’s not particularly addictive or snackable.
There’s just no other way to say it: Chad Scott, you got your wish. These chips taste just like a cappuccino, or at least insofar as the cappuccino flavor you’d expect from a Jelly Belly Jelly Bean. They’re not throw-out-the-bag horrible, but they’re not something I’d buy again.
The flavor is just out of place on a fried tuber and ends up splitting the difference of two different sensations which match up about as gracefully as a Mormon in a Starbucks (it’s okay, I’m from Utah). Buying them might boost your credibility as a vanguard snacker, but enjoying them probably just means you like the taste of coffee too much.
*Possibly. Or maybe not.
(Nutrition Facts – 1 oz./about 15 chips – 160 calories, 90 calories from fat, 10 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 40 milligrams of sodium, 330 milligrams of potassium, 16 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 2 grams of sugar, and 2 grams of protein.)
Item: Lay’s Do Us a Flavor Finalist Cappuccino Potato Chips
Purchased Price: $2.00 (on sale)
Size: 9.5 oz bag
Purchased at: Harris Teeter
Rating: 4 out of 10
Pros: Not detestable in an OH THE HUMANITY kind of way. Classic Lay’s crispiness. Decently snackable when eaten in droves.
Cons: Cappuccino flavor is way too authentic for a potato chip. Bitterness. Out of body snacking experiences. Lacks salty-sweet synergy. Does not affirm the desire to live dangerously.
Agree with cons, but would add totally detestable OH THE HUMANITY kind of way.
Great review. I don’t drink coffee so I think the next flavor should be green tea then I will have something to compare it to. All in all these are very good and remind me of eating a churro without having to brave the people and the 100$ price tag of spending the day in Disneyland. I won’t buy these again but I will enjoy the bag.
You can get huge churro at Costco food courts in the states for $1 … Tastier, fresher and saves money on Disney too!
Dude, there has to be some kind of Latin American bakery near where you live that sells churros. You can get them for like a buck.
Hmm. Mom likes coffee. And she likes potato chips. I should keep an eye out for these for her. Except that she likes potato chips because they’re salty so… maybe not?
Great review either way!
The Wavy Mango Salsa and Kettle Wasabi Ginger chips are horrible. I thought the Cappuccino chips had a sweet cinnamon/brown sugar taste and weren’t too bad. I hate coffee and did not think they had any coffee taste to them. However, I only ate 2 chips. I doubt I would buy them again. I like the Bacon Cheddar Mac ‘n Cheese flavor.
The problem is, like the Chicken and Waffles flavor, these are begging to be a sweet chip, but instead, they’re a salty chip with some slight sweetish notes, which doesn’t work at all. I don’t get why Lay’s doesn’t have the cojones to go ahead and make them sweet. Those sweet Pringles chips are awesome. Pringles should swoop in and steal Chad’s flavor.
Can’t tell which one was worse: this or the Bacon Mac & Cheese.
Why no list of ingredients or a picture of the nutritional facts? I’d like to see if there are artificial colors in this?
Thanks
The first thing I thought of when I tried one was Coffeemate.
These are the nastiest things I have ever tried. Bleck! Could NOT get the taste out of my mouth.
Tried them last night. I liked these. (Now where are the others? Can’t seem to find them.) So they’re not bold. They don’t have to be. So, they aren’t that sweet. Good! (Shouldn’t be overly sweet.) The intriguing thing is the cappuccino taste calls upon you to pause & analyze (Good, so you don’t gobble them up in one sitting.), but then it kind of haunts you into coming back for more. In fact, I’m thinking about them this morning (the potato chip that leaves a reocurring impression). The second intriguing thing is, though it isn’t salty or spicy, there is definately a potato taste that accompanies the cappuccino taste, even though it’s subtle (almost a delayed reaction; the cappuccino isn’t overwhelming and seems to wait for the potato taste to catch up, which it does – a balanced, but very odd duet). Don’t forget, the idea was for people to come up, not with more recycled chili/onion/sour cream/jalepeno combos, but with flavors that were out of the box, yet would fly. I’m for this one. (Anyone for sausage/mushroom/bell pepper pizza chips?)