• REVIEW: Jamba Juice Eggnog Jubilee Smoothie

    Jamba Juice Eggnog Jubilee

    Egg nog, or as I like to call it, The Nectar of Fall, is one of the top three things I look forward to during every holiday season.

    What are the other two?

    Opening presents on Christmas Day? Nope.

    Spending time with family and friends? No.

    Watching videos on YouTube of Black Friday bargain hunters throwing courtesy and decency out the window as they trample each other to buy cheap crap? Close, but no.

    The two other things I look forward to are bragging to people about how I got my Christmas shopping done in November and sitting on the lap of a mall Santa and whispering into his ear, “I’m being naughty right now.”

    Jamba Juice has taken The Nectar of Fall and turned it into a smoothie called Eggnog Jubilee. It’s made with a frozen egg nog base, frozen yogurt, and soy milk.

    Eggnog Jubilee also comes in a light version with 1/3 less calories, carbs, and sugar. But as all real egg nog lovers know, light ain’t right…and rum makes it fun. Of course, like most commercially produced egg nog, there isn’t any alcohol in Jamba’s Eggnog Jubilee.

    Boooo!

    The egg nog-ed smoothie is one of two limited time only holiday smoothies Jamba Juice is offering. It joins Pumpkin Smash, which I tried last year and (SPOILER ALERT) I thought was very, very good.

    So what about Pumpkin Smash’s creamy companion?

    Jamba Juice Eggnog Jubilee Closeup

    Eggnog Jubilee is very good, but I’m not sure I can consider its flavor to be egg nog. If I were to ask random people on a crowded sidewalk with a crazed look on my face to sample the Eggnog Jubilee and tell me what it tastes like, almost all of them would decline my offer. But I believe many of those who would be foolish enough to do so would say it tastes like a chai smoothie.

    It has the right spices, but it doesn’t taste like Jamba Juice put in the right amounts. At best, I might consider it to be light egg nog-ish, but I really don’t immediately think egg nog while sucking it through a straw. Eggnog Jubilee’s flavor could also be mistaken for a generic holiday spice flavor. My guess is that the use of soy milk could be one of the reasons why its flavor ended up the way it did.

    Despite its eggnoglessness, Jamba Juice’s Eggnog Jubilee is a creamy, delicious smoothie that I don’t mind sucking on, even though its flavor isn’t exactly like egg nog and the nearly 100 grams of sugar it contains won’t help me maintain my girlish figure so that I’m light enough to sit on Santa’s lap and whisper into his ear how naughty I’ve been.

    (Nutrition Facts – Original – 550 calories, 4.5 grams of fat, 2.5 grams of fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 65 milligrams of cholesterol, 380 milligrams of sodium, 109 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 96 grams of sugar, 15 grams of protein, 4% vitamin A, 35% calcium, 4% vitamin C, and 8% iron.)

    Item: Jamba Juice Eggnog Jubilee Smoothie
    Purchased Price: $5.39
    Size: Original
    Purchased at: Jamba Juice
    Rating: 7 out of 10
    Pros: Very good. Creamy. Jamba Juice’s Pumpkin Smash. Finishing Christmas shopping early. Messing with mall Santas. Egg nog.
    Cons: It’s light egg nog-ish. Tastes more like chai than egg nog. Available for a limited time. People not being civil on Black Friday.

  • SPOTTED ON SHELVES – 10/8/2012

    It’s another holiday themed Spotted on Shelves this week. Here are some pumpkin-y (new and old) products found on store shelves. We may or may not review them, but we’d like to let you know what items are popping up.

    Betty Crocker Pumpkin Spice Cookie Mix

    The more pumpkin spice product photos we post this year means less pumpkin spice product photos we’ll post next year. And I think we’ve featured a lot of them. Just kidding. I really believe we’ve only covered a fraction of the pumpkin spice products available. There are probably over a dozen pumpkin spice cookies alone. (Tualumba for the photo, Kenneth!)

    Pumpkin Spice Eggnog

    Hey! Do you know what would be awesome to dunk those pumpkin spice cookies into? Yup, some old fashioned pumpkin spice egg nog. (Mauruuru for the photo, Andrew!)

    Hostess GloBalls

    Hostess ScaryCakes

    Those ScaryCakes don’t look so scary. Oh wait, I haven’t read the nutrition facts yet. (Dhanyavadalu for the pics, Mike!)

    Tastykake Jack-o-Lantern Juniors

    Great for Trick or Treating? More like a great way for kids to know which candy-less house to avoid next year. (Merci for the picture, Mike!)

    SpookyLicious Pop-Tarts

    I think Kellogg’s should retire their Spookylicious Frosted Chocolate Fudge Pop-Tarts and replace it with Eerielicious Frosted Chocolate Fudge Pop-Tarts. (Tashakor for the photo, Mike!)

    If you’re out shopping and see a new product on the shelf (or really unusual), snap a picture of it, email it to us at [email protected] with “Spotted” in the subject line, and you might see it in our next Spotted on Shelves post.

  • NEWS: Red Bull Editions To Treat Your Taste Buds With Fruit Flavors Instead of the Same Old Slightly Medicinal Red Bull Flavor

    Red Bull: Red-, Silver- & Blue-Edition

    According to the USA Today, Red Bull is planning to launch three new flavors in the U.S. sometime in March 2013.

    The new Red Bull flavors come in three editions — Red (Cranberry), Silver (Lime), and Blue (Blueberry). Of course, this opens the door for Red Bull to release new editions in any CMYK color they choose. Beverage Digest posted a photo of a banner showing the new additions.

    Red Bull Editions have already been available in select European markets and in Australia. Energy Drink Heaven reviewed all three varieties earlier this year.

    Image via flickr user gillyberlin / CC BY 2.0

  • REVIEW: Stride iD Spearmint Gum

    Stride iD Spearmint

    Superego. Ego. Id.

    According to the haunting wisps of memory remaining from that Psych. 101 class, a punk named Sigmund Freud proposed that these were the three basic levels of consciousness. The ego and superego were said to be little filters for our subconscious, making logical boundaries around impulses and memories, which is dandy if you want to live a safe, secure life, but, really, where’s the fun in logic?

    That’s where the id comes in. The id is like the Elmo that walks around Times Square: it doesn’t make much sense, but it doesn’t have to. That’s why we love it. Theoretically, it exists solely on the drive of spontaneity, impulse, and creativity, and, now Stride’s encouraging us to dance about with that kooky subconscious through “iD,” a gum aimed to encourage folks to embrace their identity. Curious of how this might be achieved through a piece of gum, I sought it out.

    First off, this packaging harkens recognition. The container itself is ever-so-slightly thinner than regular Stride gum, which gives it that “We just upgraded your iPod” feel. Despite this trim-n-slim package, you still get the same whopping 14 pieces of gum you would in regular Stride.

    Stride iD Spearmint Dancers

    And just look at that post-unwrapped cover. It makes me wanna embrace my identity. If a two-dimensional man with a fuzzy hat on his head can embrace his creativity, why shouldn’t I? It made me laugh, and, in a world filled with bats and taxes and canned green beans, more laughter is not only called for, but much needed. Supposedly, each package is equipped with a different little work of art, all depicting equally peculiar, quirky scenarios, so laugh on, gum-chewers.

    And, just when you think they’ve thrown in every bit of packaging confetti possible, they throw in a pair of magnets.

    Yes, folks, magnets.

    Stride on Refrigerator!

    This means you could stick your pack of gum to your refrigerator (and I know you’ve always wanted to do that…). But what these magnets do best is keep your little 14 sticks nice and snug as a bug in a rug, snapping the package shut so your gum stays buckled in for the long haul. It baffles me in both its simplicity and its brilliance. I call forth a Nobel Prize nomination for the individual responsible for this.

    Stride iD Spearmint Closeup

    Upon opening a piece, it seems even the gum embraces its own identity as each piece is equipped with a swirly little design to flash about in its big debut.

    Having been predisposed to all of this packaging brilliance, my hopes stood on the Mount Kilimanjaro of peaks with anticipatory delight for the chewing to come, so I unwrapped my minty rectangle and gave it a try and…well…

    Meh.

    It started off with a spearmint fling, and then traversed into a peculiar fruity realm that didn’t suit well for my taste buds. No doubt, the flavor lasted for a long time, but the tropical aftertaste didn’t sit well with me. I tried everything to like it.

    Chewing it walking.

    Chewing it upside-down.

    Chewing it before I brushed my teeth.

    Chewing it after I brushed my teeth.

    I even chewed it while doing deep-breathing yoga exercises in which I visualized myself enjoying the gum, but, alas, I couldn’t get past that peculiar aftertaste.

    Then, I read the ingredient list and there it was:

    Partially Hydrogenated Coconut Oil.

    (Cue the tuba: Bwa, bwa, bwaaaa)

    They say the sound of a crumbling heart is soft and slow, and I swear I heard my own shoved into the mortar and pestle as I read that line. While I don’t see it being particularly necessary, I didn’t mind the, “partially hydrogenated,” part too much. No doubt some of my sturdy lifetime favorites involve it (Pop Tarts, Oreos, Pillsbury biscuits, etc.), but I must confess I’m not aboard the coconut-flavored train. I suspect this may be the very culprit foiling my taste buds.

    While I didn’t particularly dig the taste tunes played by this Stride, I appreciate what’s going on with the gum as a whole. It’s got a soft chew, lasts for a good 10-15 minutes, and has the coolest packaging this side of Jupiter.

    Plus, at the end of the day, my taste buds are driven by my impulses, which are part of my id. In this, I felt this gum accomplished what it set out to do: celebrate the creative elements of the id, and that, to me, calls forth an above-average rating for the new gum.

    (Nutrition Facts – 1 piece – less than 5 calories, 0 grams of fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 0 milligrams of sodium, 1 gram of carbohydrates, 1 gram of sugar alcohol, and less than 0 grams of protein.)

    Other Stride iD Spearmint Gum reviews:
    Gum Connoisseur

    Item: Stride iD Spearmint Gum
    Purchased Price: $1.29
    Size: 14 pieces
    Purchased at: Target
    Rating: 6 out of 10
    Pros: Long chewing time. Strong flavor. Swirly designs. Magnets. Laughter. Mount Kilimanjaro. Elmo in Times Square. Tubas.
    Cons: Not the best if you don’t like coconut. Partially hydrogenated oil. Haunting memories of Psych. 101. Canned green beans.

  • NEWS: Jelly Belly and Tabasco Team Up To Make Sweet and Spicy Jelly Beans

    TABASCO

    Jelly Belly, the company that makes jelly beans in flavors that your heart does and doesn’t desire, has teamed up with Tabasco to produce sweet and spicy jelly beans.

    The new jelly bean flavor uses genuine Tabasco seasoning, giving them the flavor and kick Tabasco lovers will enjoy. It will also give those who get off on eating Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans a new weird flavor to try.

    Jelly Belly’s Tabasco Jelly Belly beans are currently available in bulk, in case you wanted to burn your mouth for hours by chain eating them. A webpage to order 3.1-ounce bags is up on the company’s online store, but according to the Drugstore News story, Jelly Belly won’t release the Tabasco flavor in the smaller bags until December.

    Do you think Tabasco-flavored jelly beans are weird? Let us know in the comments.

    Source: Drugstore News

    Image via flickr user Mike Saechang / CC BY SA 2.0