Chili Nut & Coffee Nut M&M's

 

Products circa: 2016

These were part of a poll product for consumers to choose the next permanent M&M's variety.  Not pictured here is the third contestant of the contest - Honey Nut M&M's.

The Chili Nut is better than I thought.  I was prepared to say that only capsaicin was added to the chocolate, but I don't think that's right.  After a few candies, I believe I taste the savoriness of chili, that's not unlike Tabasco sauce (without the fermented flavor).

The Coffee Nut is trying to do a lot more than I expected.  I think they might have added vanilla to it, and even milk powder.  It's got more of a latte vibe than just coffee.  It's not bad, but not something I'd reach for.  Then again, I don't reach for M&M's ever.

Birthhday Cake M&M's

 

(For the record, I have no idea if the M&M's variety should be named before or after the "M&M" title.  I have recorded both on this site, per what the packaging says.)

Product circa: 2015

I always love it when Birthday Cake or Cookie Dough snack varieties are able to capture the "flour" taste that goes along with the real world varieties, but it's no wonder that these M&Ms do not capture that effect.  In the end, they taste like regular chocolate M&Ms that have a bit of extra vanilla extract in the chocolate recipe.

Jelly Belly Krispy Kreme Doughnuts

 

Product circa: Intermittently since 2017

Neat cross-brand!  As is typical of Jelly Belly, these taste very loyal to the food that each is emulating.  They even managed to add the flavor of brown/fried dough - no idea how they did that.

M&M's Cherry Cordial

 

Product circa: Intermittently from 2008, to maybe even the present; might have been seasonal for Valentine's Day or Christmas.

A very impressive feat.  They managed to make these taste like actual cherry cordials and not the artificial cherry that flavors every candy or soda we've ever had.  I don't know what the "cherry cordial" flavor is, but they got it.  Other than how incredible a technical feat this is, it's not overwhelmingly tasty.

Toasted Coconut Oreo

 

Product circa: re-release (year unknown) from original 2015 release

True to form, these taste exactly like the cake pictured, with the toasted coconut apparent.  There's both white and toasted coconut here, as promised.  A photorealistic experience... what a delight!

Maple Creme Oreo

 

Product circa: 2019 - present (intermittently)

A golden cookie with maple creme-flavored filling.  I'm not usually a fan of maple, but these are fantastic, and it's because the creme tastes like natural maple syrup, and not the American pancake syrup from the long squeeze bottle.  Extremely tasty!

Pop-Tarts Froot Loops

 

Product circa: 2021

A very fun cross-branding!  The filling of these pastries definitely has the signature bergamot flavor that would remind you of Froot Loops, but it tastes more of lemon than anything.  With that said, the citrus filling is absolutely delicious, and I don't think there's ever been lemon Pop-Tarts?  I'd love to see these on sale again someday.

Sprite Tropical Mix

 

While technically not a limited time product, as it seems to keep popping up every year at different times, Sprite Tropical Mix deserved a post.  Why?  Because Coca-cola needs to be commended for producing this stuff, and especially doing so regularly.  Luckily for us, Tropical Mix tastes almost exactly like Sprite Remix from 20 years ago - which Sprite Remix, I can't tell... maybe a mix of both?  Every time I see this in a cooler, I grab one and buy it.  It mixes pretty well with light rum, as well.

Sprite Chill

 

Product circa: Spring 2024

Cherry lime isn't exactly a very innovative flavor to add to Sprite, but I think this works pretty well.  The cherry is restrained, and I don't even taste the fake lime flavor... perhaps they added just enough to provide a bitter balance to the cherry.  Overall, not bad, but nothing something I'll yearn for when it's gone.

Sprite Lymonade Legacy

 

Product circa: 2023

Sprite Lymonade is a nice foray, but I always thought it was missing a little something, and so I never bought it much.  Evidently what it was missing was strawberry.  The Lymonade Legacy is fantastic, and it's a shame this didn't end up being the permanent Lymonade product.

Lay's Salsa Fresca

 

Product circa: Spring 2024

A significant amount of tomato powder and sugar (maltodextrin?) lend an overwhelming feeling of ripe tomatoes, more than any snack I've ever tasted.  The chile feels more like sweet bell pepper, and the restrained spices in the recipe make the sweet, fresh vegetables the star here.  It totally invokes what it intends - a tomato-heavy salsa, or pico de gallo... gazpacho, even.  It's like sticking my face into a fresh vegetable garden.  Very impressive.

Milky Way Fudge

 

Product circa: 2022

A variation like this feels a little lazy.  It's a Milky Way bar with the nougat changed to chocolate nougat.  It's not bad.  It's reminiscent of a Milky Way Dark bar, but it's not as good, because almost nothing is as good as a Milky Way Dark bar.

Snickers Crisper

 

Product circa: 2022

Just a Snickers bar with crispy rice in it.  The flavor isn't different, but I was surprised how enjoyable the crunch and chew of the rice are.

Pop-Tarts Pretzel Chocolate

 

Kind of an odd choice.  Pop-Tarts changed the appearance of the pastry to look more like baked pretzel dough, added salt to it, and otherwise changed nothing else about the product.  It's mediocre at best.

Kettle Gochujang

 

I haven't had enough gochujang to decide if these taste true, but I guess it gets pretty close.  An immediate umami bomb with chile and soy to start, with onion and garlic in the rear.  Nicely spicy and sweet, but just a bit too much tang for tastes.

Coca-Cola Spiced

 Product circa: Spring 2024

An odd variation at a seemingly arbitrary time, this purports to be raspberry spiced Coke.  After drinking a fair bit of this stuff, my take is that it tastes mainly of raspberry, with perhaps the smallest bit of cinnamon, and the rest is almost like a pleasant black pepper.  Almost like Coke and Dr. Pepper had a child.  There's a lot of polarizing talk about this product on the internet, but I enjoyed it.

Coca-Cola Y-3000 and Ultimate

 

Coca-Cola Y3000 - God, the marketing copy is so exhausting.  We get it, this is what Coke from the Future would taste like.  AI Coke.  Yeah.  After tasting this myself, it was hard slogging through the Google search results to see what others actually thought of it.  Most opinions hew close toward "fruit candy".  The closest my own brain got was "rainbow sherbet" or even blue raspberry.  Regardless, "artificial fruit" is definitely the vibe here.  It's pretty tasty, but not tasty enough that I'd want to have permanent access to this.

Coca-Cola Ultimate - Made jointly with Riot Games, the marketing says that this is flavored like "+XP", which is short form for gaining character experience in a video game.  Fine.  This stuff is very subtle, and I actually went through several bottles and a 12-pack just to research it more heavily.  The internet opinions on this product are all over the place, and frustratingly so.  My take is that this has a generic fruity flavor which I can't pin down (but leans "green"), and is slightly sour.  And it's not lime.  So the closest I can peg here would be white grape or unripe mango (if you've ever tasted one).