Not long ago, I looked at Trader Joe's Pumpkin Spice Espresso Beans. All things considered, the wifey and I liked them quite a bit. We were thinking about picking up another pack or two but before we could get back to TJ's, the wifey spotted these little morsels at the local Target.
It's the same deal pretty much: crunchy espresso beans covered in a candy-esque shell, flavored with typical pumpkin or pumpkin pie spices. But there was definitely something working in the Trader Joe's version that isn't working here for some reason.
I think maybe the candy coating in this case is a tad too sweet and the pumpkin spice elements are out of balance. There's a bit of that scented candle effect. Somehow the natural flavor of the coffee bean isn't as rich in this case. Part of that could be that these beans are significantly smaller than their Joesian counterparts.
I can't eat more than one or two of these beans before my mouth tires of the flavor. Definitely don't think this will be a repeat purchase. I might have been a little more lenient on these if I hadn't tried a superior product from a different store brand so recently. Plus, at $4.49 this product is four and a half times the price of the other version. Granted, it's a bigger bag, but I think small and cheap is the way to go with a product like this. Not like you're going to be eating these by the handful in either case. My wife agrees this product isn't nearly as good as Trader Joe's bag of pumpkin-flavored espresso beans, but she'll probably not have too tough a time finishing our package.
I give these espresso beans 6 out of 10 stars.
Okay, now this trail mix looks somewhat familiar. Have I tried it before? Yes and no. I had it when it was called Archer Farms Apple Cinnamon Trail Mix. The ingredients were remarkably similar. Both contain(ed) dried apple, dried cranberry, pretzel balls, and pecans. Now the pecans in the old version were "apple pie-flavored pecans" and these are merely "apple-flavored pecans." A quick perusal of the ingredients would suggest they are indeed the same product, or extremely similar at the very least.
It's yet another overly indulgent, sugar-laden trail mix from Target. At least it has some fruit in it, right? Let's dive in.
This one's somewhat similar to the last one we looked at also, but this one's much better. What makes this one a success as opposed to the other apple-based trail mix?
First of all, the apple-flavored pecans are delicious and plentiful here. No searching necessary. There are a couple in every handful. They're crunchy, sweet, and full of autumnal spices. Delicious.
The pretzel balls here are larger, creamier, and more flavorful than their apple bourbon counterparts. They taste like cinnamon and sugar, as well as yummy salty pretzel bread.
The apple chips in this trail mix are thinner than the apple chunks in the last mix, but in this case, there are more of them. Sweet little bites of real apple make any fall trail mix better.
Like the apple bourbon mix, the cranberries here are unnecessary. At least in this case, they don't taste like smoke and there are way fewer of them in the bag.
Once again, we're looking at a price point of $4.49. I'd reach for this trail mix over the apple bourbon or the scarecrow crunch any day of the week.
I give this trail mix 8.5 out of 10 stars.
