Jelly Belly "Snapple Mix"

As I've already confessed to my love for Jelly Belly Beans it will probably come as not much of a surprise to you that I'm going to present another mix in this post.

Similar to Jelly Belly "Soda Pop Shoppe", the flavours in the following mix are also based on drinks that actually already exist. Instead of transforming drinks from different soda brands into the famous bean-shaped sugar candy, they focused only on one brand, this time: Snapple!

Whilst the artificial flavouring/ colouring could have been a point of criticism against "Soda Pop Shoppe", Jelly Belly claims to only have used 100% natural flavours as well as colours only from natural sources in this mix.

To be more precise, they used real fruit purees and juices in the production, such as cranberries, lemons, raspberries, cherry juice, grape juice, kiwi juice, mango juice or strawberry juice. Sounds promising, doesn't it?

Let's have a closer look at the 5 different flavours in this mix:

1. Fruit Punch

What a way to start! The taste of this bean could best be described as intensive and fruity. More precisely, it is a nice blend of grape, pineapple, orange and apple flavours. Although I have to say the grape flavour is definitely the most dominant one. This might also be due to the colour which I wouldn’t necessarily associate with pineapples or oranges.

2. Kiwi-Strawberry

Maybe I just haven’t eaten enough kiwis in my life to distinguish the taste in this blend or you actually can’t notice them. All I can perceive would be at most a slightly tangy aftertaste.

However, the taste of strawberries is very well distinguishable. In my opinion, Strawberry-flavoured candy can often taste really artificial which is fortunately not the case with these beans thanks to the all natural ingredients.
All in all, I do like this flavour but I don't think it's too fancy at the same time. If I were to name this sort, I'd consider the name "Simple Strawberry" much more appropriate than "Snapple Kiwi Strawberry".

3. Mango Madness

Well, this one I can definitely identify more clearly! Generally, I like it better when there’s only one flavour/fruit to taste. As soon as there are two flavours or more involved, my taste buds don’t seem to be able to recognize any of them anymore.

Anyway, this bean just tastes like real mango. By that, I don't mean like candy that is supposed to taste somewhat like mango but more like the dried and crystallized mangoes which I like to get at my local supermarket. This is possibly my favourite flavour!

4. Cranberry Raspberry

Again, we've got a combination of two different fruits.
This sort does taste somewhat berry-like (which might, again, be an association based on the bean's colour) but, by and large, it mostly tastes sweet and sugary.
Maybe, if I were to guess, I could have made out a hint of raspberry which certainly is not really distinct, though. Anyway, I wouldn't have entertained the idea that it's also supposed to taste like cranberries even after three attempts. This might be my least favourite sort of the 5 - it's just nothing special.

5. Pink Lemonade

This sort really gets me into a summer mood! (even though it’s currently still freezing cold where I live)
It strongly reminds me of a refreshing pink grapefruit lemonade. I'd describe it as tangy, tart and sweet at the same time. Generally speaking, it's simply a really nice and fresh flavour!

All in all, I can definitely say that I'm a fan of this mix.
Amongst the Jelly Belly "Beanaturals" it is the only mix so far that includes only natural flavours. Maybe they aren't as overwhelmingly intensive as some other flavours with artificial flavourings added but I think that in this manner they can come as close to the taste of real fruits as sugar candies can get.

Of course, an actual comparison to the real prototype drinks by Snapple would be interesting, but they are unfortunately not available in Germany, yet (at least as far as I know).

Have you already had this mix before? Or have you actually tried one of the Snapple drinks? ☺