Jelly Belly Bubbly, Champagne Jelly Beans - Target
Champagne wishes and caviar dreams... but in jelly bean form, and without the caviar. So really, just champagne jelly beans. That's still kind of fancy, right? Who would want caviar flavored jellybeans anyway? (The answer is Jelly Belly.)
When I was in New York for the Summer Fancy Food Show I got to try (literally) one of these jelly beans, and from what I remembered, this flavor was really tasty and far better than the Jelly Belly Draft beans which I reviewed HERE.
Since I liked them, I wanted to find more to review, but these shimmery little beans were nowhere to be found! I could only find the equally shimmery Draft Beer beans, and we all know I wasn't a fan of those. Completely at random, this tiny champagne bottle shaped container popped up in Target's Christmas candy aisle, so even though I have a massive hoarded pile of food on my hands, I bought this anyway. (Which is how hoarding works people! It's a slippery slope!)
The champagne beans come in a tiny plastic bottle mocked up to look like a teeny tiny version of the real thing, just like the Draft beans that come in a tin soda-shaped can. The bottle is much smaller in size, and even though it's super cute, it was a pain in the butt to open. I had a hard time peeling back the plastic at the top, and then the flip cap is a bit of a hassle too. Imagine Tic-Tacs, but in a teeny tiny wine bottle. It looks cute, but it doesn't open or dispense easily. (I almost broke a nail, which is such an obnoxious sounding thing to say, but I felt it was worth mentioning.) Do I like the packaging? Sure, it's cute and would be an adorable party favor or stocking stuffer based on it's looks alone, but it's not all that functional.
By comparison, the Draft bean-can opens incredibly easily, and the beans inside are portioned off into 5 tiny pyramid-shaped packets. The champagne container only shares beans Tic-Tac style, but this version has it's own shareable pre-portioned packets. Both are cute as far as form, but when it comes to function, the beer can is the hands down winner. It's so convenient and easy. (Insert tired gender-specific stereotypical joke here.)
Now I want to point out that I did NOT repurchase the beer beans for this review, I still had them! They're in pre-portioned little packets, and I think they taste gross, so they've been sitting around inside this can for a looong time! I bought this can last summer at Five Below, then got more packets of this stuff from the NY fancy food show (which Jelly Belly were handing out for free), and finally got around to reviewing it in September on YouTube. I may not like the yeasty beer-like taste of these beans, but I can't deny how good this packaging is. Everything about it is well done, even the plastic packages are really appealing. The bubbly champagne version just doesn't compare. It has none of the functionality of the beer can, and none of the proportioned bells and whistles.
The champagne bean has the same, beautiful, iridescent gold sheen that the beer and Frozen beans had, which makes it absolutely gorgeous to look at, but it's pale off-white coloring made this a b*tch to photograph. I might change the backdrop to something darker and try again. Against the white, this was near impossible to get a good photo of.
It's super pretty, but how does it taste?
Pretty good, but barely champagne-like. The candy is sweet and chewy, like all the other Jelly Belly beans out there, but the flavoring is a bit fruity, like white grape juice, with a hint of almond paste, or marzipan. I absolutely love how these look and taste, but they aren't terribly authentic. If you're looking to get your bubbly fix from these beans, you'll be disappointed, but if you're looking for a gorgeous candy that tastes great, you've come to the right place.
Of the two adult-oriented beans, I think these are far superior, but I don't like drinking beer, so I am incredibly biased. Even though the packaging is a bit tricky and inconvenient, I would definitely buy these again, and I'm considering buying a case of these on Amazon to hand out as favors on New Year's Eve. (Also worth mentioning, there is no booze in either of these beans, so these are safe for children and no one will be getting any kind of "buzz" other than a sugar high.)
© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net
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