The Candy Gurus don’t hold back the love for Jelly Belly. The size (small enough to eat a lot), consistency (not gooey on the inside), and of course the absolutely true-to-life flavors (coffee TASTES like coffee) make it hands down one of, if not the only jelly bean worth buying and eating. So when they sent us their latest flavors, care of Snapple, well, we had to review.

Interestingly, on this very day (if you are reading this on the post date) the Gurus and mini gurus are going on our first ever tour of the factory. Coincidence?! Come on, we ain’t idiots over here. We planned this baby!

So here’s the thing about these…they are — again, by default almost — good. They have the known Jelly Belly consistency and full flavors, and the right size so I can easily pop loads in my mouth at one sitting. They are also sorta refreshing, like the drinks would be.

On the package it says they are made with real ingredients, which includes cranberries, cherry juice, lemons, raspberries, mango juice, grape juice, kiwi juice and strawberry juice. And I don’t doubt it. Snapple must use these ingredients too. Still, I can only kind of taste all of those in the beans. It’s similar with Snapple drinks, to be honest with you. Snapple drinks are good and refreshing but do you realllllly taste those flavors in there, as true-to-life flavors? Juice these ingredients yourself and you’ll know what I’m getting at. (Oh Hey, Snapple? what in god’s name happened to Mint Tea?! BY FAR your best flavor ever)

Here’s the individge flave rundown:

Fruit Punch: Best of the bunch. Pops with flavor when you bite and just like what I expect from a fruit punch drink, so I didn’t need to stop and consider what I was eating.
Kiwi Strawberry: I taste the strawberry, but it’s the general strawberry flavor and maybe there’s Kiwi in there but who knows; Kiwi is the throw-away flavor of the last 10 years. Who decided that it always needs to go with strawberry, anyway? Let’s lose that trend.
Mango Madness: Sorry, can’t taste it. Mrs. Guru asked if maybe it was Guava. And with so many great Mango candies out there, the shortcomings here are all too clear.
Cranberry Raspberry: I like the tart of it. I taste more raspberry than cranberry, and neither is terribly strong or overt.
Pink Lemonade: This one is pretty right on. Tastes just the drink. I could eat a bag of just these.

The best part of eating Jelly Belly’s IMHO is that you can grab a handful and as you pop them in, you can figure out pretty easily what yr eating, and sometimes you make great little recipes (pina colada, cola and lime – yum) and sometimes not so great recipes (anything with popcorn flavor, for example). With these Snapple flaves, popping a few in just jumbles things up. Two or more flavors isn’t that remarkable unfortunately.

And there you have it. I’m a tad underwhelmed by the flavors though I like the candy overall, and I don’t think it’s Jelly Belly to blame but rather Snapple.