“…Modernity does occasionally produce snacks and sweets that previous generations could never have imagined… Fun, flavorful, and even a little fizzy, each Root Beer Float Cookie Piece starts with a vanilla sandwich Cookie, filled with popping candy-imbued vanilla crème, which our supplier enrobes in a toothsome, remarkably Root Beer-reminiscent candy coating…. ” – TJ’s
All I’ve been reading about is how fantastic the new Trader Joe’s Root Beer Float Pieces candy is. So I had to try it.
OK so my honest review is yes, the first piece you taste does in fact taste surprisingly like a root beer float, with even a little fizzy sensation in your mouth from the pop rocks evoking soda bubbles. Yes, I grant you that someone did come up with the right list of food chemicals stuff to do that. (yikes! you don’t want to read that list of ingredients).
To be honest, I found it just OK. I would not say I loved this. Its OK. My wife however spit it out after a little bite.
I find it way, way too sweet. However kids may just love this as it is unusual. After that first piece where you get the root beer float concept and say to yourself, wow it does taste like a root beer float, the novelty wears off, and as a candy it’s ok but not amazing. After that and I ate two more pieces, I was pretty much done with it. I find it more gimmicky than a great candy.
$3.79 (7 oz bag)
Sorry internet. I would not buy it again.
Me, I love dark not milk chocolate myself. Give me some dark chocolate peanut butter cups any day of the week. I could probably eat the whole container.
70% cacao. Ingredients: Unsweetened chocolate and sugar.
I got some when this was a new item. Here’s my review.
When I tried it, to be honest I found it on the side of just being a wee bit too bitter for my palate. This is for “serious” chocolate people. It’s not chocolate any kid would like, but tastes to me like a really SERIOUS gourmet chocolate bar with a high percentage of excellent cacao, but minimal sugar. Think “bitter” for most people, including myself in that category.
The bar involves two countries. The cacao was sourced from Peru. The chocolate bar itself is crafted in Italy.
“Each Bar is made with just two simple ingredients—unsweetened chocolate and sugar—so you get a chocolate-eating experience that’s pure, unadulterated, and deeply satisfying. The 70% Cacao content delivers a flavor that’s bold and intense, yet still delightfully smooth, with complex floral notes that reveal themselves as the Chocolate melts on your tongue.”
I took a few more bites, and little by little I got more used to it. The taste of this chocolate started to grow on me as my taste buds adapted to it and this chocolate melted all over my tongue. Yes I get it, that this is amazing quality cacao/chocolate. As this chocolate bar is barely sweet at all, this may not be quite for everyone but if you really are into chocolate (raises his hand) I think is worth tasting at least once to see what excellent high percentage cacao chocolate tastes like and especially Peruvian cacao which I know know is amazing.
I later ate some of the chocolate along with my coffee , which had milk and sugar. When I alternated bites of this chocolate with sips of my coffee, the added sweetness balanced the bitter chocolate and gave my taste buds intense, delicious chocolate flavor. If you find this too dark and bitter on its own, try eating it with something on the sweet side. I am thinking of matching this chocolate along with a bite of Dried Mango or dried cranberries, or maybe a bite of vanilla ice cream…. Get the picture?
$2.49 (100g) note: the price likely when up since this was published…
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Trader Joe’s has come out with another variety of their CHOCOLATE BARK. I liked the original one with pretzels and sea salt (sweet and salty)
The new one comes in a pink bag. DARK CHOCOLATE BARK plus Puffed Quinoa and Freeze Dried Raspberries.
From Trader Joe’s: “The Bark you’ll find within each bag starts as a thin(ish) slab of rich Dark Chocolate studded with pieces of pleasantly tart freeze-Dried Raspberries and Puffed Quinoa.”
So I got some to review. At first I thought it was a bit sweet, however as frequently happens when I am tasting something from Trader Joe’s, I could not stop eating more. I kept saying to myself, “just one more bite.” Then I realize I had already devoured 3 or 4 pieces. Be warned, this chocolate may be slightly addictive.
This new variation on the dark chocolate slab is good. Quite tasty. In the bag quite a few largish pieces of the bark which you can break up into smaller bites. The chocolate combo is pretty yummy,, just a little bit on the sweet side however the tart dried raspberries in this does counterbalance it all out. There is a nice crunchy texture you get from the puffed quinoa in these, kind of like chocolate with Rice Krispies. Here its tiny puffed quinoa bits. The dried raspberries give a nice backnote of fruit in each bite.
Oh those French! They have such wonderful charcuterie and other pork products. However I wasn’t expecting to see it listed in these sweets which are a PRODUCT OF FRANCE.
A friend gave us these pretty tasty chocolate marshmallows to test out. They are pretty good if a bit sweet for my tastes. However as we were looking at the ingredients listed, we were all a bit surprised when when one of us noticed something we weren’t expecting.
She said “hey did you know this has pork in it?” I wasn’t expecting that! We looked at the label yes its got “pork” (“pork gelatin”). Now gelatin is in lots of food products (as gelatin or collogen) and I believed it was usually made from (cow) bones. However it can be made from other products too.
Just so you know.
Anyway just so you know!
So this could make this problem a bit of a no-no for some people, like Kosher Jews or Muslims. Sure Kosher products are clearly marked “K” for Kosher but but not Halal items have no markings to my knowledge. And there are many people who avoid pork for other reasons…
These are simply incredible, a must try for chocoholics. They are spectacularly delicious chocolate bars made with Belgian dark chocolate with a liquid-y center of yummy salted caramel. They come in a pack of 3 individually wrapped bars of 25gm each for $1.99. Imported from Belgium. SUPER WOW
Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups are one of the best products TJ sells. These chocolate goodies frequently show up on “Best Things At Trader Joe’s” lists, and for good reason, they’re fantastic, not too mention dangerously addictive. I think of these as “Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups For GrownUps”. Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy Reese’s cups on occasion but not like these peanut butter cups, because, let’s face it, these things are FAR, far better quality. These are the “adult” version of Reese’s. For one, these have better chocolate (and its real chocolate, the dark kind! Everyone knows Dark is the only chocolate if you are a real chocolate lover (count me in). These have better peanut butter stuff inside too. These cups are irresistible. I have an internal fight all the time, after eating one… “Umm, so good. I just need one more…” (I usually can stop at 2 or 3….or god help me, 4) But its not easy, they are that delicious. Sometimes you need a treat. Especially these days?
A one pound tub is $4.29. Would I buy them again? Just try and stop me!
I love chocolate covered espresso beans. The best ones that I’ve had are from Porto Rico imports, one of my favorite stores in New York City. I used to work a few blocks from Porto Rico and could pass by twice a week.The chocolate espresso beans they sell are two things for me. 1) Heaven. 2) Crack
If you love chocolate and love coffee they are too die for. They are $10 a pound but on occasion you catch them on sale for less.
So I saw these new product Coffee Lover Espresso Beans candies at Trader Joe’s and for just 99 cents (!) I said give ’em a try. Naturally not equal to Porto Rico’s masterpiece espresso bean candies which are their excellent freshly roasted espresso beans coated with dark chocolate.
These are “Not Bad”. The beans don’t have great flavor, they are not top quality at this price but they have some coffee/chocolate combo flavor. These are a bit on the too sweet for me. The brown ones in the package are OK. I was not crazy about the light color ones (cappuccino?). But still for under a buck, these are worth trying yourself to see what you think. Neither a rave or a rant, I’ll give these a “meh”.
This is a package of Trader Joe’s ‘Uncrystallized CANDIED GINGER’.
Its back!
Yes, its true. This now almost mythical TJ product is finally back in stock after being MIA and off the shelf at Trader Joe’s for more than one year!
Possibly due to some labeling issue (I heard some manager mention sulfites), possible due to supply issues, this was off the shelves at Trader Joe’s for a long long time. I mean over a year! Seems they’ve solved whatever the issue was because its back on the shelf. And the label on the back has only two things on it, ginger and sugar. Pretty natural product.
So I can finally get my fix for this (very) spicy adult candy. (Now should I buy a case?)
Minty chocolate crunchy bits. You can stuff them into stockings for a fun and unusual gift people WILL talk about. I sent these to my niece and nephew in Japan. I’m sure they are the only ones in Japan with this candy!
Trader Joe’s Rants & Raves (mostly raves, a few rants) 
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