Sweet Maple Confections

"Sweet Maple Candy is a manufacturer and distributor of world's best jawbreakers, pressed dextrose candies and gumballs. Their dextrose candies are known for their superior flavors and amazingly beautiful finish. Their product line also includes great tasting gumballs and jawbreakers in a variety of sizes and flavors."

Discovering Sweet Maple introduced me to a style of confection I didn't know the name of.  "Pressed dextrose candies".  Aha.  That is what hard sugary candies that are made out of basically just compacted sugar are called!  I had no idea.  Think Runts, SweeTARTS, that sort of thing.  And, Sweet Maple specializes in them.

I've tried several shapes and style, and I must say, I didn't know I liked pressed dextrose candies, but, apparently I do!

Silly Bananas.

"What a colorful candy assortment! Silly Bananas have the same fruity taste and pressed candy texture as Banana Heads, but you get a nice color mix of pink, orange, blue, green, and of course, yellow."

These were just fun to eat.  Really, just sugary and sweet and kinda fruity, and I'm pretty sure they all were the same flavor, but they were sooo hard and crunchy and actually just awesome by the small handful.

I know they don't sound special, but, I really enjoyed them (once I got over wishing the yellow ones were banana flavored like Runts).

****.

Flower Garden Mix Up.

"Sweet-tart and crunchy, these pretty posies are flower-fully delicious!"

The "Flower Garden" mix was similar, same texture that I really did like, sweet sweet sweet, and slightly tart.  Like a harder SweeTARTS.

Again, simple, but, quite enjoyable.  I liked the form of the Silly Bananas more for some reason though. ***+.

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Jittery John's Iced Coffee

When is the last time you had a flask ... of coffee?  If you are a fan of Jittery John's, perhaps your answer is "quite recently", but otherwise, this may be a bit novel to you.  It was to me.

"At Jittery John's, we make coffee. But not just any coffee, we make the richest, smoothest, strongest, most delicious-est Cold Brew Coffee that you can get this side of California."

Jittery John's is a local company, based in SF, that makes cold brew, and only cold brew.   Very concentrated cold brew.  They roast their own beans locally.

I mostly only see the signature espresso blend around town, but once I managed to find a single origin as well.  You can find Jittery John's in a few retailers around town, and on Good Eggs for delivery.  Always in a flask.  Believe me, it stands out on the shelf!

Espresso Blend.

"Dark chocolate and blood orange dominate the flavors of this blend of beans from Ethiopia and Guatamala. Our Espresso Blend is strong, yet very drinkable straight or with a splash of milk. Or Bourbon. You choose.   Enjoy a little something that looks sinister but is totally legit at 8AM. "

Well ... I liked the flask.  And now I have a lovely re-usable glass flask!

But, I didn't really like the product that much.

The coffee itself was fairly bitter, and really quite oily.  I decided to pour some into a glass with ice (I know, far less fun, but, I wanted to ice it, and water it down a bit to improve the flavor for me), and there was a pool of oil floating on top.  Eh.

I decided to try heating some up too, and that actually was more successful, although I'm sure the coffee maker would hate to hear this.  I mellowed it out a little and drank it, but I wouldn't buy this product again.  But I have a nice drinking vessel now!

**.

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Single Origin Colombian

"This light roasted Colombian coffee has a silky body, with plum and cacao flavors.  Our Single Origin cold brew changes seasonally to showcase the distinctness of each region."

The single origin cold brew (not an espresso blend like the other) was slightly less intense, but it too was dark, bitter, and oily.  I know they want it intense, and it is designed to be cut with water or milk, but ... the oils?  Perhaps this is just a style thing?  Regardless, it doesn't seem to be the style for me.

**.

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