Jelly Belly Tries To Appeal To The Gatorade Crowd (Unsuccessfully) With Sport Beans Orange!

Orange Sport Beans Jelly Belly Jelly Beans
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The Good: Seems to have energizing qualities.
The Bad: Only fifteen beans in a pack, Not particularly orange flavor, Terrible aftertaste, Environmentally irresponsible packaging.
The Basics: Impossible to recommend, Jelly Belly Orange Sport Beans taste rancid, but seem to actually energize like they claim.


A few weeks ago, my wife and I were out at the grocery store and we saw the Jelly Belly Sport Beans and she lit up and said, we should get you those so you can review them! I've assembled a pretty awesome reputation for reviewing the Jelly Belly jelly bean line, so this seemed to make sense to me and we started by picking up the Orange flavored Sport Beans. These, however, quickly fell below the usual standards of Jelly Belly jelly beans and the concept seems to undo itself. The concept of Jelly Belly Sport Beans seems to be to fill the niche of energy drinks like Gatorade. However, right on the package, it mentions that one should drink water while consuming these Sport Beans. As a result, it seems to be a pointless product; after all, if you drink an energy drink like Gatorade, you get the electrolytes you're looking for and the fluid you need. Sport Beans add an extra step in the process.

For those who might never have had Jelly Belly jelly beans, these are easily the best jelly beans on the planet, packing a lot of flavor into a very small size. Unlike most jelly beans which are only vaguely flavored and are more based on colors, Jelly Belly jelly beans have a wide variety of actual flavors, like Dark Chocolate, Cinnamon, Lemon Drop, or their signature flavor Buttered Popcorn.

Basics

Orange is a flavor of Jelly Belly Sport Beans jelly beans. The Sport Beans jelly beans are approximately three-quarters inches long by one-half inch wide and they are roughly bean-shaped. These are bigger than the usual Jelly Belly jelly beans.

Orange flavored Jelly Belly's are available only in 1 oz. plastic packages which are terrible for the environment. The packages contain fifteen pills, er, beans and they are very consistent pack to pack.

Orange flavored Sport Bean Jelly Bellys are remarkably easy to recognize and distinguish from other Jelly Bellys as well. They are a translucent orange color without any markings and are larger than other Jelly Bellys. They are the only orange colored Sport Beans.

Ease of Preparation

These are jelly beans, not running a marathon in jelly shoes! Preparing them is as easy as opening the packet, and popping the beans into your mouth. In the case of the envelope, which is resealable, the jelly beans may be consumed all at once or over several days with no adverse effects to the freshness. It is highly recommended by the packaging and this reviewer that one consume these with water.

Taste

Orange is a lousy Jelly Belly in terms of taste. This Sport Bean does not seem to have an aroma, so there is no preparation for the consumer as to how it will taste.

Orange Sport Bean jelly beans taste only vaguely like oranges. Instead, they taste vaguely citrus-flavored and then very quickly the taste turns to salty and dry. The taste is like eating crystallized Gatorade and they are gross.

Sadly, the aftertaste lingers until one washes their mouth out with water, coffee or something much stronger. On the taste front, these fall fast and hard.

Nutrition

Again, these are jelly beans, but they are intended to be an energy snack supplement and this is all that saves them from the bowels advising readers avoid them in my book. Sport Beans are actually a legitimate source of nutrition. These are an energy supplement, so they are loaded with calories (100 in the 15 beans) and nutrients like potassium and sodium, which are lost during heavy exercise. A serving is listed as 1 oz. (15 beans), which means that in a single serving, there are 100 calories.

The thing is, Jelly Belly jelly beans are not as bad as they could be in the nutrition area. They have no fat and no protein, but for those who have ever dated a Vegan, these are Vegan compliant because they contain no gelatin! The main ingredients are evaporated cane juice, tapioca syrup and orange juice from orange puree, so it's not like this is an all-natural food, but they could be far, far worse.

Storage/Clean-up

Sport Bean jelly beans have a shelf life of over one year and because they come in an individual sealed package, they retain their freshness. Kept in a cool, dry place, the beans retain their flavor perfectly.

As for cleanup, unless one allows the Jelly Belly to get hot to the point that the waxy coating on the bean melts, the dyes on these do not bleed or denature, so there is usually no cleanup necessary, not even washing one's hands after eating them (always wash your hands before eating Jelly Bellys, even if you don't have to hand-squeeze these beans). I've never had Orange Jelly Belly Sport Beans stain anything.

Overall

Orange Sport Bean Jelly Bellys taste gross, but they seem to do what they claim to. So, if you're into sports and want to avoid sports drinks in favor of jelly beans and water, this is a good way to go. For everyone else, this is a waste of money.

For other Jelly Belly Jelly Bean flavors, please check out my reviews of:
Jelly Belly Chili Mango
Jelly Belly Dark Chocolate
Jelly Belly Superfruit mix

3/10

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© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.



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