The Good: Great realistic flavor, Environmentally responsible bulk, Taste does not fade
The Bad: No real nutritional value
The Basics: Cafe Latte Jelly Bellys are the perfect mix of coffee strength and milky sweetness in a jelly bean form, a great flavor to bulk up on!
I have a pretty great love of coffee and were it not for my very limited budget, I am sure that every day I would wake up with a Mocha Cappuccino from Dunkin' Donuts. I love their drinks (there are no Caribou Coffee locations near me) and I drink there quite a bit when money permits. It is because of that I feel pretty safe in pointing out that lattes are not the most flavorful drinks in the world. As a result, it is somewhat odd that Jelly Belly chose to make a latte flavored Jelly Belly when they made Cafe Latte flavor.
Of course, Cafe Latte is hardly the most esoteric or interesting flavor from a company that specializes in unique flavors of jelly beans. It is Jelly Belly that created jelly beans like Pomegranate Cosmo, Raspberry, Strawberry Daiquiri and their signature flavor, Buttered Popcorn! But when Jelly Belly made a Cafe Latte flavor, they reinvigorated my interest in Jelly Bellys and I eagerly approached getting a case of them.
Who needs ten pounds of Cafe Latte flavored Jelly Bellys? Anyone who would blow their budget at Starbucks if they didn't have to pay rent would be my first guess. Anyone who might like Cafe Latte Jelly Belly jelly beans will likely find that this is the best way to get them in bulk in an environmentally responsible way for the least amount of money.
Basics
Cafe Latte is a flavor of Jelly Belly jelly beans. Jelly Belly jelly beans are approximately one half inch long by one quarter inch wide and they are roughly bean-shaped. These little candies are marketed to taste precisely like a smooth coffee drink and they live up to that quite well.
Cafe Latte flavored Jelly Bellys are available in a wide array of quantities, but the largest quantity available is the ten pound bulk case. This is a decent-sized box with a plastic lining and while some might wonder why anyone would need a ten pound box, I ask, "How many Caribou Coffee locations do you have around you and how much could you spend there each day?!" I suspect that for most people, a ten pound case is a year's supply of these jelly beans.
Cafe Latte flavored Jelly Bellys are remarkably easy to differentiate from every other Jelly Belly as they are a sickly tan-gray color that is unlike any other. They are darker and grayer than flavors like Toasted Marshmallow and only in low lighting could they be mistaken for Peanut Butter.
Ease Of Preparation
These are jelly beans, not winning the Tim Horton's lotto and getting coffee for life! In the case of the ten pound box, one might want to put them in a candy dish or mug as opposed to always going into the box. Then again, there is no law against eating them right from the box, so you can always drink right out of the ten pound case Cafe Latte Jelly Bellys.
Taste
Cafe Latte Jelly Bellys have no aroma, which might set a consumer up for a more bland Jelly Belly experience than they are actually likely to have. Even in the whole case, though, there is no scent that actually smells like rich coffee.
Fortunately, the taste is much better than the lack of smell. The coating is slightly sweet and there is a light milky taste to the beans. Cracking the thin, hard coating on the Cafe Latte Jelly Belly instantly releases a much more bold taste of coffee and the bean lives up to the potential of tasting like a coffee drink. The flavor is not so strong as to be overbearing, nor is it so weak that it tastes like milk. Instead, this tastes like exactly what it claims to be, a lighter coffee drink. The taste is distinctive and instantly recognizable to all fancy coffee drink drinkers!
As well, Cafe Latte flavored Jelly Bellys do not diminish in taste when you eat vast quantities of them. No, these taste like Cafe Latte bite after bite, never fading and that only adds to the value of the ten pound case.
Nutrition
Again, these are jelly beans, so anyone looking to them for nutrition needs to understand they are no more nutritious than actual coffee drinks! Jelly beans, even Jelly Belly jelly beans, are not a legitimate source of nutrition. These are a snack food, a dessert, and are in no way an adequate substitute for a real meal. A serving is listed at thirty-five beans, with each Jelly Belly jelly bean having approximately four calories. This means that in a single serving, there are 140 calories, which is 12% of your daily recommended intake.
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! They have only one percent of the daily sodium with 15 mg and they are gluten free! The main ingredients are sugar, corn syrup and modified food starch, so it's not like this is an all-natural food, but they could be far, far worse.
Storage/Clean-up
Jelly Belly jelly beans have a shelf life of approximately one year and I have yet to run across a stale Jelly Belly (though that could have something to do with a package never surviving a year around me and this flavor doesn't even last six months usually). They remain freshest when they are kept in an airtight container (the bag in the bulk box is sufficient if it is kept closed) and they ought to be kept in a cool environment. Storing them in hot places is likely to make the beans stick together and be gross. 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 doing anything involving jelly beans or coffee beans). I've never had Cafe Latte Jelly Bellys stain anything.
Overall
Cafe Latte Jelly Belly jelly beans a surprisingly good embodiment of the flavor they claim to have and are well worth stocking up on!
For other Jelly Belly flavors reviewed by me, please check out:
Sour Lemon
Mixed Berry Smoothie
Cinnamon
9/10
For other food reviews, please be sure to visit my index page by clicking here!
© 2010, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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