Spice season

You've got to be cautious when you combine chocolate with fall flavors. I love the traditional brown spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger. When they're blended together, they create a magical taste. But when you add chocolate, things can go south very quickly. With that thinking in mind, I was hesitant to try the new Pumpkin Spice m&m's that are out on the shelves now. I figured if I didn't like them, I could always stick them in a candy dish at work. I'm happy to report, however, that they were a big hit with the Sugar Baby. These are milk chocolate m&m's with pumpkin spices. The flavors are subtle enough so that they don't scream "SPICE!" They're more like milk chocolate m&m's with a little pizzazz. Were these my favorite? No, but I wouldn't turn them away, either.

A less successful example of chocolate and spice can be tasted in the new Starbucks Chocolate Chai Tea Latte. I thought, "Yum! I love chai, and I love chocolate!" Yeah, well, turns out they aren't exactly a match made in heaven. The spices are too off balance here. If I had to guess, I'd say the nutmeg and the chocolate are fighting against each other. I'll stick to the regular chai next time.

Starbuck's Jelly Beans

In Starbucks the other day, I almost didn't see the little box of jellybeans on the counter. For $1, I grabbed this little packet of assorted-flavor jellybeans and tucked them into my bag. I totally forgot about them until I picked the Sugarbaby up from camp one day and he was starving. As you can see, he had no problem devouring the whole package before I even had a chance to take a picture. The flavors were strawberry, peach, fruit punch and I think lemon and orange. From the few that I tried, they were good but a little too sweet for my tastes. They made my teeth hurt.
I don't know if Jelly Belly is the maker of these beans, although I suspect they probably are. I've compared the Starbucks package next to a Jelly Belly sample-size package. I still haven't tried the honey jelly beans, but they've been given good reviews across the board. Needless to say, there were more jelly beans in the Starbucks package than in the sample bag, which is a good thing, especially if you're the Sugar Baby.