Mike and Ike Tangy Twister

After the last review of Mike and Ike I did, I was hesitant to try another kind, but temptation got the best of me. On a run to the drug store (I needed a can opener in a pinch), I picked up a box of Tangy Twister.

My expectations were fairly low, but they were cheap. When I opened the inner bag, I was pleasantly surprised by a fruity smell. Maybe it's because my expectations were so low, but I was almost blown away with how good these were (okay, they weren't THAT good, but you get the idea). I'll do a run down flavor by flavor.


Apple was pale green, and tasted like the Zours green apple flavor. It was pretty good! Very sour, with hints of Granny Smith apple, but it definitely wasn't a natural taste.

Raspberry, the dark red, was much better than the raspberry flavor in the Berry Blast variety. It was tangy with a raspberry-esque zing that reminded me of more expensive candy (Jelly Belly jelly beans).

Cherry was the lighter red, and it was also a lot like the Jelly Belly Very Cherry bean. It wasn't my favorite, but it definitely wasn't a bad cherry flavor. Once again, tangier than it was sweet.

Pineapple, in yellow, was pretty cool. It tasted like punch, the kind with lemon-lime soda and pineapple juice! Very sour, and delicious. It wasn't exclusively pineapple, but I really liked this one.

Citrus Punch, the orange, was so delicious. The taste was made up of a little orange, a little lemon, and thankfully, no floor cleaner. It was super sour and tangy, and just as good as the Pineapple.

Although the citrus punch, pineapple, and green apple flavors stood out most to me, I can honestly say that there wasn't a flavor that I didn't like. They were all sour and tangy, and that's how I like my fruity candy. These really made up for how much I disliked the berry flavors!

A

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Berry Blast Mike and Ike

The last kind of Mike and Ikes in my trio of reviews was sadly the worst. I am a big fan of real berries, but these were very disappointing. The back of the box claims that they are "bursting with fruit juice flavor!" That means exactly what it says - the flavor of fruit juice.

Once again, there are five flavors, and I'll take a look at them individually. I tried one of each to see without looking at the box to see if I could guess the flavors, but the only one I got was strawberry.



Blue Berry is noticeably not "blueberry" and it fits, because it doesn't taste like blueberries. It reminds me of a Dum Dum flavor, I'm just not sure which one.

Wild Berry doesn't really mean much to me, either. This one is green, and doesn't really taste like a berry. It's just vaguely fruit punchy.

Strawberry is very Chupa Chups strawberry - if you've ever had one of those suckers, you'll know what I mean. It tastes like how a strawberry car air freshener smells.

Mixed Berry is pretty forgettable. It's certainly not bursting with flavor and it's just vaguely berry.

Red Raspberry doesn't really taste like raspberries, either. It's missing the tangy flavor that I love in raspberries and it just tastes sweet.

So, these were pretty disappointing and forgettable. At least my curiosity about the various flavors of Mike and Ike is somewhat satisfied. I heard the Tangy Twister kind is good...

C-

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Mike and Ike Italian Ice

I suppose this is part two of my three part Mike and Ike review series. Here we have Mike and Ike Italian Ice flavors, which have been out for a while and have been reviewed by many other people. I might as well toss my two cents in.

Italian ice isn't really something I have a lot, and it's not really something I think of as strong enough to have it's own variety of spinoff candy, but I do give them credit for being creative. There were five flavors in the box: cherry, blue raspberry, watermelon, orange, and lemon.


Orange had a good tangy outer shell, but the inside was really sweet and not orangey enough. It reminded me of watered down sherbet. Probably my favorite.

Cherry reminded me of Kool Aid, but it was pretty blah and I don't have much to say about it.

Blue raspberry definitely tasted blue and reminded me of a slushy. I didn't really get any raspberry notes from it though. Just blue.

Watermelon didn't taste like watermelon at all to me. I thought it was an overly sweet green apple before I looked at the box.

Lemon was okay, but not tangy enough, and was a little bit like a floor cleaner.

Overall, these weren't very impressive. I did like that they tasted like slushies, but maybe if I had Italian ice more often, I would better be able to compare them to the real thing.

C+

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Mike and Ike Lemonade Blends

I'm not sure why, but I never used to like Mike and Ike, despite my love of fruity candy. I preferred Skittles. Somewhere along the line when I was an adult, Zours came out and I loved those, so when I saw Mike and Ike Lemonade Blends at a drugstore last weekend, I thought they might be worth a try.

The box includes five flavors: lime lemonade, strawberry lemonade, raspberry lemonade, and tangerine lemonade. I don't know if all boxes are like this, but mine seemed like it was about 50% plain lemonade, the other half being a pretty even mixture of the other four flavors. Here's a quick rundown of how each flavor tasted.



Lemonade was not too sour, but a nice mix of sweet and sour with a nice lemony touch. It didn't taste like a cleaning product, which is always a risk with lemon-flavored candy.

Lime Lemonade was very similar to Lemonade, but with a hint of lime. Again, it had a nice sweet/sour balance. I think it's the sour coating, which seemed a little different from regular Mike and Ikes in that it actually offset the sweetness of the jelly center.

Tangerine Lemonade wasn't very tangy, but it was okay. The flavor wasn't very strong, so I assume that they were aiming for orange but fell short and called it tangerine instead.

Strawberry Lemonade reminded me of PEZ, but was pretty good. It tasted like a tangy fruit snack. This one was probably my favorite of the bunch.

Raspberry Lemonade tasted a little artificial, as raspberry candy often does. It wasn't bad, but the flavor wasn't true to raspberries.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with this mix of Mike and Ikes. The slight sourness was nice. I don't know that I would buy these again, though, because there are many candies I'd rather eat. They were fun to try, though!

B+

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