Here are a few product review posted today from other blogs we follow.

Now that the holidays are over I can look forward to heavily discounted egg nog, even the faux stuff. (via I Ate A Pie)

Chocolate that smells like perfume? Oh great. I wonder how long before someone makes chocolate that smells like strippers. You put your stripper on my chocolate! You put on chocolate in my stripper! (via Chocablog)

Margaret’s Hope Silver Moon kind of sounds like a craft beer name, but it’s a tea name. I noticed a lot of tea names sound like beer names. So does that make Lipton the Bud Light of the tea world? (via Teaviews)

Combining gingerbread and toffee into a chocolate bar seems tame for a holiday candy bar from Vosges, the same company that put bacon into a bar. I really expected mistletoe berries, Christmas tree needles or reindeer jerky. (via The Candy Enthusiast)

The Mango Pineapple Green Tea V8 V-Fusion + Tea combines pineapple, apple and orange fruit juices, mango puree, vegetable juice and green tea.

What? Are those the only liquids V8 could fit into this beverage hybrid?

That’s disappointing to see from the company that’s able to merge the juices from tomatoes and seven other vegetables that I didn’t know could be juiced — beets, celery, carrots, lettuce, parsley, watercress and spinach — to create their original V8 juice.

We live in a world where it’s possible to stuff a chicken into a duck and then stuff those two into a turkey, so, I’m sorry, color me initially unimpressed when it comes to the Mango Pineapple Green Tea V8 V-Fusion + Tea.

V8 could definitely learn a thing or two from witches or those college kids who mix every cheap clear alcohol possible with several fruit juices to make a potent jungle juice that will probably cause several people to end up with Sharpie pen writings on their faces, produce a few gallons of vomit, and result in one, maybe two, pregnancies.

The V8 V-Fusion + Tea is the latest variation from V8′s V-Fusion line, which combines 100 percent fruit and vegetable juices to give people the opportunity to consume 1/2 cup of vegetables and 1/2 cup of fruit in a state of matter that’s usually suited for babies and those who just had their wisdom teeth removed.

The USDA recommends a daily intake of 2 1/2 cups of vegetables and 2 cups of fruit, and the V8 V-Fusion + Tea line does help drinkers get there, but only 1/4 of a cup at a time since it’s made with only 50 percent juice.

However, because it’s made with only 50 percent juice, it has significantly less sugar and calories than the original V-Fusion line and its consistency isn’t as thick.

The Mango Pineapple Green Tea V8 V-Fusion + Tea has more of a mango flavor than pineapple, and it has a sweet vegetable aftertaste. “Sweet vegetable aftertaste” may sound bad, especially as a potential band name, but with this beverage, it’s all right. While the green tea doesn’t provide much flavor, it does make the beverage lighter tasting than the regular V8 V-Fusion.

While I feel the Mango Pineapple Green Tea V8 V-Fusion + Tea is a weak ass compilation of liquids, I do think it’s a tasty and refreshing beverage.

(Nutrition Facts – 8 ounces – 50 calories, 0 grams of fat, 60 milligrams of sodium, 200 milligrams of potassium, 13 grams of carbohydrates, 10 grams of sugar, 0 grams of protein, 10% vitamin A, 2% calcium, 10% vitamin E, 100% vitamin C and 2% iron.)

Item: Pineapple Mango Green Tea V8 V-Fusion + Tea
Price: $5.69 (regular price)
Size: 46 ounces
Purchased at: Safeway
Rating: 7 out of 10
Pros: Tasty and refreshing. Strong mango flavor. Turducken. Provides 100% vitamin C per serving. Easy to drink. Less sugar and calories than regular V8 V-Fusion. Jungle juice.
Cons: Weak ass compilation of liquids. Made up of 50 percent juice. Light green tea flavor. Provides 1/10th of your daily recommended intake of vegetables. Sweet Vegetable Aftertaste would make a horrible band name. Jungle juice.

Here are a few product reviews posted this week from other blogs we follow.

Turkey Perky Jerky is quite quirky, but I think its energy giving ability is quite murky. Yeah, suck it, Dr. Seuss! I got the juice. (via Caffeine-A-Holic)

If Hot Pockets keeps attaching pockets to their Hot Pockets, will we soon have to call them Hot Cargo Pants? (via Freezer Burns)

The Food and Drug Administration is banning alcoholic energy drinks. I hope they’re not also planning to ban beer battered fries. (via Yum Yucky)

If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if a brownie hooked up with an Oreo cookie, wonder no more. (via Food Junk)

If only high fructose corn syrup was something I could buy off the shelf, then I would have something incestuous to sweeten Korean corn tea with. (via Japanese Snack Reviews)

Lotte Green Gum has chlorophyll. If I chew an entire pack, will I knock myself unconscious? Oh wait, I’m being told chloroform knocks people out. Dammit! Now I know why I’m having so much trouble kidnapping people at the park. (via Snack Love)

A couple of years ago, V8 created their V-Fusion line that combined vegetable juice with fruit juices to help people consume more vegetables and fruits and to help expand the product line beyond a salted vegetable juice, which I usually see used as a replacement for tomato juice in a Bloody Mary.

It seems combining fruit and vegetable juices wasn’t enough for V8, because they decided to add a third partner — green tea. An 8-ounce serving of the new V8 V-Fusion + Tea provides provides 1/4 cup of vegetables, 1/4 cup of fruits and the antioxidant power of green tea. Although I’m not sure how much antioxidant power the green tea provides.

V8 V-Fusion + Tea comes in three flavors: Raspberry Green Tea, Pineapple Mango Green Tea and Pomegranate Green Tea. All three come in 46-ounce bottles and contain 50 calories, 0 grams of fat, 60 milligrams of sodium, 13 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 10 grams of sugar, and 100% vitamin C per 8 ounce serving.

(Note: Please read this letter with a Southern accent.)

To My Dearest Jacqueline D. Box,

It has been a long time since I had an opportunity to write to you as I have been occupied by the hassles of our country’s Civil War. I feel impelled to write a correspondence to you because I sense that death may soon be upon me and the thousands of men who fight alongside me. Your rain of letters bring sunshine to my days of fighting those from the North. I again apologize that I am not able to reciprocate an equal amount of correspondence. It is quite good to hear about every minuscule moment in your life and because I keep your extensive book-length letters near my heart, you have prevented the enemy’s ammunition from striking my body.

Oh, how my war-battered heart yearns for your warm embrace, tender kisses, ample bosom and your Jacqueline D. Box Flavored Iced Teas. The battlefield on a Southern summer day is like what I imagine the pits of fire and brimstone in hell feel like and when my throat is dry from all the yelling as we charge the Union soldiers, which I don’t really understand because it lets the enemy know where we are, all I desire is you and either your refreshing mango, raspberry or peach iced teas made with fresh-brewed tea.

Although, to be honest, since I may never gaze upon your round, joyful face again, I don’t really care for your mango flavored iced tea because it tastes like a sweet vegetable and not at all like the exotic tropical fruit of mango whose flavor makes my taste buds tingle with delight.

However your raspberry and peach flavored iced teas make my heart skip a beat and refreshes me like a plunge into the cooling waters of Old Harper’s Lake on a blistering summer’s day. I don’t know how you are able to create such delightful refreshments. I could drink them both relentlessly until I burst at the seams. Both beverages have just the right amount of flavor, without being too sweet, giving them a satisfying balance of fruit and tea flavor. Just writing about it in this correspondence makes me desire it even more. Not even this cup of water from great Mississippi River can quench my thirst like your flavored iced teas can.

But alas, my love, I fear for the worst and may never sample your flavored iced tea ever again.

Jacqueline, if I do not return, do not think we shall not meet again. For if you feel warmth when you are cold or a cool breeze on a July afternoon, it shall be my spirit watching over you, protecting you and scaring away any possible suitors.

Your dearest,

Marvo

(Nutrition Facts – 24 ounces – Mango – 83 calories, 0 grams of fat, 14 milligrams of sodium, 115 milligrams of potassium, 21 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 19 grams of sugar and 0 grams of protein. Raspberry – 78 calories, 0 grams of fat, 12 milligrams of sodium, 119 milligrams of potassium, 20 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 18 grams of sugar and 0 grams of protein. Peach – 82 calories, 0 grams of fat, 14 milligrams of sodium, 115 milligrams of potassium, 21 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 19 grams of sugar and 0 grams of protein.)

Item: Jack in the Box Flavored Iced Teas
Price: $1.99 each
Size: 24 ounces
Purchased at: Jack in the Box
Rating: 5 out of 10 (mango)
Rating: 8 out of 10 (peach)
Rating: 8 out of 10 (raspberry)
Pros: Peach and raspberry flavors were extremely refreshing. Made with fresh-brewed tea. Healthier alternative than most drinks available at Jack in the Box. Perfect balance of fruit and tea. Came in bigger cups than I thought.
Cons: The mango flavor disappointed because tastes like a sweet vegetable. Doesn’t come in a variety of colors like their promotional pictures. The syrup the use might settle to the bottom, so remember to stir before drinking. Not sure if the tea provides any health benefits.

It’s hard to imagine why it’s taken so long for the Japanese makers of Coke to come up with the Green Tea Coke Plus with Catechin. After all, the Japanese love green tea. They love it HARD. I think they love it just as much as smoking, manga, short schoolgirl skirts, posing for pictures and physically abusive game shows.

I’m also surprised the American makers of Coke didn’t come up with it sooner because, as they’ve proven time and time again, they’ll shoehorn almost anything into their cola. They’ll shoehorn it HARD. Some ingredients they’ve added to Coke or Diet Coke include: coffee, vanilla, black cherry, lime, lemon, Splenda, cherry and zeros.

Although it doesn’t specifically say on its label, the Green Tea Coke Plus with Catechin is really less like regular Coke and more like either Diet Coke or Coke Zero since it contains artificial sweeteners and no calories. Despite its name, it doesn’t contain vitamins like the U.S. version of Diet Coke Plus. The “plus” in this soda’s name is either for the catechins the green tea provides or it’s being marketed to sumo wrestlers.

Catechins are antioxidants and are mostly found in teas, but also in some chocolates. Studies have shown that catechins prevent plaque from building up on artery walls, some forms of cancer and aging. In my personal studies with catechins and green tea, it seems to turn me into a pompous ass by making me extend my pinky outward when drinking tea.

The Green Tea Coke Plus’ smell and initial flavor reminds me of the American version of Coke Zero, but not as prominent, which doesn’t surprise me because Coke from Japan tends to have a slightly muted flavor compared with their American counterparts. The green tea flavor doesn’t kick in until a few moments later, but when it does, it’s subtle and without any of the bitterness that green tea is known for.

Being someone who enjoys Coke Zero, I enjoyed the flavor of the Green Tea Coke Plus with Catechin, although I wish it had a little bit more green tea flavor. As for the catechins, I think you’d be better off drinking cups of regular green tea because there’s probably not a significant amount of catechins in each bottle of Green Tea Coke Plus, unlike green tea itself.

But overall, I like it HARD.

(Note: Orchid64, who purchased and sent the Green Tea Coke Plus for me, also reviewed it, along with Mike’s Blender. Also, below is a stupid experiment I did with the second bottle of Green Tea Coke Plus I had. It’s stupid because I totally wasted a good bottle of soda that’s hard for me to obtain. Enjoy my wastefulness.)

Item: Green Tea Coke Plus With Catechin
Price: 147 yen
Size: 500 ml
Purchased at: Received from Orchid64
Rating: 7 out of 10
Pros: I like it HARD. Tastes like Coke Zero. No calories. Easy to drink. I guess some catechins are better than no catechins. Green tea. Short schoolgirl skirts on women 18 years old or older. Japanese game shows.
Cons: Only available in Japan. Not enough green tea flavor for me. Not sure how much catechins it provides, but it’s probably not much. Wasting a perfectly good bottle of soda with a stupid dated Mentos experiment.