Starbucks Christmas Lattes

I like coffee, but I do not like just black coffee.
For me it has to be a latte or a cappuccino or something similar.
And that is why I really like Starbucks.
Bacause they have different types of lattes and such.
And they have new flavours depending on the season.
Our local Starbucks has gone christmas crazy.
This year, they are offering three different christmas lattes (ok, one is a mocha).
They also get a bonus for playing christmas songs.

The sign greating you and telling you what flavours to expect is great.
The only thing I do not like, is that your coffee is not served in those lovely cups in the picture.
But nevermind that. Christmas lattes!



Gingerbread Latte
The first one is a gingerbread flavoured latte.
It has a distinct gingerbread scent and it takes you right into christmas mode.
The taste is lovely and it feels like drinking liquid gingerbread.
While still tasting like coffee mind you.



Cranberry White Mocha
Looks nothing like in the picture above, which is bad.
It smells like whipped cream and white chocolate.
Has a pretty sourish taste, like cranberry or lingonberries.
It is very sweet.



Toffee Nut Latte
This one also smells like whipped cream.
It has a kind of bitter taste to it that I do not like.
The crushed nuts are sweet and crunchy.
This was my least favourite of the three.

In the end the Gingerbread Latte is the clear winner!

JuleSkum Vinteräpple 2012

Last christmas, I gave you my heart...
Ohh, sorry. Wrong track.
Last christmas, I wrote about the 2011 version of JuleSkum.
Back then it had a polka (candy cane) flavoring.
This year, the santas at Cloetta has brought us JuleSkum with a flavor of winter apples.

Being flavored that way, they have to been colored green.
Green is a christmas color (and white).
But this green is not that christmasy.
It should be more green, more christmas!



Anyway, the packaging.
The packaging is very much full of christmas.
With lots of snowy christmas trees and snowflakes.
And a generic santa that sleepily/angrily looks at a generic christmas present.
As you can tell I wanted a less generic santa.
Maybe one that juggled some apples or something.
But there is a santa and that is enought to lift my christmas spirit.

One thing that is new and pretty awesome, is that there is room for an adress and stamps.
Yes, you can send the entire package as a christmas card.
This is a very nice feature and something that more candy manufacturers should copy.



The candy itself smells like regular JuleSkum with a hint of apples.
They taste like a combination of regular JuleSkum, apples and pears.
Not really that close to real apples I am afraid.
Yesteryears polka (candy cane) version was much better.

Kiviks Musteri - Tranbärsglögg Med Smak Av Ingefära

Last but not least, santa has brought us some Cranberry glögg with ginger flavouring.
Cranberrys and glögg? Could this be?
Cranberrys are not that big here Sweden, we prefer lingonberry that grows naturally here.
But ginger is a christmas flavour and that might be what makes it work.



It smells a lot like classic glögg with a hint of ginger.
It also has a taste similar to classic glögg.
The only differens is that it feels a bit more dry and has a hint of berrys.
My girlfriend summed it up pretty well.
"It tastes and smells like christmas".



A thing i noticed after a few swigs is that the ginger takes over, making it more spicy.
This diminishes the christmas feeling a bit, but not much.
Out of the three, this is my favorit.

Kiviks Musteri - Äppleglögg Med Smak Av Kanel Och Vanilj

Yesterday I wrote about glögg based on raspberries.
Today, we have a bottle of glögg based on apples flavoured with cinnamon and vanilla.
Glögg based on apples, is more common than glögg based on raspberries.



This should be good, after all... Kiviks Musteri knows its apples.
It has a very distinct smell of ripe apples.
Among all that apple scent, there is also a sweet scent of vanilla.
The cinnamon is nowhere to be smelled.

This glögg is very sweet, kind of like warm apple juice.
To much like apple juice in fact.
The taste of apples completely removes all hints of vanilla and cinnamon.
Or maybe it is just me being a bit sad that it was more lika apple juice than apple glögg.



If yesterdays raspberrie glögg was a bit like classic glögg (only sweeter). Then todays apple glögg is as far away from classic glögg as you can get. Will tomorrows glögg take home the price?

Kiviks Musteri - Hallonglögg Med Smak Av Kardemumma

Today I wanna talk to you about mulled and spiced wine.
In Sweden, we love mulled and spiced wine and we call it Glögg, especially at christmas time.
I bought a gift pack from Kiviks Musteri containing three different versions of glögg.
Glögg is mostly served warm with raisins and almonds.



Kiviks Musteri is a big apple producer and makes everything from apple juice to apple jam.
They also make different products made from a range of different fruits and berries.
But today (and tomorrow and the day after tomorrow), we are gonna talk about glögg.



The first one is a glögg based on raspberries and spiced with cardamom.
It smells like classic glögg, but also a lot like raspberries.
The cardamom is nowhere to be smelled.
It kind of tastes like classic glögg to but with a sweet taste of raspberries.
A bit to sweet I am afraid. It is just to much like juice.
There is also a hint of cardamom, but it is weak.

More glögg tomorrow!

Santa's Coal Giga Bites

If you are naughty, Santa is sure to bring you coal for christmas instead of presents.
Well, I guess coal could be considered a present depending on where in the world you live.
This year, I have apparently been very naughty, because I got a whole train load of coal.
Fourtunately for me, this coal has a flavour of blue raspberry (artificially of course).



The train itself is made of cardboard and is really nice.
A happy santa operates the train and it is very jolly.
I will probably use this train as a decoration.
The "coal", is tiny pieces of chewy candy.



I do not think the coal smells like anything.
But I would rather like them to smell like nothing than of real coal.
That would be off-putting it they did.
I must admit that I have never tasted blue raspberries.
As far as I know, they are not indigenous to my country.
But the candy has a taste similar to raspberries.
I prefer to eat this coal than to eat real coal.

Ballerina Pepparkaka

We start the christmas season here at Candynstuff with the Oreo of Sweden... Ballerina.
Ballerina is made by Göteborgskex and is available in a couple of different flavours.
This is the christmas version and it it of course based on the classic Ballerina but with gingerbread filling.

The packaging has gotten a bit more christmasy.
There is snow everywhere and even some nice snowflakes.
And the Ballerina men/women are engaged in what looks like a snowball fight.
All in all, it is a nice package.
The cookies have also got a christmas overhaul.
The center is normally just round, but here it is star shaped, lovely.



They have a nice gingerbread scent making the whole room (or maybey just the area around me) smell like christmas.
The scent is definitely better than the flavouring.
The filling tastes nice, but does not really mix togheter with the cookie part.
They should have made the cookie part more christmasy.
It is still a good cookie and a must to try at christmas time.