Tic Tac Tropical

In May, Ferrero, the creators of Tic Tac in Australia, released a new flavour combination: Tropical, a mix of pineapple, passionfruit and mango pieces. The company also ran a tropical holiday competition to ensure the release was noticed. Let's take a look and see if it was worth the hype.

 
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Earlier last year we saw Tic Tac Fruit Adventure released, a combination of four flavours that included passionfruit. Mango is not new to Australia; years ago it was released in another seasonal variety called Melon Mango. The other flavour in Tropical - pineapple - is, as far as I can tell, new to Australia. Pineapple has been available in the US in the past in a combination flavour called Pina Colada,  but until now it hadn't reached our fair shores.

Tic Tac Tropical comes in a clear plastic box with the classic hinge lid, and illustrated label. The Tic Tac pieces themselves are the usual size, and in three different colours for each flavour. The box has a sweet scent that is similar to tropical cordial, with a strong fake mango presence.

The palest piece is pineapple, and they have a white centre. Immediately upon biting a piece, there's a strong, tangy pineapple flavour with a good sweetness to round it out. It's quite like bottled pineapple juice. I found that the pieces were softer and easier to bite than the other flavours. I would easily demolish a box of this flavour.

The light, peachy-coloured pieces are passionfruit flavoured. It's quite an artificial flavour, with only vague notions of passionfruit. It's more of a light, floral generic flavour - pleasant but nothing special.

Finally, the bright, dark yellow pieces are mango flavoured. As I found in Fruit Adventure, the flavour is weak compared to the lush juciness of a real mango. I found the flavour artificial like Passionia (a passionfruit-flavoured soft drink).

The Tic Tac website reveals that these Tic Tacs use fruit powders as well as artificial flavourings. 'Pineapple powder' and 'passionfruit powder' don't exactly sound delicious (I don't even know how they are made), but I was more curious about the inclusion of 'acerola powder'. I had to look this up, but acerola is a tropical cherry-like fruit from Central America. I suppose the tropical part of its history is enough to warrant its inclusion? Who knows!

Score: 3 out of 5 jelly beans

Tic Tac Tropical is made in Australia. The packet doesn't list any allergern notes, but the FAQ on the Tic Tac website notes that they "contain corn gluten but not gliadin gluten from wheat, barley or rye grains. The source of the maltodextrin is corn."