Cola Spicy

Lotte

This gum should have been a nightmare, but instead it was a revelation. I thought the idea of a spicy cola chewing gum was the invention of a masochist. I remember as a child being tricked into eating a stick of spicy joke store gum, and it was horrible. I was so sure that this gum would be awful that I shot an episode of Chris Why Would You Eat That?!! in anticipation of how horrible it would be. There are three things going on here, cola flavour, sweet chewing gum, and spice. It’s pretty obvious which one doesn’t belong. It’s also obvious that due to the nature of chewing gum and how long it lasts, that I might be in for a long burning mouth problem.

Here’s the thing, cola flavour and spicy kind of work together. When I first bit into this gum it was instantly cola flavoured, then the heat crept in and it was actually okay. It seems like cola flavour really works with a little heat. Maybe it’s the contrast in sweet to spicy, or maybe it’s the strange flavour that is cola, but the spice was actually not bad. This revelation was a big discovery for me, but it didn’t last.

The problem with this gum is the overpowering cola flavour and the very weak spicy flavour. I never thought I’d be saying this, but this gum needed a little more heat. After only a couple of chews the spicy flavour was totally gone, and all I was left with was a weak flavoured cola gum. In a few more minutes all the flavour was gone and I was left with a flavourless piece of chewy rubber. 

This gum is actually a great idea, but more care has to be taken in balancing the flavours. It inspired me to think about a new flavour combination that I think would work on multiple levels, including cola itself.