Taffy Mail is a UK subscription box delivering up to 20 American treats each month. It’s a great way to try classic American candies and snacks as well as some new surprises. As an American expat, I really enjoyed taking a stroll down memory lane and re-discovering childhood treats in this box.
The candy is delivered in a simple cardboard box. Mine arrived when I was out of town for a week and the postman had just chucked it over my gate, so I think it sat through a few rain showers.
Luckily all the treats remained dry and unharmed thanks to a sturdy box and lots of packing peanuts.
Pringles Jalapeno are a spicy version of the classic potato chip. Jalapeno is one of my favourite flavours of crisps and I get them whenever I’m in the US (albeit I always go for extra crunchy kettle chips). I’m not a Pringles person, but these are nice thanks to the jalapeno kick.
Beer Nuts are peanuts with a light salty-sweet coating that are meant to be served as a bar snack. These are good, but they’re basically peanuts with a tiny bit of extra flavour and crunch.
Act II Butter Lovers is a popular brand of microwave popcorn in the US. I grew up on this stuff, we used to buy it by the case full! It is hot, buttery, and delicious as you’d expect.
Pepsi Wild Cherry is great for cherry soda lovers. I’m not personally a Pepsi fan, but it’ll do if you need a cherry soda fix (or something to wash down the popcorn!)
In my opinion, Jolly Ranchers are some of the best tasting hard fruit candies around, with a really distinctive, juicy fruit flavour. Jolly Rancher Freezer Pops adopt four classic flavours into a frozen treat.
I love freezer pops and I love Jolly Rangers, so it’s only natural that I loved these freezer pops. While they truly don’t capture the essence of the unique Jolly Rancher flavour, they’re still pretty great, and small enough that I can easily eat 3 in one sitting!
Mike and Ike Tropical Typhoon are chewy little capsule-shaped candies in five tropical fruit flavours. Mike and Ike’s are a classic American movie candy.
They have just the right amount of chew without being stick-to-your-teeth, and the tropical flavours are a nice twist.
Chewy Lemonhead in tropical assorted fruit flavours are chewy little spheres which differ quite a bit from traditional Lemonheads, which are hard and tart lemon-flavoured candies. I much prefer original Lemonheads, which are perfectly sour. These tropical variety are very sweet, and the fruit flavours are just a bit off tasting.
SweetTarts are tiny discs of slightly sweet and tangy candy, with a somewhat powdery consistency, much like the British favourite Parma Violets. These are a simple sugary classic and a staple of Halloween.
I love Nerds! Each box of Nerds contains two flavours of the crunchy little candy – my box was raspberry and tropical punch flavours. Nerds have a nice tang to balance out their sweetness, are deliciously crunchy, and totally addictive.
Airheads are strips of slightly sticky, mildly chewy fruit candy. My favourite growing up was the ‘White Mystery Flavour’. I received Watermelon and Green Apple flavours in this box, both very tasty.
I hadn’t had a Fun Dip since God knows when. For the unfamiliar, Lik-m-aid Fun Dip Cherry Yum Diddly Dip comes with a small sugar stick which you lick before dipping in flavoured sugar, repeating until the sugar and/or stick are gone. These things are fun for kids, but as an adult I was all too aware of just how much of the sugar was being spread around my house during the dipping and licking process! I wish the cherry sugar was more tart, but all in all, it was fun to try this candy again.
Now and Later are chewy candies in fruit flavours like Tropical Punch and Blue Raspberry. You can’t go wrong with Now and Laters, they’re just plain yummy plus they’re individually wrapped so they stay fresher longer.
Big Hunk is a large bar of honey-sweetened nougat with whole roasted peanuts. I don’t recall ever seeing this in my part of the US but I was familiar it from a previous subscription box.
Big Hunk is very, very sweet, but also quite enjoyable to eat. It’s pleasantly chewy and not nearly as stick-to-your-teeth as I remembered it being.
Something I had never tried before was Mrs. Freshly’s Raspberry Dreamies. These creme filled cakes are like a hybrid of two Hostess cakes, the Twinkie (vanilla sponge with a creamy filling) and the Snowball (cream-filled cake covered with marshmallow frosting and coconut ).
I’ve never liked Twinkies but adore Snowballs, so was curious which side of the fence I’d fall on with this one. These were really tasty, super moist yellow cake filled with a light creamy centre and coated with raspberry flavoured coconut.
Kitkat’s Flavour of California Chocolate Covered Strawberry are just like regular KitKat’s but with a fruity twist. This was actually better than I thought it’d be, but too sweet for me. If you’ve ever wanted to enjoy strawberry and chocolate wafers in one bite, then this could be for you.
M&Ms Strawberry Nut is a new flavour to me. These are okay, basically peanut M&Ms with a bit of fruit flavour. The strawberry flavour is not as strong as in the KitKats. These aren’t really for me, I think I prefer pretty much any other variety of M&Ms.
All in all, I really enjoyed trying out Taffy Mail. There’s plenty to try in the box, and a nice mix of mostly fruit flavoured candies with a bit of chocolate and a few savory snacks to balance things out. If you enjoy sampling new treats and want to try out candies not available in the UK, then Taffy Mail is a great affordable option.
What do you think of this snack subscription?
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