Haribo – Tangfastics

People who know or are familiar with me know that I can be a fiercely loyal person. While this goes for most things in my life, it goes double for brands that I like, especially when it comes to snacks. It’s why if you peruse my catalog of reviews I’ve done, you’ll notice they tend to be largely products from a few key brands. It’s just how I am, a creature of habit. Haribo is one of those brands that I grew fiercely loyal to when I discovered them years ago.

For those who are unaware, Haribo is a German confectionery brand that does a wide range of candy, but is known for their gummies. Unlike a lot of the gummies we get here in the north, Haribo tends to be firmer, and tougher chews. Before I discovered Haribo, I would leave my gummy bags open to get them to go stale and become firmer. I like my gummies on the firmer side, so Haribo was magical when I had their golden bears. I know this isn’t for everyone though. Haribo recognizes this too and they have a “softer” version of their signature golden bears. I feel like a lot of people prefer the firmer gummies though, as is signaled by the ever increasing popularity of Haribo these days. Now I can find them in almost every grocery store and convenience store in my area, instead of having to pay customs and duties whenever I had them shipped to me. Oh how the times have changed.

The assortment I’m reviewing today isn’t actually something new to me. In fact, it’s one of my favourite assortments from Haribo. But I figure I should share my thoughts over the interwebz, and commit it to writing. In case I forget for some reason.

So Tangfastics is a mish mash of various gummies that are covered in citric acid to give them a nice sour tangy, hence the name. I noticed that a lot of the varieties you get in this mix are also sold individually, but in a larger size. The pieces you get in this mix seem to be the mini versions, at least from my experience that’s how it seems. Which is all the better, since it means more space and weight for bigger variety.

I did my best to go through my bag and pick out one of each flavour I could find. As you can see, we have the classic sour keys, sour cherries, sour coke gummies, and sour foam crocodiles. They are all firm to the touch, and have that signature firmness that Haribo is known for. Once Haribo gummies go stale, there’s a good chance you might lose a tooth if you’re not careful. Be warned.

Let’s have a look at the sour keys first. They sort of have two flavours in each of the two, but it’s not too noticeable if I’m being honest. The orange yellow one is orange and lemon I believe, while the white and green was pineapple and lime? I can’t be too sure since one just tasted like citrus, while the other just pineapple. As mentioned before, texture is very firm and chewy, and the coating isn’t too sour so the sweetness isn’t completely lost. It does indeed have a nice balance and overall a nice experience.

Next we have the cherries. The non-sour version of these are sold separately in their own bag, and is apparently one of their more popular flavours. I’ve had it a few times and it’s not bad, but I prefer this version better. This one is the sour, mini version and I think it’s just the right size. It’s got a bit of sour tartness to it, but gives way to a nice chewy gummy with pretty decent cherry flavour. It’s not too strong like cherry medicine, but not too faint that you can’t tell it’s cherry. This would be the Goldilocks of cherry flavours – just right.

The cola bottles are probably one of the more universally loved gummies they sell. They sell a lot of different varieties of their cola flavours – they have lemon cola, sour cola, regular cola, and many more I can’t even remember off the top of my head. I’m not crazy about cola gummies anymore, but that’s large in part due to me going through a phase where all I ate was cola gummies. After I got sick of it I never really rekindled that love for them. That being said, these are pretty nice. The flavour is more like a lemon cola, as it has a lemon like after taste to it, which helps compliment the sour coating. If I wasn’t burnt out on cola, this would be a winner as well.

The final variety in this mix are the foam crocodiles. Full disclosure, these are typically my favourite. The top half is the normal gummy, while the bottom is a softer, foamy gummy texture which can be likened to a marshmallow. The white foam itself has no real discernible flavour, and just adds a nice soft texture to offset the firm top part of the piece. The contrast actually works really well and it’s why it’s my favourite. The crocs come in five flavours, cherry, lemon, lime, orange and blackcurrant. My favourite flavour would be the blackcurrant, hands down. For anyone who hasn’t had blackcurrants, they are more of a European fruit, and not something we see in the America’s much. Think of them as a grape like flavour, but with more tartness and less sweet.

If you’ve been paying attention, you would already know that I approve of this, and would highly recommend it to gummy fans. Unless you like your gummies very soft to the point where you don’t need to chew. In which case stay away. Otherwise, go find these. They aren’t hard to find these days either. They are also not priced any higher than the typical brands you would find, and are only slightly pricier sometimes.