Mintia – Pudding
Mintia is one of those long established brands that is not afraid to go for some weird, unexpected flavours. They also do a pretty solid job of replicated said strange and weird flavours, so it’s with that knowledge I am a bit less apprehensive in trying something like this. Pudding? In a mint? Who approved this wild idea?!
Going off smell you would be forgiven if you confused this for some sort of baked goo or pastry type of flavour. It gives off a strong egg, sweet flavour that is reminiscent of a creme brulee. I’m getting flashbacks to all the random creme brulee and pastry type chocolate flavours I’ve had over the years from Japan.
The taste is not too far off from the smell, but is more straight forward in that it’s a very simple flan flavour. For those who have never had flan, the best way to describe it is like a sweet, simple eggy custard. I know that sounds redundant because custard is egg based, but sometimes you lean too heavy on the egg and sometimes too heavy on the cream. This one is definitely more on the egg. There’s also what appears to be little bits of brown strewn about, so not sure if that’s supposed to enhance the flavour or it’s just a visual thing. What’s interesting is there seems to be menthol or xylitol in this, because the aftertaste has an ever so slightly noticeable refreshing minty flavour to it. It’s a nice touch, despite being a rather strange, novelty flavour they still find time to keep true to their main goal of being a sugarless mint that helps refresh.
The texture of these is no different from any other basic mint – it’s a tablet that slowly dissolves over time, and as it dissolves the flavour coats your tongue. If you are like me, once it gets small enough you have an ever pressing desire to bite it. Doing so is like biting into those compressed sugar tablets – it’s really not the intended way to consume them, but old habits die hard.
Some flavours are best left paired with certain textures. I can confidently say that while this is an interesting novelty, it’s not something that holds its ground beyond that, and I have to believe that the distinct, strong flavour of flan belongs with the actual dessert, and not as part of some weird flavour for a mint or candy. But that could be just me.
