Pure – Pikachu Tropical and Soda Gummies

I could lie to you and say that I’m not easily gotten by lame collaborations or crossovers, but truthfully I haven’t tried Pure Gummies before and the combo of packaging and Pikachu shaped gummies did me in. I feel great shame right now. I’m not too familiar with this line of gummies, but I have had Kanro products before and they weren’t bad, so I figure these can’t be too shabby. Pure is their line of “premium” gummies, with the main selling point that they are made with 100% fruit puree and don’t have artificial flavours or colours. I won’t go on my usual rant about natural flavours, but I will say the marketing is good at making this feel like a premium brand.

I had to do a double take on the flavour of this after opening it. I know it says tropical and soda flavour, but all I smell is pineapple. I’m not sure why they needed to say tropical and soda, when I feel like pineapple would have been just as easy sell. I mean, who gets tropical flavoured candy and hates pineapple? It’s just unheard of. Actually, does anyone hate pineapple in general? Apart from obvious allergies, I don’t hear of many people who don’t like pineapple.

These seem to come in two shapes, the usual heart shape that their other gummies typically come in, and the special Pikachu silhouette. Not gonna lie, it actually is pretty cute. I kind of don’t want to eat it, but the smell is very enticing.

Just like the smell, this tastes overwhelmingly of pineapple, but in a good way. Well, good if you enjoy pineapple. If not, again, why would you buy something dubbed tropical flavour?! This flavour is all business – it hits you with that sweet fruitiness of pineapple, and has only a slight tartness to the aftertaste. Slight to the point that you probably wouldn’t even notice it. It really does remind me of those pineapple juice boxes I had as a kid, and I have no doubt that it’s probably just as much sugar proportionally speaking. But I’m fine with that.

These must have some quality thickeners in it, because this gummy is dense. I was expecting a very squishy, almost bouncy gummy, but these surprised me in a good way, with a very dense, firm chew to them. For some reason they remind me of “hard-boiled” gummies, that have been treated in such a way that they come out extra firm and dense. While not on the level of Haribo dense or thick, these are still quite a nice texture for those who enjoy a tougher chew. They don’t provide that much of a bouncy chew though, so once you get through that initial hardness, it softens up a bit. But not to the point of cheap weak gelatin gummies. I like the texture of these. They strike a good balance between firm and lockjaw.

Would I get these again? Absolutely. I would like to try their other flavours for sure, but this one was pleasantly surprising. Well, if you enjoy pineapples that is. If there is any “soda” or tropical flavour, I certainly can’t hear it over how loud the pineapple is screaming in my mouth. I’m kind of surprised I enjoyed this crossover flavour as much as I did, and I would get these again even if they aren’t shaped like adorable electric rodents.