REVIEW: Jack in the Box Iced Coffee and Milk Tea with Boba Drinks

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If you traveled back in time and told me a year ago that Jack in the Box would be selling boba drinks in 2023, while I was drinking a boba drink, you would have boba flying towards you from my spit take because that would be extremely surprising and laughable. But here we are with Jack in the Box’s Iced Coffee and Milk Tea with Boba.

The iced coffee version features High Mountain Arabica coffee with sweetened cream and vanilla, served over ice with brown sugar boba, while the milk tea one comes with freshly brewed tea with sweetened cream and vanilla, ice, and brown sugar boba. If you’re unfamiliar with boba, they’re chewy tapioca balls that give the drink its other name, bubble tea.

And it’s those dark-colored bubbles in these fast food drinks that make it hard for me to recommend them, especially if you’ve never had boba drinks before. They’re described as brown sugar boba, but they’re more like bland sugar boba because they have a nondescript flavor that’s not even sweet. But I was not too fond of their texture. Chewing on them was like mashing my teeth on clumps of hard raisins, which are too chewy for boba. These issues make them weird compared to other boba I’ve had, which have better flavor and texture.

While the tapioca texture was weird, I will say that the milk tea by itself was tasty, and I wish Jack in the Box offered on its own. According to the app, I could customize it to not include boba, but the price wouldn’t change. It’s sweet, creamy, and tasted like the canned and bottled milk teas I’ve had from Japan. As for the iced coffee, if you’ve had Jack’s iced coffee, it tastes the same, but I prefer the milk tea.

Part of the boba experience is the use of a wider straw that allows the tapioca to be sucked up, and Jack in the Box does provide it. But with my iced coffee one, for some reason, most of the balls had difficulty going up the straw, even after shaking and stirring the drink. Eventually, I gave up and left most of them in the cup.

If Jack in the Box’s Iced Coffee with Boba or Milk Tea with Boba is going to be your introduction to the popular Asian drink, I can’t recommend it, even if you live in a boba desert without a place that sells the drink for hundreds of miles. While the base drinks are fine, they contain the least satisfying boba I’ve ever had in terms of taste and texture.

Purchased Price: $4.99 each
Size: N/A
Rating: 6 out of 10 (Milk Tea), 5 out of 10 (Iced Coffee)
Nutrition Facts: 280 calories (other nutritional numbers aren’t available on the Jack in the Box website).

REVIEW: Chocolate Frosted Donut Kit Kat

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Certain snacks just lend themselves to being successfully changed up in a multitude of ways without affecting what makes them great in the first place. The humble Kit Kat is a perfect example of this. At its core, it’s just wafers and chocolate; classic and delicious but also beckoning to be dressed up in as many styles as you can think of. Japan knows this and has seen hundreds of variations, but things have been played a little closer to the vest here in America. In the last few years, however, the Hershey factory has gotten more adventurous, and we’ve seen quite a few new takes on the “Give Me a Break” treat. The latest edition is Chocolate Frosted Donut, a permanent addition to the lineup.

The packaging and appearance of these Kit Kats delight me. Like the Duos flavors, this one is two-toned with a tan base and brown chocolate top, neatly mimicking its donut namesake. The smell is sweet and buttery, and while it doesn’t exactly scream “donut” to me, it’s certainly bakery-esque. It leans a little sweeter than a standard chocolate Kit Kat and the “frosted” flavor rings true. If I blindly tasted the bar, I think my guess would have been along the lines of cake and frosting, but obviously not the birthday cake flavor that already exists in Kit Kat form.

When I picture eating a donut, the ring I see myself holding is of the yeast variety, so it’s possible my expectations might have just been a bit off. Perhaps the reason these remind me of cake is because they’re supposed to taste like a cake donut. Maybe instead of screaming “donut,” what they were actually whispering was “duh.” Part of the magic of a freshly made yeast donut is in the fried factor and the airy-chewy texture, both of which would be difficult to replicate in a candy bar so heavily centered around crispy wafers. But there’s nothing wrong with a cake donut, and if I ignore the fried and yeasted aspects I typically associate with donuts, I’m more willing to believe these Kit Kats can call themselves donut-flavored.

Whether or not these truly taste like a donut, they are enjoyable, and I would have no problem eating them again. Unfortunately, they aren’t as delicious, unique, or well-executed as the excellent Blueberry Muffin Kit Kat, so I’m not sure why this one was chosen for permanent status. They’re certainly worth trying and a nice change of pace, but I don’t feel the need to rush out and grab a dozen.

Purchased Price: $2.19
Size: 3 oz (King Size package)
Purchased at: Mariano’s
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (3 fingers – 32 g) 160 calories, 9 grams of total fat, 5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 20 milligrams of sodium, 21 grams of total carbohydrates, 0 grams of dietary fiber, 16 grams of total sugar (including 15 grams of added sugars), and 1 gram of protein.

REVIEW: Jack in the Box Girl Scouts Thin Mints Shake

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If you can’t wait for McDonald’s Shamrock Shake season in February and March, you can get your green minty shake fill this fall with Jack in the Box’s Girl Scout Thin Mints Shake. The frozen treat features Jack’s ice cream with chocolate mint flavoring and Thin Mints bits mixed with whipped topping and more Thin Mints crumbles on top. Also, sorry, maraschino cherry fans. There is no cherry for you on this shake.

It looks less fun than the bright Shamrock Shake. When everything is mixed up, it has a green-gray color that a paint company would call Aloe Fog, Melted Clovers, or something like that. But it’s as enjoyable as a Shamrock shake with its strong minty flavor. But perhaps it’s a bit too strong. If I drank this shake blindly, I wouldn’t be able to determine that it’s specifically a Girl Scout Thin Mints Shake because it lacks the chocolatey notes that the actual cookies have.

The mint flavoring in the ice cream is so strong that it overwhelms the cookie bits and whatever chocolate flavoring. It also doesn’t help that the larger cookie crumbs provide an additional minty burst without cocoa flavor. Having two types of cookies would be weird, but maybe the chocolate would’ve had a stronger punch if Oreo crumbles were added. It’s an ingredient that every Jack in the Box location has, so it wouldn’t be difficult to add.

Most of the cookie crumbs are tiny enough that they succumb to the milky mess they’re sitting in and become soggy bits or not noticeable at all. But my teeth were rewarded with some crunchiness when they captured more significant Thin Mints bits.

If you want a tasty shake that’ll make your insides as nippy as the weather outside this fall, Jack in the Box’s Girl Scout Thin Mints Shake will help you accomplish that. But if you’re hoping for a bit of chocolate to cut through that mint, you’ll be disappointed.

Purchased Price: $6.69*
Size: Regular
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 780 calories (no other nutritional information was provided on the Jack in the Box website).

*Because I live on a rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, things are a bit pricier here. You’ll probably pay less than I did.

REVIEW: My/Mochi Classic Pickle Mochi Ice Cream

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I imagine some of you are mentally saying “ew,” like you just caught someone picking their nose as you looked at the photo above. But you should flip that “ew” around, add an H between the two letters, and stick a bunch of Es at the end because this flavor is surprisingly fun. Wheeeeeee!

Well, that is if you can get your hands on My/Mochi’s Classic Pickle Mochi Ice Cream because it’s only available at mymochi.com and select SoCal Bristol Farms locations. But if pickle-flavored things tickle you or you want some entertainment at a holiday gathering this year, I recommend spending the green for a box.

The soft mochi coating is only green in color and provides no additional taste, but the off-white ice cream filling is unmistakably pickle. I understand that might sound awful regarding ice cream, but think of it as a pickle that’s sweet but not salty. It has a noticeable dill flavor, but there’s no brine taste, and there’s a lot more sugar, milk, cream, and vanilla, which makes the ice cream taste surprisingly good. Every time I ate one, I thought the dill had sort of a holiday spice kind of vibe to it. I’ve enjoyed this more than any of the odd Van Leeuwen pints that have come out. Although, I have yet to try the recent Dill Pickle one.

Call me weird. Call me a picklehead. Call me pickleweirdhead. But I genuinely love eating these. My/Mochi sent two boxes, and I’ve eaten a whole box already. And this will sound even weirder, but I’ve been craving them. (Am I pregnant?) I’ve been looking forward to eating one every day. I also want to eat more than one of these creamy treats daily, but I’ve been holding back because I know I’ll never get to eat them again once they’re gone. Unless My/Mochi decides my words are powerful enough to warrant a nationwide release. But my words have never been that influential.

Yes, most of you have no desire to eat pickle ice cream, and that’s fine. I’m not going to convince you to take adventure bites and expand your palate with the one life you have. But if pickles tickle you, you should try to pickle these up.

DISCLOSURE: I received free product samples from My/Mochi. Doing so did not influence my review.

Purchased Price: FREE
Size: 6 pieces/box
Purchased at: Received samples from My/Mochi
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 piece) 80 calories, 2.5 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 10 milligrams of cholesterol, 15 milligrams of sodium, 14 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 11 grams of sugar (including 10 grams of added sugar), and 1 gram of protein.

REVIEW: Arby’s Big Cheesy Bacon Burger

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My post-race routine is fairly simple: shower, stretch, and stuff a burger in my face. I recently completed a half marathon and, due to a series of events after that race, I had to postpone the burger part of my routine. Two weeks later, I was craving the thing I never got. Right on cue, Arby’s sent an email advertising its new Big Cheesy Bacon Burger.

It’s one of the two limited edition burgers currently being offered at Arby’s. The Deluxe Wagyu Steakhouse Burger is the base version (a wagyu blended beef patty, burger sauce, American cheese, tomatoes, red onions, lettuce, and garlic & dill pickles on a toasted brioche bun) with the Big Cheesy Bacon Burger having all the same ingredients but with the addition of Swiss cheese and bacon.

It had some heft when I pulled it out of the bag, but didn’t seem very big. Like a mattress in a box, after I took it out of its wrapper, it seemed to expand. Size-wise, it was reasonably comparable to what I’ve gotten from Red Robin. Taking a peek under the bun, I was surprised at the produce’s freshness. I wasn’t expecting rotten tomatoes or anything, but the two vibrant red tomato slices took me off guard. I’m used to fast food tomatoes looking half the time like someone took a red Sharpie to styrofoam.

Even though it looked good, I was ready to find out if it tasted good. In my first bite, I got a bit of every component. All I could think as I took my time taking it all in was, “Wow, this is a really balanced burger.”

Too often, when fast food sandwiches have a laundry list of toppings, they become a mess of competing flavors. In this case, everything was working together to create something extremely delicious. The balance of the sweet burger sauce, hickory bacon, juicy tomatoes, crisp pickles, salty cheeses, and savory meat created a flavor that I could only describe as the most perfect “burger” flavor.

The meat on its own was a bit dry, but the dryness wasn’t noticeable when eaten with the other components. Multiple times (I assume for legal reasons), Arby’s reminds us that the patty is 51% American Wagyu and 49% ground beef. I can’t speak on the American Wagyu being anything special, but the meat quality was above any other fast food offering I’ve had.

Overall, I was extremely satisfied with Arby’s Big Cheesy Bacon Burger. It was delicious and filling and exceeded my expectations from a fast food restaurant. The high quality of the ingredients is what made it stand out. It’s only around for a limited time, so if you’re thinking about trying it, I’d go sooner rather than later.

Purchased Price: $7.99
Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 824 calories, 51 grams of fat, 21 grams of saturated fat, 118 milligrams of cholesterol, 2085 milligrams of sodium, 46 grams of carbohydrates, 3 grams of fiber, 15 grams of sugar, and 48 grams of protein.

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