mentos Pure Fresh Fresh Mint

This review was sponsored by our friends at mentos.

Flavor: mentos Pure Fresh Fresh Mint reminds me a lot of Extra Polar Ice in its minty simplicity, offering a cold burst of freshness without any frills. The packaging suggests otherwise, however, as it indicates that I will detect green tea extract somewhere in there. Alas, much like Trident Vitality Rejuve's failed promise of white tea, you'll be hard pressed to taste anything tea-like here. That said, I like to imagine that I'm benefiting from some of the antioxidants in the green tea extract in this gum, so it doesn't bother me too much that there's nothing very unique about the flavor.

Texture: Although it doesn't say it directly, I was led to believe by the illustration on the package that there would be some kind of liquid center in each pellet. I didn't experience that at all, so I cut a piece in half and took a look to see what was going on in there. There is indeed something different happening in the center of this gum, but if you're looking for a juicy center, look elsewhere. Otherwise, this is a good chew, consistent, a bit on the soft side, but quite enjoyable.

Presentation: The hard plastic pack does a good job of keeping the pieces contained while rattling around in a purse, which is a hard characteristic to find in packaging these days. I'm not sure if it was intentional that the name of this gum is redundant-- the other variety of Pure is called "Pure Fresh Wintergreen." This one is called "Pure Fresh Fresh Mint." Why the double fresh? Another adjective might have worked better, "Cool mint," maybe.

Overall: The Pure line is delightful, when you get past all the aforementioned nerdy packaging critiques. Recently a reader asked what gum we recommended to be the best straight up breath-freshening gum. I'm going to go ahead and add this one to the list, a simple, cool burst of fresh fresh freshness.

Rating: oooo (four gumballs)