I think that it’s safe to say that most people enjoy jelly beans. While most jelly bean companies have their best flavors year round, my favorite jelly beans only come out during Easter time. That is of course the Original Starburst Jellybeans, the flavors being strawberry, cherry, lemon, grape, orange and green apple.
Before I try them to officially rate them I am going to do a precursory rating of flavors. Because let’s face it, it’s hard to ingrain something in your brain that you only get once a year.
Strawberry is the one of the only flavors that I would find inspired by Starbursts (along with lemon, orange and cherry). Strawberry is most people’s favorite flavor of Starburst, and since it is my second flavor, I have high hopes.
Cherry, while I think that the flavor will be nice, I also think that they will be low on the list, probably just above grape flavor.
Lemon I think will fall in the middle of the pack. While I love lemon flavored things I tend to be judgy if I feel they aren’t lemony enough, and while I know that you want jellybeans to be sweet not tart, I don’t know if I can get past my judgments.
Grape, I have a feeling that this will be my least favorite flavor. While I know, or hope, that they won’t taste like cough syrup, that is all I can think of.
Orange I think that this will be my favorite flavor, since it’s my favorite starburst flavor. I don’t really know what to say about it because I’m hoping for excellence and perfection from it.
Green apple this flavor is either going to be third on the list or it will beat out grape for the bottom of the pack. I love apples but I find apple flavored things to be hit or miss.
So overall, I think my ranking will be; orange, strawberry, green apple, lemon, cherry, and coming in last place, grape.
When I rate them during my taste test they will be judged based on deliciousness. Since not all of them have actual Starburst counter parts, I find it would be hard to rate on accuracy.
This is the official ranking of the Original Starburst Jellybeans from my favorite to least favorite. My ranking will also include Aaron’s, my mom’s boyfriend who tried the jelly beans with me, commentary on each flavor.
1. Strawberry makes me realize why this is everyone’s favorite Starburst flavor. It’s a perfect strawberry flavor but also makes you want to eat them all summer as a refreshing but sweet snack.
Aaron immediately knew that it was a strawberry Starburst (an exact replica), and he wished that these jelly beans were bigger.
2. Green Apple has a little tart flavor when you first bite into it, then a perfect balance of sweetness. This is remarkably close to when you bite into a granny smith apple. The flavor was a very nice surprise since I didn’t have the best of hopes for it.
Aaron could tell after sometime that it was supposed to be green apple flavored but it was pretty ambiguous. The only defining factor was that it was green.
3. Lemon had the perfect juiciness, and a great mix of tart that rushes into your mouth when you first bite into it followed by an amazing sweetness. This was another surprise because to me it had the perfect lemon tartness but not enough to not enjoy the jellybean.
To Aaron the lemon jelly bean had a very cheap taste, nothing exceptional about it.
4. Orange was a little sweet at the beginning followed by a nice-ish orange flavor but I don’t think it’s quite citrus-y enough for my taste. This was honestly a huge let down, for them to so accurately get the strawberry flavor, but to not even give their orange a nice flavor sucks. What makes this suck even more is that they were able to create such a great lemon flavor but led you down with the orange.
Aaron compared it best, to the hard candy that you would find at the bottom of your grandmother’s purse because she buys them in bulk at the dollar store.
5. Cherry it’s not quite a cherry flavor but it’s not bad…. I find that it also has notes of cough syrup, but much better.
Aaron had to think for a moment about the flavor but ultimately knew it was cherry. He again described it best by saying it tasted like Halls Cough Drops.
6. Grape has an okay grape flavor but definitely also has notes of cough syrup. It’s like what you hope cough syrup would taste like but never is.
Aaron immediately knew it was grape and it reminded him of bubblicious bubble gum.
7. All in all I was pretty surprised how this ranking turned out, I think that if they were available more than once a year, I would have a more accurate flavor profile.
Though Starburst Jelly Beans I do have a few suggestions, one maybe focus on the orange flavoring a bit, it has a lot of potential but just falls really flat. Secondly maybe make sure that a flavor won’t remind people of cough syrup, a thing that most people dread drinking.
Lastly for those of you reading that only want pink Starburst they do make a package with only those.
