Trader Joe's Mini Mushroom Tartelettes

If you've been around for a while, you'll know I not only have a slight food sensitivity to mushrooms, but I really don't like their taste or texture either. And if you've been reading for a very long while, you'll remember Sonia had a very similar allergy in years past but she's mostly outgrown it. She's much more eager to take a shot at shrooms and feast on fungi these days, so she picked up this appetizer at Trader Joe's a couple months ago—which we recently rediscovered at the back of our freezer.

Considering I just straight up don't like mushrooms, I gotta say: this appetizer is oddly good. I mean, this product is case in point for why I try things that I "know" I don't like. The cheese, the buttery crust, the spice blend all help, but even the mushrooms taste nice here. There's a savory meatiness to them that I really enjoyed. Also, surprisingly, they're not very oily. Buttery? Perhaps. But not greasy or oily.

Sonia raved about this product. She inhaled 9 out of the 12 pieces in a single sitting—something quite uncharacteristic for her. It took a good half hour of her saying "Try them! You have to try them!" before I even took a single bite. She particularly enjoyed the flakiness of the breading, the creamy cheese blend, and the onion and garlic flavors underneath the mushrooms. She baked our batch in the oven, but I'm sure the air fryer would have done just as well.

$5.49 for 12 mini tarts. Sonia would buy them again in a heartbeat and I would attempt to overcome my disdain for mushrooms and eat half the package next time. Sonia gives Trader Joe's Mushroom Tartelettes nine out of ten stars. I'm still shocked at how much I liked them, so I won't contradict her on this one.

Bottom line: 9 out of 10.

Trader Joe San Soyaki

A quick internet search will reveal that Trader Joe's is just about the only place that sells "soyaki" sauce. Plenty of other folks are peddling bottles of teriyaki with sesame seeds as a primary ingredient. It seems fairly self evident that "soyaki" is a mashup of the words "soy" and "teriyaki," but if regular teriyaki has soy in it anyway, then wouldn't all teriyaki be soyaki? Seems to me that the sesame seeds are the things that make this product unique, but I guess "sesameyaki" doesn't exactly roll off the tongue.

Trader Joe's Soyaki is bursting with the umami flavor of soy sauce, but behind it there's a surprising amount of cane sugar sweetness along with garlic and ginger purees. You can taste sesame, vinegar, and tamari, and the whole thing is nice and savory. There are enough sesame seeds that they not only provide a bit of nuttiness to the flavor, but they add some texture, too.

My instincts would gravitate towards poultry or fish as the perfect pairings for this sauce, but I suppose steak wouldn't be out of the question. We used our soyaki as a marinade for salmon and it was scrumptious. We served it with rice and salad, and it was just perfect for dinner.

I hear it goes quite well with tofu as well, so if you're prepping a plant-based meal you're in luck because Trader Joe's Soyaki is certified vegan. It's also kosher. $3.99 for 21 oz. Would buy again. Eight out of ten stars from both Sonia and me for Trader Joe's Soyaki Sauce.

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Medium Roast Coffee K-Cups

This is only our second K-Cup review on this blog, but it looks like we've reviewed in the ballpark of a dozen other types of coffee throughout the years. As per my usual, I'll let the beautiful wifey do most of the evaluating and analyzing since she's much more into coffee than I am. So my contribution to this post shall be the following compilation of those other Trader Joe's brand coffee reviews:

Trader Joe's New Orleans Style Coffee with Chickory

Trader Joe's Chocolate Hazelnut Ground Coffee

Trader Joe's 100% Kauai Coffee Beans

Trader Joe's Autumn Maple Coffee

Trader Joe's Decaf French Roast Instant Coffee

Trader Joe's Bourbon Barrel Aged Coffee

Trader Joe's Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate

Trader Joe's Coconut Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate

Trader Joe's Organic French Roast Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate

Trader Joe's Pumpkin Spice Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate

Trader Joe's Black Cold Brew Coffee

Trader Joe's Cold Brew Coffee Bags

Your guess is as good as mine as to whether any or all of the above are currently available, but at least you know we've sampled our fair share of TJ's java over the past decade and a half. Sonia likes this one at least as much as any of the others. $5.49 for 12 K-Cups. If you'd like to know her specific reasons for liking this one (beyond just convenience and reasonable price) you'll just have to click on the video review below.

Bottom line: 9 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Four Cheese Scalloped Potatoes

Not to be confused with Trader Joe's Scallopini Potatoes, which is a frozen dish available exclusively around Thanksgiving and Christmas, this cheesy potato product comes refrigerated and is still available currently at TJ's, though it, too, is marked as "seasonal." It comes in a plastic tray with a thin film covering, and they actually want you to bake the product right in the tray. Peel back a corner, plop the tray on a baking sheet, and throw the whole thing on the center rack at 375° for 25 minutes and you've got a steaming hot side dish ready to rock and roll.

This isn't the first product we've reviewed that came in an "ovenable" tray, but I'm not gonna lie, this one smelled a bit like burning plastic at the end of the heating process. There was no discernible melting going on, but the odor was a bit off-putting. The fact that the product itself wasn't exactly bursting with flavors of its own didn't help matters much.

When I read the words "Four Cheese," I expect a rich comfort food flavor that's heavy and bold in the best ways possible. There's nothing offensive about the taste of this product but if I'm honest, it just didn't do it for me. If not more cheese, it would have benefited from a more potent spice blend with onions or garlic.

The texture of the potatoes was a bit firmer than I'm used to with this type of dish—it's almost as if they weren't cooked long enough. On a more positive note, the cheese wasn't overly oily or greasy. I liked that there were shreds of leeks throughout the dish, although I would have appreciated a lot more of them.

In the end, it's a convenient side dish that's innocuous enough and quite easy to prepare, but there's better packaged scalloped potatoes out there. Would not buy this particular product again. $5.99 for the 3.5 serving package. Six and a half stars from Sonia for Trader Joe's Four Cheese Scalloped Potatoes. Five and a half stars from me.

Bottom line: 6 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Organic Couscous

Neither Sonia nor I grew up with couscous at all. I remember they served it in the dining commons at college once in a while. Some of the international students I knew would get moderately excited about it, so I decided to give it a whirl. It's not bad. It's a great substitute for rice or orzo, it has an interesting texture, and it goes great with Mediterranean meals.

Apparently couscous is indigenous to North Africa. It's usually a little buttery and salty, sorta fluffy texture-wise, and is a decent source of protein. The beautiful wifey and I have had pearled couscous several times, including the couscous formerly known as Trader Joe's Israeli Couscous. I prefer pearled, personally. The grains are larger and a tad firmer. We had some recently with one of our Hello Fresh meals that came with the ingredients for a garlic butter sauce. That might have been the best couscous I've ever had.

Sonia prefers the regular kind, and she's particularly enthused that this product is organic. She whipped up a batch in our latest video, posted below. It required only butter, salt, and water. The entire process took less than 10 minutes, and the results were pleasant but mostly unmemorable by my reckoning. Sonia ate some plain while I tried it with a Mediterranean style chicken and garbanzo salad.

$1.79 for 12 oz. Sonia would buy Trader Joe's Organic Couscous again, while I'd seek out the pearled kind before repurchasing this particular item. Six out of ten stars from me. Eight out of ten stars from the beautiful wifey.

Bottom line: 7 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Calamari Pieces in Olive Oil

All things considered, Trader Joe's Canned Calamari Pieces in Olive Oil are a better introduction to the magical world of edible squid than Trader Joe's Crispy Battered Calamari, despite what my initial instincts would have told me.

This product is just a tad chewy, but it's head and shoulders above the fried version, texture-wise. Both products have a pretty nice flavor in my opinion, but I think this one might just edge out the competition in terms of taste, as well, despite the crispy battered goodness coating the other product.

The tin contains 2.82 oz of bite-sized squid pieces, sourced off the coast of Spain. They're packed in olive oil and salt, and they're ready for consumption straight out of the can. Apparently the species is known as "jumbo squid" or Humboldt squid. They're much larger than the normal little squids but not as big as the giant ones that can attack submarines and eat unsuspecting swimmers in the open ocean.

I tried them plain and also on a simple arugula salad. Looking forward to trying them with Spanish rice and maybe in a pasta dish. If you've got any other ideas, let us know in the comments.

$3.99 for the single serving can. Would buy again. Eight out of ten stars from me for Trader Joe's Tinned Calamari Pieces in Olive Oil. Sonia will go with seven out of ten.

Bottom line: 7.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Cranberry Clementine Sparkling Water

This might be the best flavored water yet from Trader Joe's. None of the flavors I've had are terrible, but this one stands out as being particularly refreshing to me. That subtle rush of citrusy orange...the whisper of tart cranberry...the perfect level of bubbly carbonation...it's really darn good all the way.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think this flavor is available year round, unlike the two most recent flavors we've looked at: Green Apple and Winter Sangria, both of which I'm fairly certain are seasonal. Not even sure if they have the Watermelon Lemonade at all still. 

Sonia says this one reminds her a bit of the San Pellegrino Aranciata flavor, which is more expensive and harder to find. Well, it's harder to find if you're going to Trader Joe's regularly, anyway, and I suppose you can order it online, but this Trader Joe's flavor is just about as tasty and sourced domestically as opposed to being imported from Italy.

$3.49 for 8 cans. What the heck happened to 12 packs? These water companies have us paying more for eight cans of water than we ever paid for 12 cans of soda. It's not just TJ's, it's Bubly, it's Waterloo, it's Aha, it's Polar. It's pretty much everybody. I think La Croix still sells 12 packs at a few places but they started doing the eight pack thing, too. I digress. Sonia and I give Trader Joe's Cranberry Clementine Sparkling Water eight and a half out of ten stars. We would definitely buy it again.

Bottom line: 8.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Squiggly Noodles with a Spicy Garlic Sesame Sauce

Can you believe it's been over a year and a half since we reviewed the original Trader Joe's Squiggly Noodles? Neither can I. The general consensus was that they were nothing to complain about, but also nothing to write home about. On their own, they weren't very exciting, but they made a great base for a larger Asian meal with veggies and/or meats.

Since reviewing the original squiggly noodles, we've also tried numerous flavors of Momofuku brand noodles. They are indeed quite similar, but there were certain flavors that we enjoyed more than others. Sweet & Spicy was among our favorite styles of Momofuku, and likewise, I think ratcheting up the spice level might also help with the overall flavor of Trader Joe's brand. So spicy squigglies have to be a step in the right direction from their predecessors, or so I'd assume.

Packaging-wise, they're very similar. The originals were clad in bright red while these spicy ones come in a black cellophane outer wrapper. Once again, there are four individual packs in the bag and the total price is $4.99. Interestingly enough, the spicy noodles pack a bigger punch in the calorie department, boasting 460 per serving as compared with the original squigglies coming in at 310 per serving. We've also got more sugar, more overall carbs, more protein, and more fat with the spicy version. That's a significant deviation as far as nutrition info is concerned.

And after taking a bite, I can tell you that, yes, the extra calories and carbs do indeed translate to more flavor. It's a much more exciting taste than the original squiggly noodles. It's not super spicy, heat-wise, but it brings a rich garlic soy flavor. It's got a punch for sure, but it's not a mouth-searing chili type spice. It's much more filling than the original and also much more satisfying in my opinion.

These function as a standalone meal much better than the other squiggly noodles from Trader Joe's, but we still added some egg for extra flavor and protein. If you wanted to throw in chicken or beef, bok choy, cabbage, mushrooms, carrots, or spinach, I'm sure any of those would blend seamlessly with the noodles and sauces here.

I gave the original squiggly noodles six out of ten stars and Sonia gave them seven out of ten. She's disappointed that these "spicy" noodles aren't really all that spicy, but she agrees that the overall flavor is a step in the right direction, and she also likes that these are cheaper than the Momofuku brand. She'll give these seven and a half out of ten stars. I'll go with eight out of ten. We would buy Trader Joe's Squiggly Noodles with a Spicy Garlic Sesame Sauce again.

Bottom line: 7.75 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Organic Freezer Pops

Otter Pops, Pop-Ice, Fla-Vor-Ice—whichever brand you grew up with, you know the drill. You get in from the hot summer weather and you start craving a plastic tube filled with high fructose corn syrup and Red 40. You grab some scissors, snip the top, and moments later you've got a sugar buzz and a brain freeze, and it's pure heaven.

This product isn't exactly seasonally appropriate, especially here in the Upper Midwest where we recently got a few inches of snow along with some very cold temperatures. But Trader Joe's sells these things year round, so I guess they expect some weirdos to eat them even when it's fifteen below.

Years ago, we saw some healthy freezer pops from TJ's. They were peach flavored, and we liked them quite a bit. They had little bits of actual peach in them, which was nice. This iteration doesn't have fruit chunks in it, but it's certified organic, it's made of real fruit juice concentrates, and it uses stuff like vegetable juice and turmeric for coloring.

Along those same lines, if you're expecting these to taste just like the aforementioned mainstream popsicles with all the chemicals and dyes, you're probably going to be disappointed. These taste like frozen fruit juices rather than fake stuff that's loaded with added sugar.

The berry flavor is my favorite by a good margin. It just has the best taste overall. I like the cherry limeade quite a bit, too, but it leaves an aftertaste that I'm not a huge fan of. The orange flavor tastes way more tart than I expected it to, but it's tangy and citrusy and is a bit like licking the block of frozen orange juice concentrate straight out of the can before it's mixed with water...not that I would know what that tastes like or anything...

$3.49 for ten pops. Would buy again when temperatures are above freezing. Sonia will give Trader Joe's Organic Freezer Pops eight out of ten stars. I'll go with seven out of ten.

Bottom line: 7.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Enchilada Sauce

So...this might be the third time Sonia has ever made enchiladas in our 15 years of marriage. She works a full-time job, so it's not like I expect her to cook every day. And enchiladas aren't one of her specialty dishes. Sonia's mom only made them once in a blue moon back when Sonia was a young girl. But shoot, it's nice when she does whip up a batch. I'm tempted to try my hand at it myself, but I'm pretty sure it would be disappointing by comparison.

Having a pre-made sauce helps the process go quickly and smoothly. Trader Joe's offering is reasonably-priced, and it has a nice consistency and flavor. There's a bit more of a kick than I was expecting, to be honest. Fortunately, we both enjoy spicy foods. Sonia and I would put the heat level around a 6 on our spice-o-meters. A quick glance at the ingredients reveals that the product not only contains red jalapeño pepper puree but also ground red chile pepper and chipotle pepper powder.

It's not too thin and not too thick. It coats fairly easily and it's smooth and a nice dark shade of deep red. Our enchiladas had beans and shredded chicken wrapped in flour tortillas and topped with a Mexican cheese blend and Trader Joe's Enchilada Sauce. After baking for 20 minutes, the resulting entree was flavorful, filling, and satisfying.

What else can you do with this sauce? Chilaquiles are mentioned on traderjoes.com. If we try that, we'll report back with the results in the comments section. What have you made with this product? Let us know.

$4.49 for the 24 oz jar. Kosher. Would buy again. Eight out of ten stars a piece from both Sonia and me for Trader Joe's Enchilada Sauce.

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Italian Confetti Almonds

I admit I complain a lot about certain Trader Joe's foods being too hard. It seems like other TJ's customers must have adamantium jaws, because I don't hear a lot of other folks making that same observation. Products like English Toffee, Mango Sticky Rice Crisps, and more than one of their sweet cracker "crisps" come to mind. When I eat those delicious yet overly rigid products, I feel like Trader Joe's has made some kind of sinister deal with the American Dental Association to help them drum up demand for extra crowns and fillings.

These almonds feel like they're coated in glass. Fortunately, it's a delicate sugary glass that melts in your mouth if you suck on it long enough. The candy is an interesting, sweet, vanilla-esque flavor. The almonds are flat and long, apparently by virtue of their status as Avola almonds, a species that's indigenous to Sicily, Italy. "Confetti almonds" are apparently a popular favor given out at Italian weddings.

Sonia loves the candy coating even though she, too, agrees that it's excessively hard. We both agree the flavor of the almonds themselves is very good. I think I'd have preferred to try the Avola almonds without the candy since I'm not familiar with them. The shell is okay in my book, but it detracts from the almonds in both taste and texture in the end. And just in case you're wondering, this product was still many months before its best by date when we consumed it.

$4.49 for the 6 oz resealable bag. Imported from Italy. Kosher. Sonia will give Trader Joe's Italian Confetti Almonds 7.5 out of 10 stars because she loves the flavor. I think the taste is nice, but it's not enough to make me ever want to buy these again in their current format. Unfortunately, comparable bags of plain Avola almonds will run you upwards of twelve bucks. Guess I'll wait until TJ's offers Avolas without the armor. Five out of ten stars from me.

Sonia's score: 7.5 out of 10.

Nathan's score: 5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Hoisin Sauce

Those of you who've been following us for a long time know that our whole schtick is basically that we're "foodie-hacks." We're not culinary experts. We're just normal folks who enjoy food and are generally curious and adventurous. I honestly think we're the type of customers Trader Joe's is perfect for. It's not optimized for health nuts or highfalutin highbrow food snobs as some may think at first. It's for people who see food as art and want to try novel stuff for reasonable prices. All that to say, in all likelihood, you the reader know more about any given item than I do. I'm just giving you the honest opinion of one man and one woman. No more, no less.

In that same vein, while I've heard of "hoisin sauce" before, I couldn't tell you much about it other than it's Asian and they sometimes put it in stir-fry. Sonia has made a few stir-fry dishes with other brands and I have to say I've enjoyed Trader Joe's the most so far.

It seems sweeter and also more flavorful than the other hoisin sauces that she's used. It pours thick and dark, and it coats everything it touches. It tastes like brown sugar, soy sauce, and sesame sauce all mixed together, with a hint of vinegar in the background. It went beautifully with the ground turkey, broccoli, onion, and noodle dish she whipped up recently. We're excited to try it with other stuff very soon.

A quick Google search will reveal that hoisin sauce is typically a Chinese ingredient used in Cantonese cooking, while this Trader Joe's product hails from Thailand. It's $1.99 for just over 10 oz. Vegan. We like it. We would buy it again. Eight out of ten stars from me for Trader Joe's Hoisin Sauce. Sonia will go with nine out of ten.

Bottom line: 8.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Mini Quiche Duo

Couldn't tell you how long Trader Joe's Mini Quiche Duo has been around. It's not the type of product we'd have pounced on immediately after hearing about it or seeing it in the freezer at TJ's. Full disclosure: I'm not a big fan of pork bacon or mushrooms. Like me, Sonia had a slight reaction to mushrooms in the past, but she's outgrown it and is now starting to become fond of the spore-bearing fungi.

Nevertheless, neither of these appetizers really wowed us. Predictably, Sonia gravitated towards the mushroom tarts while I just slightly favored the bacon ones—but definitely not because of the bacon—but rather because of the sweet onions. Still, both specimens would have benefited from more of the onions, Swiss cheese, and egg elements.

The part we liked the best was the bready, buttery, flaky crust that comes out so perfectly when heated in the air fryer. It's pretty standard for these Trader Joe's tart-style appetizers. There are numerous varieties, and they're all convenient and fun to try. 

I think our favorite might still be Trader Joe's Feta Cheese & Caramelized Onion Pastry Bites, which have been available at the store since 2011.

In short, we're cheese and egg people. Mushroom and bacon people, have at it. Let us know what you think.

$4.79 in the frozen section. Product of Canada. Probably would not buy again. Sonia and I will throw out six out of ten stars each for Trader Joe's Mini Quiche Duo.

Bottom line: 6 out of 10.

Our Favorite Trader Joe's Valentine's Treats

Click below to watch a 20 minute discussion of our current favorite Trader Joe's Valentine's Day products and a brief recap of some memorable items from years past.

Trader Joe's Ranch Seasoned Cashews

Growing up, my mother always had this odd assortment of nuts lying around the house. In the kitchen, in the cluttered hallway, and even in her bedroom, there would be half-eaten tubs and jars of macadamias, pistachios, pecans, and filberts spilling out onto tables and floors all over the place. Among her favorites were, of course, cashews. I quickly learned to like them since they were virtually always available at our house and my food allergies limited what I could eat, especially throughout my younger years.

Back then, the only varieties of cashews I remember were salted or unsalted, raw or dry roasted. If they'd offered ranch cashews, I would have been begging my parents to try them. Whether they'd have indulged me or not would have depended upon whether my mother wanted to try them, too. My guess is she'd have given them a whirl.

Would she have liked them or not? I'm not sure. It's well within the realm of possibility that a cashew purist might be scared off by the sugar, garlic, and buttermilk slathered on this snack. I mean, Sonia and I like them quite a bit. We think the level of ranch-ish-ness is appropriate. Others may disagree.

Certain bites seem more ranchy than others, but the overall flavor is a good balance between the cashews' nutty goodness and the buttery, garlicky tang of ranch dressing. I must admit the taste seemed a little strange at first, but it quickly grew on me.

The nuts are mostly whole cashews with some halves floating around in the bag. Sonia liked their texture, stating that they're not too hard and not too soft, still crunchy like a nut should be but not overly firm.

$3.99 for the 8 oz resealable bag. Kosher. Would buy again. Eight and a half stars from Sonia for Trader Joe's Ranch Seasoned Cashews. I'll throw out seven and a half.

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Aglio Olio Seasoning Blend

"Aglio e olio" apparently means "garlic and oil" in Italian. Never heard the phrase before looking into this product. I honestly don't know if this is a traditional spice blend from The Beautiful Country or not, but it's darn tasty.

If I were tasked with making my own ideal spice blend from scratch, I would undoubtedly start with garlic. It's the king of spices and herbs in my book. Red bell pepper and red chili pepper would most definitely be on the list as well to add some flavor and oomph to the seasoning. We've got both in Trader Joe's Aglio Olio.

Rounding out the list might be sea salt, parsley, and some kind of oil. My version might have onion in it as well, but I think you get the picture: my ultimate seasoning mix would be remarkably close to what we have here.

No point in purchasing it if you don't like garlic. It's quite allium forward. It's mildly spicy and very flavorful. My only complaint might be that it's a little saltier than I'd prefer it to be.

It's great with pasta, orzo, rice, or...in case you have any oddly bland pizza pockets on hand, it's Aglio Olio to the rescue. I'd add it to anything Italian. The shaker says you can toss it with spaghetti and olive oil, I guess in lieu of traditional pasta sauce, which sounds delightful. I bet it would go great with olive oil and bruschetta, too.

$2.49 for the 1.7 oz shaker. Kosher. Would buy again. This is probably one of my top three TJ's seasonings of all time. Eight and a half stars from both Sonia and me for Trader Joe's Aglio Oilo Garlicky & Spicy Seasoning Blend.

Bottom line: 8.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Panzerotti Pizza Bites

Four bucks gets you "about 4 servings" of panzerotti. There were 11 little pizza pouches, like mini calzones, in our bag. It's another Italian import, and it's another disappointment, unfortunately.

On the plus side, there's absolutely nothing offensive about these little doughy doodads. They're made of soft flour on the outside and they're filled with mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce. 

Straight out of the air fryer, there are wisps of cheese just starting to ooze from the seams on the little pizza pockets. The only hint I had that these wouldn't be perfectly scrumptious was the curious absence of a fresh-baked pizza smell. There wasn't much odor at all, save for the scent of slightly toasty reheated wheat bread.

And the taste? The same. Remarkably bland for Italian food. You can tell there's cheese and sauce, but it's like they forgot all the spices. I see them listed in the ingredients, but I guess I just want more—more garlic, more oregano, more basil, more pepper.

The texture is pleasant. The shell is soft and fluffy, slightly crispy on the outside, depending on how long you air fry them. The cheese and sauce are nice and gooey, although most specimens could have used a lot more of both. It's mostly just empty space on the inside of the pockets.

You could salvage these by dipping them in tomato bisque or some other kind of creamy, thick soup. Or maybe you could add your own cheese and spices. Again, they're not awful, they just didn't live up to their potential and are far too bland in our opinions.

Seven out of ten stars from Sonia. Six out of ten stars from me for Trader Joe's Panzerotti Pizza Bites.

Bottom line: 6.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Pink Lady Apple Chips

Seems like red delicious and golden delicious were en vogue when I was a kid. Now, it's Honeycrisp and Pink Lady that seem to get all the attention in the red department. Granny Smith is pretty decent if you want a tart green flavor, but Pink Lady is a fine choice for a sweet chip kinda snack.

Let's go ahead and get the negatives out of the way first since there really aren't many of them. First, there's canola oil in the ingredients. I maintain that I don't consume enough canola oil for it to do me much harm, but it seems like it's popping up more and more in Trader Joe's offerings, and canola oil is literally engine lubricant.

Second, there aren't enough chips in the bag. It's deceptively large and not even close to being filled with the chips. I'd say it's shrinkflation or whatever, but it just seems like a cruel trick.

But now that we've gotten the unpleasantries out of the way, it's all smooth sailing from here on out...because these chips are delicious. There's a pleasant crispy crunch to each chip. They're not too hard and not chewy or weird at all.

Flavor-wise, there's a good bit of cinnamon and sugar, but it's mostly just a sweet juicy apple taste. It's very pleasant. Not too oily, not too tart. These chips are stellar in both taste and texture.

$2.29 for the 2.5 oz bag. Would buy again. Gluten free. Kosher. Eight and a half stars from me for Trader Joe's Cinnamon Sugar Pink Lady Apple Chips. Nine out of ten stars from Sonia.

Bottom line: 8.75 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Cocoa Berry Black Tea Blend

At the time I'm composing this post, the high today will be nearly double digits below zero here in the Upper Midwest. It'll be something like forty degrees warmer by the time this review goes live. So if you're reading these words, that means we likely survived the polar vortex in order to publish this article on the interwebs. Yay.

I'm virtually never in the mood for hot beverages. I'm generally chugging a Red Bull rather than coffee even if we're talking literal freezing temps outside. But when you're looking at early morning weather in the ballpark of minus fifteen...well, then even I might reach for a steaming mug of java, hot chocolate, or in this case tea—what appears to be a very unique tea, just looking at the description on the box anyway.

And unique it is. It's not as indulgent or as rich as the name "cocoa berry" might make it sound. It is, indeed, a tea, so all the flavors are subtle. It smells more like cocoa than it tastes. There's a faint berry essence and an even fainter chocolatey one. It's a tea blend that very much favors the addition of sugar and cream in my humble opinion. Or, like Sonia, you can turn it into a latte.

It's a black tea so it's got some caffeine. There's a mild invigorating quality to the taste. I'd have this for breakfast or a mid-afternoon pick-me-up. It's nothing to write home about, nor is it anything to complain about.

I was just about to say I wouldn't buy it again, but when I looked up the price, I had to reconsider. Two bucks for ten tea bags. The cute little box and fancy presentation make it something that might be nice to have on hand to offer to guests on cold winter days. Seven out of ten stars from me. Eight out of ten stars from Sonia for Trader Joe's Cocoa Berry Black Tea Blend.

Bottom line: 7.5 out of 10.