Name: Black Black Hard
Origin: Japan
Found at: Mitsuwa, Costa Mesa
Cost: $4.99
Ingredients:
Maltitol, Guarana and Chrysant & Gingko Extract, Xylitol, Acesulfame K, Aspartame, L-Phenylalanine, Sucralose, Gum Base, Artificial Flavor, Gum Arabic, Caffeine, Cacao & Caramel Color, Nicotinamide.
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Tasting Notes:
What I found inside was more hilarious than the name of the product. There, in a separate compartment of its own next to the jet black gum tablets was a stack of Post-It notes. What's it for, you ask? Why it's for wrapping up your gum afterwards, of course. How considerate!
As for the flavor: it's intensely mint-y, with a menthol aftertaste that goes up the nostril in tingly fumes. Think of those Listerine breath strips and you get an idea of how potent this gum is. And yes, a check of the ingredients confirm it does contain caffeine, but I haven't eaten enough to feel its effects. Though with deadlines looming this week, I just might save some calories and jettison the Red Bull for some Black Black Hard. If Van Damme or anyone should ever decide to hawk the product here in a commercial, I hope they sign off with “Once you go Black Black, you don't go back back.”
Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.