Monday, April 5, 2010

Wrigley's 5 Gum React: Fruit



I have to hand it to Wrigley's with the 5 line. At one point in time my personal Top Five Fave Gums consisted entirely of Stride and Orbit. (To be fair, Orbit is also a Wrigley's product.) Orbit Sweet Mint used to hold the Number 1 spot, but was knocked down a rank last year by 5's Solstice (still Number 1!) .

There are two new 5 flavors, both called React, but one is a fruit version and one is mint. I of course have both, but we are doing the fruit flavor first.



There is next to no information out there about what makes React different from any of the other 5 flavors. On the Wrigley's website, the flavors are described as "A unique fruit/mint experience," but nothing tells you what it is that makes it unique.

So far, the only thing I can see that sets it apart from the rest of the line is that the individual wrappers are a stylish black, and the gum itself is the gray color of wet concrete. As you chew the gum, the color darkens to slate gray. But have no fear: unlike most extreme colored gum (or gum aimed at kids), it won't turn your mouth black as well. My tongue did darken a little. But as I was really looking for something different, I highly doubt most people would notice.



The sticks smell kind of like orange and mango -- and that is pretty much what they taste like. It's sort of a vague tropical fruit mixed with orange. The more lush tropical flavors wear off quickly (within the first five minutes). The orange hangs around longer, but after about ten minutes it starts to taste more like the aftertaste of Orange Tic-Tacs than the juicy orange-like tang it had at first.



This isn't a bad flavor, and I did in fact like it more than 5 Lush. It just doesn't have the WOW factor of Solstice.



PURCHASED FROM:

Albertsons Supermarket

PRICE:

$1.25

CALORIES:

-5 calories per stick.

ADDITIONAL INFO:

Contains soy lecithin, phenylalanine, aspartame, sorbitol, acesulfame K.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE:

wrigley.com

5 comments:

tablo said...

I liked Lush better than React fruit. It kinda tastes like orange Tic-Tac(which I don't really like) after like 10 minutes. But LOVE the packaging and marketing.

Unknown said...

Tablo:
I have to agree with you. While I love the packaging the flavor was only so-so.

I do LOVE Solstice however, that has become my gum of choice since I first tried it.

I have yet to find a fruit flavored gum that I really love.

Unknown said...

Sorry for posting on an older entry, but I wanted to comment about the flavour. I just received a pack of this and tried a strip. For me, the flavour was mango, papaya, and lime. I haven't tasted any orange at all. Right now, I'm back at the mango flavour.

The reason why I'm commenting is because through my search of more information regarding the 'mysterious flavours', I've come across a few articles/posts that talk about the gum flavours being different to each person who chews it. Hence the React/Unique push. Through the chemical process, the individual experiences a different taste. It's in the same vein as those perfumes that react to each person's body differently and the lipsticks with colours that vary based on who wears them.

I just thought I would offer that up to see if anyone else has heard/experienced this. For the sake of science, I might pass a few strips around and get people's take.

Unknown said...

Coniglietta:
Please feel free to comment on any post no matter how old they may be. It's always interesting to hear people's thoughts on things- even if it's an older review.

Speaking of interesting your take on the flavor and why it seems to taste different to everyone makes a lot of sense. This is actually the first time I have heard that theory and if that is actually how Wrigley's designed (for lack of a better word) the gum to work that moves it up a few pegs in my cool book.

I wish I had tasted Papaya and lime!. Sadly no matter how many sticks I chewed for me it stayed tasting like mango/orange.

Did you ever end up passing the sticks off to other people? And if so what did they taste?

Dr. Steve said...

Well if you don't mind more posts on an old entry, I saw some of this gum at the store and didn't buy it, but I'm going to go get some tomorrow. Five also has a new Watermelon gum called Prism, it has a pretty interesting flavour to it as well. So far my least favourite one is Flare, but I am very happy with the line overall. They're what I keep at home. In my care, it's Orbit Mist.

Glad I found a gum site.