This New Flavor Of M&Ms Will Blow Your Mind

An important election took place this spring… and I totally forgot to vote. The Mars Chocolate Company released three new flavors of Peanut M&M's on a trial-basis and asked America to decide on their favorite — the winner: coffee-flavored M&M's.

While this M&M’s “Flavor Vote” is nowhere near Brexit-level, we will still have to live with the repercussions come August when the new candy hits shelves nation-wide. If you too forgot to cast your ballot, take comfort in the fact that while the original roasted peanut M&M cannot be matched, a Coffee Nut variety certainly sound better than its competitors: Honey Nut (what is this, a cereal?) and Chilli-nut (what deranged mind would even suggest that???).

A press statement announcing the results states that coffee is America's favorite flavored beverage (and this writer's favorite), so perhaps this new flavor was written in the stars? Eater points out however that though the M&M's have the coffee taste they are lacking the "perks" of the bitter drink — as there is no significant caffeine listed on the nutrition label.

If you are curious about the confection's flavor-profile, food blog The Impulsive Buy reviewed the three new flavors back in April. The reviewer likens the new flavor to "coffee Jelly Belly beans, except with a peanut." While they note that a robust coffee flavor or bitterness to balance out the sweetness of the candy shell was decidedly missing, the reviewer had an overall positive experience: "I can’t complain about the mocha vibe that resonates as soon as the shell begins to dissolve." The reviewer concludes that "while Coffee Nut is a welcome addition, the other two flavors taste more like novelties than anything else." Other food bloggers agreed that coffee nut is the best of the three, and the least artificial tasting — perhaps we made the right call after all. Good job, America.

While I do not necessarily think Peanut M&M's need to be messed with, the Mars company has a history of altering its classic product in strange and creative ways. We have already experienced such mad scientist seasonal flavor creations as cherry cordial, gingerbread, white chocolate carrot cake, candy corn, and red velvet. Compared to some of these temporary additions, "coffee flavored roasted peanuts" doesn't sound out there at all.

We have already seen coffee flavored M&M's in Fall of 2015 such as cafe mocha and pumpkin spice latte. These flavors didn't seem to stick around long after the holidays, so I wonder if coffee nut will somehow survive and be added to the M&M's canon. The original Peanut M&M's have been around since 1954, so this new iteration has big shoes to fill.

The OG peanut M&M's are still (and will forever be) my movie theater candy of choice, but who knows? Maybe I'll add some coffee nut M&M's as a topping to my next Frappuccino.

Images: Mars, mmschocolate/Twitter, mmschocolate/Twitter