Jake and I decided to go out and grab the new test flavors for Lay’s Potato Chips contest “Do Us a Flavor”. The new flavors in contention are: Cheddar Bacon Mac and Cheese, Mango Salsa, Cappuccino, and Wasabi Ginger.
I’m not good at doing videos so you get photo reactions to 3 of the 4 new Lay’s Potato Chip flavors. We didn’t want to try (and didn’t see) the Wasabi Ginger flavor. I don’t like wasabi as it is, I can’t possibly see how I would enjoy a wasabi flavored chip. But hey, if one of you out there finds it and hands me one, I would try it then. As long as you also have a bottle of water at the ready.
Okay… onto this crazy trial idea thing.
Here are three of the four new flavors. I’m starting to feel like they are doing these flavors as some kind of dare.
“Will people really buy this and eat it? Let’s find out!”
Apparently the answer is yes.
We started out by trying the flavor we deemed the most “safe”: The Cheddar Bacon Mac and Cheese.
We’re still in the all smiles phase as Jake swiftly gave his approval, thinking these had a nice cheesy flavor. Thumbs up!
T is also giving a thumbs up here but I’m not 100% convinced by that facial expression… but let’s just pretend he’s Roger Ebert and the thumb is all that counts. Thumbs up!
Me? I wasn’t so sure so I did a weird shrug thing. It was an okay flavor but I felt it was incredibly salty and that the smoky bacon flavor just made it taste even saltier than their normal chips. On the other hand, it wasn’t completely offensive. Sideways thumb.
Next we tried the flavor we were pretty certain we wouldn’t like: The Cappuccino.
One chip was all it took for T to quickly decide that Cappuccino chips were not made for him. Thumbs down.
Jake took three photos of me while I ate the Cappuccino chips and I didn’t give an thumb signal at all but let me assure you that I am also very much in the “WTF is this?!” camp. Thumbs down.
Jake rounded out the vote and it was unanimous decision: We don’t ever want to eat these god awful chips again. It smells exactly like coffee and milk, but greasy, and then it’s got a weird salty component and then it’s also crunchy. Crunchy coffee flavored greasy chips are not a thing that should exist in the world. These are the chips that really made me think Lays is trying to prank the whole United States. If you want to eat coffee dusted crunchy chips though you go ahead and be my guest. I’ll send you the rest of this bag (which, for some reason, is still in my kitchen).
Last but not least: The Mango Salsa.
Uh… no.
“What on earth is in my mouth? Why is there this weird after taste?”
“In comparison to those last chips, these actually taste decent.”
Jake and I were definitely in the thumbs down camp while T seemed to think they were “eh”. I felt like the flavor profile of these chips are “I drank way too many pina coladas on the beach in Mexico and someone get me some salsa or something”. They tasted like a tourist trap tropical beach resort. These are on the sweet side and I think a little bit of spiciness and heat would really help round out the too sweet flavor of these chips. There was also a weird lingering sweet taste that immediately made me want to eat something else to kill the after taste. Still not as bad as the cappuccino chips, but still not good.
Maya actually munched and wanted to eat the chips (she’s eating the cappuccino chips here and wanted more of them. She was the only one). Maybe the cappuccino chips could make it as a doggy snack…
In case you have a burning desire to try these for yourself: we found these chips at the Vons on College Ave and El Cajon Blvd. They were in a display by the self check out. Most stores should have them by now, most likely in a special display area or end cap.
Have you sampled the new chips – what do you think of them?
Haha I was actually looking forward to the wasabi ginger one the most! I didn’t like the idea of cappucino or mango salsa – chips aren’t supposed to be sweet! Haha.
Hi Jinxi! Yeah… sweet chips are kind of weird, unless they are also spicy and sweet and then somehow it’s okay (at least, to me). If they had had Wasabi I might have gotten it to try purely for research but I don’t reallllllly want to try it, haha.
haha! funny post. where did you find the flavors? i went to three grocery stores over the weekend and only managed to find one flavor: the wasabi ginger one. i got the kettle version and it wasn’t bad. you can taste the wasabi but it’s not overwhelming.
Hi Kirbie – Thanks! We got ours at the Vons in the College area but they were not in the chip/snack aisle, instead they were like hidden in a special display by the front registers. T actually was the one that saw them, we had almost given up!
Ha! I was at Stater Bros and they had all 4 flavors, so I bought them to try. We took the mac n’ cheese and cappucino flavors to a bottle share (because I figured you should take weird chips to a place where lots of people will eat them and you can just leave them behind when you leave). The mac n cheese ones were good – cheesy, smoky, salty. Everyone who tried the cappucino ones basically made the same faces you did – it’s just weird!
We haven’t tried the wasabi ginger or mango salsa ones, yet, but you’ve got me scared of the salsa ones now! I think I might like the wasabi ginger since I like wasabi peas and such, but we’ll see.
Such a great marketing ploy on Lay’s part – people may not be repeat buyers, but they’re always going to buy a bag to try the crazy new flavors!
Hi Leanne – Yeah, I kind of want to just leave the bags somewhere but they’re open now, no one will trust it. Haha. The cappuccino one was as bad as I thought it was going to be. The flavor is just so wrong! I do feel like the whole contest is a ploy to get people to buy more chips. It totally works though since even though the flavors sounded so weird, I wanted to try them anyway! I just wish I could have found the small bags haha.
your faces haha. A scrunched up face is worth a thousand words. Didn’t the people who come up with the flavors all win a million dollars too??!? If the capuccino person won a million dollars I’m gonna be pretty upset.
Hi J.S. – Yes, his face speaks volumes on what he thinks of those chips hahah. There will be one overall winner from the four flavors (the voting is open now) and that person will win a million dollars and then that flavor will be regularly available to buy. I can’t imagine anyone voting for the cappuccino flavor…. ugh! hahah
Thank you for this post! I was genuinely curious about them but couldn’t get my husband to go anywhere near them (as of Sunday, they had them all at the North Park Vons). It’s… pretty much what I would have expected. 🙂
Hi! Yeah… I was only iffy about the Mango Salsa, I couldn’t decide beforehand if it would be good or not. I like mango salsa, but wasn’t sure how it would translate in chip form. The mystery is now gone. 🙂
I must be living in a cave because I hadn’t even known of these flavors. Of the four mentioned, the bacon mac ‘n cheese sounds like the only ‘decent’ one that I would actually try. The Cappuccino seems quite vile. Like, why even make a coffee flavored chip? The flavors are so WRONG for a potato chip. That would suck if that flavor wins. I hope it doesn’t.
Hi CC! I don’t remember when I first heard of the new flavors but I don’t think they have been out for very long. I saw someone posted them on instagram last week so I had to check them out. I had a pretty strong feeling I wouldn’t like the cappuccino and boy was my feeling right! I don’t know anyone who likes that flavor so I’d be surprised if that won.
I would like cappuccino flavor as a candy but not as a potato chip! Whoever thought of that must have been high or something. WTH man. i would rather eat a pickle flavored chip than that! ugh, haha!
I draw the line at pickle flavored chips hahah!
I tried the Bacon Mac&Cheese chips and to me they tasted more like potato skins and really not all that special.
The other bag I tried was the Wasabi & Ginger which was actually pretty good. It brought something unique to the brand and tasted like it’s own thing. I’d have preferred more of a punch from the Wasabi, but you can taste it on your palette after a few chips.
Even though you may not like regular Wasabi, you might find these good to try.
Hmm, maybe if I see a small bag I’ll try the Wasabi ones. Thanks for the comment, Bernie!
if i were shopping pre-review, i’d probably try the mac&cheese or mango salsa. AND bring them to a potluck or party so I could pass them off if they weren’t good and save a few calories… but I usually stick to the safe flavors like bbq when purchasing! i’m kinda in the mood to forage for snacks in my coworker’s cube now… thanks mary. =p
Hi Lynn – It’s fun to try new things. If I ever see a little bag of the Wasabi I will try it and add on to this review (though honestly, I have not been actively looking, haha). Forage away!