Honey Crisp Apple Cider is BACK!

Everyone who is a regular at Trader Joe's has their "go to" items, their favorites.  We mourn them if TJ's discontinues them.  But if they are seasonal, we DELIGHT when their season rolls around and they magically appear on the shelves again...

May I have a drum roll please....

Party in the juice aisle - Honey Crisp Apple Cider is BACK!

HONEY CRISP APPLE CIDER IS BACK AT TRADER JOE'S!!

If you haven't had the pleasure of drinking this cider, boy are you in for a treat :) .  It.  Is.  Delicious!  I have to warn you though - last year I developed a bit of an "addiction" to it...  Every afternoon last winter for about 90 days I would get incredibly sleepy around 3:00 pm.  It was like clockwork!  The clock struck 3:00, my yawning started.  But the yawning was accompanied by a CRAVING...  I neeeeeeeeed a mug of hot Trader Joe's Honey Crisp Apple Cider!  Lucky for me, that is an easy, healthy, cheap, and legal craving to satisfy!  So for about a month and a half there, I drank a mug of this warmed up every afternoon!

And, truth be told, I sort of drank too much of it.  "OD-ed" on it, if you will.  I had stocked up on a few bottles, but left them untouched until this fall rolled around.  I have since busted them open and resumed my adoration of this cider.  And you should, too!!!

Who has 2 thumbs and think this price point is perfect for a cider this good?  THIS GIRL!!

If you have tried the other TJ's ciders and think those are good - well I hate to say you are wrong, because we all have our own preferences.  But...  TRY THIS ONE, TOO!

And if you like it (and you will) make sure to squirrel away a few bottle down in your wine cellar (ok, seriously, is anyone who shops at TJ's rich enough to have a WINE CELLAR?  Perhaps I guess.  I squirrel away my collection WITH the wine in the basement, which just so happens to be stored in a rack on top of a shrunk (which is like an extra pantry closet). 

THIS IS THE ONE YOU ARE LOOKING FOR!

Wherever you have room to store it, all I am saying is, get a few bottles!  Because it is seasonal, and like most good things, seasons will change and this will disappear until next year. 

Price:  the same as it has been since I first wrote about it 2 years ago, $2.99 and not a penny higher
Rating: still an amazing 5 stars

Day 331 - Cherry Cider

16 years ago today David and I took the plunge.  We had been together for what felt like an eternity already, and the whole wedding part was more party and formality than anything else, but this Thanksgiving season I am sure thankful to have him in my life.  Here is the picture from our surprise wedding invitations - "Susan and David are finally taking the plunge".  Fun times!

Snapped the shot on the first attempt - thank goodness!!  Taking the plunge was never so fun.

But enough anniversary celebrating, you are here for a REVIEW.  Here goes!

I bought this Cherry Cider in an attempt at fairness.  I felt bad that I was so heavily favoring the Honey Crisp Apple Cider (a-maaaa-zing!  reviewed here).  I thought I should spread the juice love out a bit, so in a moment of weakness I forego the Honey Crisp for this Cherry Cider.

 

Found on the juice shelves (not refrigerated)

Big mistake.

It tastes like COUGH SYRUP.  In fact, it SMELLS like cough syrup.  So I get the cough syrup scent before I even get a dribble of this juice in my mouth.  I.  hate.  Cough.  Syrup.  I would rather cough than drink cough syrup.  (Unless I have one of those horrible coughs where you have hacked soooo much that every muscle in your back hurts…  If I have THAT kind of cough, I will consider taking a tiny spoonful of cough syrup…)  So imagine, me, a woman who hates even a spoonful of cough syrup, being confronted by a juice glass full.  Ewwww.

I feel I should point out – I like CHERRY STUFF.  So don’t think that I am dismissing this cider simply because it is the same FLAVOR of many cough syrups.  No, cherry itself is tasty.  But this not only tastes of CHERRY, it tastes of CHERRY COUGH SYRUP.  It doesn’t have the consistency of cough syrup, thankfully.  But it has the scent and taste of it.  L 

David’s opinion:  "I don’t like it.  It is too sweet.  It tastes very cherry-ish, and maybe that is the way a cherry cider ought to taste.  But to me it is like drinking the juice at the bottom of a can of cherry pie filler.  I give it a 1.5."

 A sleepy David being forced to drink some cherry cider for a taste test.  Poor guy.

The only reason I am now drinking this juice is to try and get the bit 2 quart container out of our fridge.  I even tried heating it up one afternoon because I was jonesin’ so much for my hot Honey Crisp Apple Cider.  I thought surely it would be better warm.  Nope.  It was HOT cough syrup in a pretty mug.  Yuck. 

The color is also a little off-putting.  It is not red, but it is not pink.  There is a hint of brown to it, making me suspect prune juice.  If I wanted brown juice, I would buy prune juice.  If I want cherry, make it red please (this is probably years of drinking juice tainted with food coloring talking…).  For complete and accurate reporting I just checked the label – no prune juice here, folks. 

Save your money - invest in another juice instead.

The label says it is “cherry flavored juice blend from concentrates with other natural ingredients.  100% juice, no artificial flavors or preservatives”.  There you go – it is healthy, but not tasty. 

I have since gotten more of my favorite cider.  I couldn’t wait to finish the cherry crap to open the honey crisp bottle, so I now have TWO open large bottles of cider in the refrigerator.  Sigh.  Maybe I will pour this cherry stuff down the drain.  I don’t feel like I can return it after having already forced myself to drink half the bottle.

Oh well, you win some, you lose some.  For us, this one is a lose.  I give it a 2.

Price – $3.99

Rating – 1.75 (average of 2 raters)

Day 297 - Honey Crisp Apple Cider

I have an announcement to make.

Honey Crisp Apple Cider is THE BEST AUTUMN PRODUCT at Trader Joe’s.  Hands down.  The BEST.

My newest love, Honey Crisp Apple Cider (it's an affair rekindled from last autumn...)

Oh sure, you may think, “But Susan!!  What about pumpkin this, or pumpkin that…  Trader Joe’s is chock full of pumpkin flavored stuff this season!!”

Well here is what I have to say about that:  PUMPKIN FLAVOR IS THE KARDASHIAN FAMILY OF THE GROCERY STORE.  It is over-exposed.  It’s toooo popular.  It has become passé and boring.  (Plus it has a big butt, but perhaps I am taking this metaphor too far…)

Butt seriously...

HONEY CRISP APPLE CIDER IS WHERE IT’S AT, MAN!

This is the one you want.  Put some in your cart.  Buy it.  Then DRINK IT.

This stuff is insanely delicious.  It is crisp, simple, and delightful.  You can drink it cold for breakfast and it is great.  Or you can heat it up and drink it warm – but if you do that I must warn you that you may well become addicted and “need” it every afternoon or evening…  I speak from experience… (She typed, then paused to take a sip of the steamy hot beverage…)

We went through two bottle of this variety of Honey Crisp Cider and then I decided that, to be fair, we ought to try a bottle of TJ’s Spiced Cider.  The Honey Crisp blows the Spiced stuff out of the water.  I may review the Spiced Cider at a later date, but for now let’s just say, it tries too hard.  Honey Crisp, on the other hand, doesn’t need to try, cuz it is already all that!

Don't pass up a little sample of it if your TJ's has it on offer, but it's even BETTER at home! 

One evening I heated some Honey Crisp Apple Cider up and added a bit of Puerto Rican rum!  That was also good.  Not BETTER than just the plain cider, but good in a different way.  It will be fun to drink it like that on cold winter nights when we have the fireplace going.

If you can only buy one seasonal product this year, get this one.  As a matter of fact, you might wanna just pick up two jugs when you go, because you will get through that first one really quickly. 

This sign didn't match the rest of the signage.  My theory is the stocker was so ecxited to put it out on the shelves
(cuz it is so yummy) that he/she couldn't wait for an official sign to be made.

Price – $2.99 (and worth every penny)

Rating – 5