There seems to be a lot of Mentos news today! I just ran across a site called Mentos KissCam (I’m guessing from Europe) where you can (if you have a webcam) kiss a guy or gal after popping a Mentos Pure Fresh (a flavor not available in the US). Turn on your web cam and give it a try. (Maybe NSFW?)

“The freshest experience of your life”

“The film that is on everyone’s lips”

This is easily the most beautiful Mentos and Diet Coke explosion I’ve ever seen (thanks for the heads up Kevin!)

I just received a new shipment of Mentos from Japan. Mentos Ambassador Roth comes through again with a new flavor to add to the collection. The flavor is “Ume,” which they tell me means “Japanese Plum.” The Mentos themselves are a very light orange color (unfortunately not the purple/green mix color on the package). They do taste like plum. They have a subtle plum flavor which is good. I think that a strong flavor might be a bit overpowering. They have a bit of a tangy aftertaste.

Breaking Mentos News: A world record was broken recently by 1360 Belgium students all creating a Diet Coke and Mentos fountain at the same time. The previous record was set in Cape Girardeau, with 973 fountains last October.

Video from BBC News

My dad (now a newly ‘minted’ Mentos Ambassador) found a new Mentos product right here in the US (normally the new crazy flavors come from over seas). He found some packs of Mentos Gum in a gas station in Iowa. I’ve had Mentos gum before. They used to make a product called “Mentos New Charge Gum,” but I haven’t seen if for quite a while. I even remember an even older Mentos gum that I bought (a case of) back in college. This product is the first time I’ve seen fruit flavored gum from them in the US. The packs I was provided were, mint, spearmint, and red fruit-lime. The mint flavors just taste minty like normal strong-mint gums. The red fruit-lime is interesting though, not only as the first fruit gum from Mentos, but because it has a soft liquid center. The gum part is red fruit, consisting of strawberry, raspberry, and cranberry with the liquid center making up the lime portion of the gum. I have to admit, it is pretty good (but I’m probably biased)!

I received some new Mentos the other night from a few new Mentos Ambassadors (Ambassador Kilgore and Ambassador Brown). These Mentos came from China, so I’m going to have to guess on some of the flavors (because I don’t speak or read Chinese). One was a double-wrapped roll of lime mint which I have seen before. The other two were unique to my collection. One was a small box with a picture of a lime, an orange, and a grapefruit on the front with some some Chinese writing. I’m guessing these are just regular size Mentos in a smaller box. The last one was probably the most unique. It arrived in what looked like a vitamin jar. I think these one are gum with some sort of gooey center judging by the picture on the front. Again, it is hard to tell because there isn’t any english writing on these.

Another shipment of Japanese Mentos arrived a few weeks ago from Mentos Ambassador Roth (they’re really working their way up the Mentos Ambassador chain!). The package included four rolls both with “N’Cream” written in the area where you usually see the flavor printed. They don’t really say a fruit on them, but the red one has a picture of a strawberry, and the green one has what I think it a picture of a melon. I haven’t tried either of these yet, but plan on giving one a try soon. My guess is they taste similar to the yogurt and fruit flavors I’ve tried before. Anyway, kudos to Mentos Ambassador Roth for finding another untried flavor!

Another Mentos shipment has arrived safely from China. Mentos Ambassador Stoll has done it again. The Mentos flavors themselves aren’t that unique. Two of the three flavors can be found in the U.S. (mint and fruit). The third flavor (Lime-mint) is a little more special. The thing that makes this shipment different, is first, the wrappers. You only see the double-wrapper on Sour Mentos rolls here in the U.S. I’ve never really been sure why that was. Maybe the the sour flavor needs an air-tight package to stay fresh (the texture on those Mentos is a little different than your standard rolls). Anyway, all three of these rolls have the double-wrapper. Maybe the atmospheric conditions in China make the extra wrapper necessary… who knows! The other thing that makes these Mentos special is that they are holy. Yes, that’s right. Mentos Ambassador Stoll had these Mentos blessed by the Dalai Lama. They arrived air-mail from China wrapped in a lovely Tibetan prayer scarf (the white cloth underneath the rolls). I frankly can’t think of anything better to bless than rolls of Mentos, the sweet sweet candy of the gods.

There have been a lot of changes lately with my move to the desert. One of those changes included getting a new bank, and turned out very nicely. We chose our new bank for several of their account features. One of those features just happened to be custom ATM cards. Once I saw that option, I didn’t care what else they were offering. There were probably big Mentos in my eyes and I began to think about what I could be carrying around with me in my wallet. Yup, you guessed it, I made myself a Mentos ATM card. The system they use is actually pretty slick. You log into your account and upload an image, then you can crop/rotate/resize it to fit onto the with all of the different overlays (card number, name, etc.). Then you click submit, and in 7-10 days you’ve got your own custom ATM card. Now if only they would give me award points towards the purchase of Mentos… then I’d be set!

(this is obviously not my name or card number)

Back again after a major life change… I got married on the 14th, and then followed that up with a honeymoon to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. And all you loyal readers know what a vacation to a foreign country means… new Mentos! There wasn’t too much to find in Puerto Vallarta. I looked around in the few drugstores (or farmacias, as they call them) and didn’t really see anything. They did have shorter mint rolls in our hotel (for 70 pesos) though. We hit the jackpot at the airport on the way out. In the Duty Free shops, there was a small display with Mentos-roll-shaped cardboard tubes filled with several rolls (I’ve already got one of these), and little pencil holder things filled with mini-mentos (also already have one of these). The one thing I didn’t have was the Mentos can. It is a blue can filled with individually wrapped Mentos in all flavors. They even have “mystery” wrappers where you have to guess what flavor is inside. My favorite part about the can is the lid. If you pop it down and then squeese the edges, it will launch the Mentos into your mouth (there are illustrations on top showing how to do this). I tried it in the airport and the candy smacked the back of my throat and fell on the floor. I quickly picked it up and ate it (3 second rule). I think I need more practice.

How did I not see this earlier (thanks Rob & The 4th Way)?? Those brilliant marketing folks over at Mentos have a new website, and a new intern (named trevor) who will do whatever you tell him to do… within reason. He can’t do anything lewd or illegal. Visit the site: mentosintern.com, and you can watch him via a webcam, chat with him via the built-in chat interface, or give him a call at 857-757-1195. You can also put tasks on his schedule. I just discovered this site today, but I know I’ll come up with things for Trevor to do.

All I have to say about this site is, “I want this job!”

We all know that Mentos mixed with soda does crazy things. Did you know that it could also fuel a car? According to this video, it can.

Do you want to drive a Mentos-powered car? Well, you’re in luck. You can make your own Mentos + Soda + Car video at the Mentos Alternative Fuel Experiment. There is also the Mentos Fresh Drive Game where you can race the Mentos/Soda car.

Today is a very Mentos’y day (I guess every day is a Mentos’y day for me though). First spotted on The Scattered Genius blog, then The Consumerist: Apparently Mentos may be putting geyser tubes into their multi-roll packages later this summer. Soon you’ll be able to spray Diet Coke everywhere at home. I guess you could do that before… it will just be easier now. Check out the device in this video.

On May 24th, at Fountain Square in Cincinnati, Ohio, a new Guinness World Record was set for 504 simultaneous Mentos Diet Coke fountains going off at the same time. Mentos and Eepybird (the crazy guys who make the elaborate Mentos fountains) put the event together. They invited participants to show up, who were provided with Mentos goggles and a Mentos rain poncho. The countdown began, and 500+ Mentos fountains were set off at the same time. I was on my way to Ohio that night, and if I had known about this, might have adjusted my plans to take part. Oh well, maybe next time (600 Mentos fountains?!?).

-View photos from the event-

Another shipment of Japanese rolls from Mentos Ambassador Roth arrived last week. There were a couple surprises in the package. There was a Juicy Cassis, Japanese Mint and a Citrus Mango. Of all those are flavors, I’ve got at least one roll of in the archive. The best part of the shipment is the curiously named Pine Fresh. Luckily there is a picture of a pineapple on the wrapper or one might jump to the conclusion that these would taste like an evergreen tree. I tried a roll, and can tell you they definitely do not.

The color of the pine fresh is a bright orangish-yellow, not a pale yellow like the lemon in the American fruit rolls. They have a strong flavor like a very sweet pineapple. These Mentos are very good and have quickly moved near the top of my favorites list (right next to grape and peach - with peach keeping the top position). The Pine Fresh Mentos have a slight mediciney aftertaste, and reminded me of the sweet kid-flavored cough syrup I took as a child. The aftertaste is very subtle though and definitely doesn’t ruin the candy. Pine fresh isn’t as unique as it would have been if it tasted like a Christmas tree, but they’re pretty darn good!

I ran across this interesting video on the Mentos Japan site of some crazy Mentos-headed guy dancing on a psychedelic pineapple backdrop. Based on his super dancing, he must really love pine fresh too!