The biggest problem with this candy is the expectation that the package seems to promise. The name is also a little misguided as well. Translated “Têtes Brûlées” means “hothead”. Along with the artwork on the package the first assumption you might get about this candy is that it’s going to be spicy. In fact there’s nothing on the package that would indicate that it would be sour at all. I didn’t randomly pick out this candy either, it came highly recommended by several people and several of these people also indicated that they were sour. Having seen the art on the package, and being told they’re sour, I figured that this candy would be an assault on my taste buds.

The thing is, they’re not... sort of. I would describe the initial flavour of these to be very sour. I’ve had a few treats with this kind of sour coating before and it’s pretty extreme. For those not into sour treats it’s going to hit you hard and it may be a little too much. However, after you get through the ten seconds of very intense sour you’re left with a fairly pleasant sweet hard candy. The only other part of the package that seems realistic is the fact that they do colour your tongue (the blue ones being slightly more effective than the red for obvious reasons). There is nothing that I can taste about these that would imply spicy, piquant or even a little warm.

It’s not to say that these are bad by any stretch of the imagination. First of all the extreme sour start was great. It wasn’t too long, but long and sharp enough to make me wince a little. The hard candies inside are also great. The strawberry is flavourful as is the blue raspberry. While I’m not sure why they chose those two particularly flavours, they were wonderful to eat. I guess the only complaint one might have about the flavours is that they were on a fake side, but I really didn’t mind that at all. My tongue also ended in a nice shade of blue.

I feel like the package is what gets people to buy these candies. I also feel like people might be disappointed at the lack of heat and even the fact that the sour only lasts a few seconds. Since it’s so popular I imagine that many people later learned to love the simple flavour of these candies, but honestly I’m not sure if I would seek them out again.