Review & Release History of Charms Valentine Pops, Jelly Belly Holiday Favorites, & More

Review

These are so colorful and have a light sugary strawberry smell. However, the flavor is actually more pronounced than I had thought it would be. It’s obviously sweet, though, I think just a smidge less sweet than traditional Peeps. The flavor is a marshmallow strawberry, where the strawberry is clearly not an authentic one; it’s definitely artificial, but it’s tasty and doesn’t come across as weird or punchy. Actually, it’s a pretty smooth strawberry flavor and reminds me more of a super sweet Strawberry Milkshake Pop-Tart instead of the regular, more tart one.

A sugary strawberry, tasty Peep!

Release Date

Released January 2026. Found at Walmart in early January 2026.

Review

Such an interesting assortment of flavors!

First, I tried the Buttered Popcorn. It took me by surprise how authentically buttery and popcorny it tastes. However, some artificialness did creep in to a degree, specifically a candy-like, buttery taste, which wasn’t bad, but was just different. Candy butter? It’s a different feel to say the least! Lastly, these are fairly sweet and pack a punch.

Waffles and Syrup were quite tame in terms of sweetness compared to the others. It’s got the maple syrup flavor and is definitely a mix of pancakes, too. Surprisingly, not as artificial or ultra candy-like as most on the list. This is smoother and much more pleasant.

Similarly, the strawberry Donut has a milder, more authentic taste. Honestly, it tastes like a fresh-out-of-the-oven strawberry donut — yes, you can even taste the dough! Don’t get me wrong here; it’s still a sweet pop, but it feels less candy-like and more leans towards aurheticity.

Watermelon tastes just like a sweet, candy watermelon in lollipop form. Nothing to see here, just sugary sweet yummyness!

The Blueberry Muffin, on the other hand, tasted just like Watermelon but with an obvious candy-like blueberry flavor. Same super high sugar level, super candy-like, though, no muffin flavor!

My favorites were the Waffles and Syrup and the Strawberry Donut flavors.

Release Date

Released January 2026. Found at Walmart in early January 2026.

Review

All of the flavors are true to their advertised tastes, scarily so. Granted, most fall on the sweeter, candy-like side, but each flavor has its nuance and exactly what is described. I think the only one that was slightly off was the hot chocolate, which had a light, artificial, and somewhat darker chocolate taste instead of pure cocoa and marshmallow; even then, I’m being nitpicky.

Overall, I’m genuinely surprised by how accurate the flavors are here and how genuine they taste. Definitely worth a try if you’re into these types of holiday flavors!

Release Date

I’m unsure of a release date. Found at Target late December 2026.

Review

Such an interesting combination, it’s hard to explain. It’s a mild to moderate mix of vinegar, sour cream, and onion, with the onion coming out a little stronger than the others. Despite these flavors, there’s no hard punch, and none of the flavors seem overly strong, which makes for a surprisingly pleasant tasting experience than I thought it would. It’s not as strong as the regular Sour Cream & Onion chips nor regular vinegar pickles; they definitely tamed it down If anything, the smell was somewhat funky.

In terms of the bite, it’s a thick, large, chewy pickle with only a tiny crunch. After all, this has been sitting out in liquid for some time. It reminds me of a cucumber that’s gone bad in a way, although it’s not weird (at least to me), just more chewier than you might be familiar with.

Release Date

Released July 2025. Found at Five Below in early January 2026.

Review

What I get are lightly salty, thin, crunchy pretzels with a decent amount of dark chocolate inside. The inside reminds me of a slightly soft ball of melted dark chocolate chips.

Speaking of sweet, these seem to have hardly any sugar. What you end up getting is mostly pretzel with a background of regular, non-sweet dab of dark chocolate. At the very least, the crunchiness of the shell provides a good contrast to the softer inside. I just wish these were sweeter and the filling was more substantial.

Release Date

Released around October 2024. Found at Five Below in early January 2026.

Review

First off, the little white, crunchy candy bits on top are such a nice addition and provide an adequate, contrasting crunch to the thick, moist, and snack-like cake inside. And you get so much from this — the shell is a dark chocolate, albeit it’s thin, then there’s a layer of white and milk chocolate cakes inside.

Overall, these don’t taste as sweet as other CakeBites, and for the most part, they don’t have a distinct cocoa or hot chocolate flavor. I think the ultra-thin dark chocolate shell, combined with the vanilla cake, masks any supposed cocoa flavor and definitely rules out marshmallow, although the package claims the white part of the cake tastes like it, but it really doesn’t.

Instead, this is more of a marble cake that leans towards a regular milk chocolate vibe.

Release Date

I’m unsure of a release date, although reviews date back to 2019. Found at Five Below in early January 2026.

Review

I genuinely cannot taste anything; there is absolutely no flavor. The consistency is regular Chapstick. Shortest review ever!

Release Date

Released in early 2020. Found at Dave & Buster’s in early January 2026.

Review

Both of these drinks were tasty and well-made; however, the Royale Milk Tea takes the crown. It’s sweet, and what I found was that, sure, punchy passion fruit bubble tea is decent on its own (not my favorite), but this combined the thick creaminess of coconut with a rush of honey from the boba, transforming it from tart to super sweet and equally refreshing. I genuinely didn’t know a fruity bubble tea like this could rival my chocolate-based favorite drinks!

The Mega Matcha was much more tame with a predominantly semi-sweet matcha taste and an essence of brown sugar. To me, this needs more of that traditional brown sugar flavoring, in addition to another scoop or two of sweetness. Unfortunately, this fell primarily on the regular matcha side, rather than combining both flavors equally.

Release Date

Released from December 1, 2025, until January 31, 2026.

Review

It’s definitely a mild to moderately sweet, smooth, malty chocolate-flavored drink with a hint of matcha and a nutty pistachio essence. More specifically, the chocolate flavor itself tastes like a combination of malt and milk chocolate, making it feel lighter overall. Unfortunately, I expected a much stronger matcha and pistachio flavor, but it wasn’t really present.

What I did slightly appreciate were the few crunchy bits mixed with the warm, chewy boba, which provided a mild contrast. However, the problem was that the bulk of this green pasty crunchies were iced to the sides instead of actually mixed in!

It’s not a bad drink, I just expected so much more. Additionally, the promotional stand was adorable!

Release Date

Temporarily released early January 2026.

Review

I really thought this would be much more tarty, specifically the inside pinkish-red filling. Instead, these are quite tame, with mostly the traditionally creamy taste and a moderate amount of smooth raspberry. It’s definitely unique and adds another layer of flavor to the originals; the combination of light, sugary raspberry and the traditional chocolate cake, along with the amount of creaminess, all work well together. Lastly, the sweetness level overall is about the same.

I guess, just don’t be blown away or expect anything substantial here!

Release Date

Initially released around December 2015. Found at Walmart in early January 2026.