Russell Stover Red Velvet Santa

When I stopped in Walgreen's tonight, they had the seasonal Christmas candy on the shelves. I spotted Russell Stover Red Velvet Santas In Dark Chocolate and just had to try them.

Each piece of candy is 1.25 ounces. When I opened the foil wrapper, the candy had a delicious red velvet / chocolate cake smell. The outer shell is a thick layer of dark chocolate (just the right amount, in my opinion). The dark chocolate was average quality, not great but not bad either.

The red velvet filling was a let down. The filling was the color of red velvet. But that was where the similarities ended. I assumed the filling would either be creamy or gooey, like many other Russell Stover candies. I guessed wrong. It had the thickness and pliability of rubber cement or putty; I was able to form a small ball with it in my hand. I honestly couldn't tell you what the taste reminded me of, aside from "definitely not red velvet." It seemed like someone started out with red icing and decided to add thickener until it was no longer sweet or stirrable.

Here's a partial ingredient list: Dark chocolate, Vanillan, White Chocolate, Red Velvet Cake Mix, Egg Whites, Condensed Milk, Butter, Cocoa Powder.

Would I buy the red velvet Santas again ? Nope. Would I eat them if somebody gave them to me for Christmas ? Yeah. I mean, they're not gross or funky tasting. I'd probably eat them for the sake of not wasting food or because there wasn't any other candy in the house.

Searching For Good Tea

I am picky about tea. I have a hard time finding teas that I like besides black, orange pekoe, English breakfast, etc. Plus I only drink caffeine free tea at home, since caffeine keeps me awake at night; I drink just 1 serving of caffeinated, unsweetened tea at restaurants because it's a pain in the butt finding caffeine free tea at restaurants + I'm cutting back on sugar.

I started a spreadsheet the other week to figure out what ingredients I like and dislike in tea. So far I've found that the ones I dislike have carob + vanilla, which tastes like a lollipop sans the fruit flavoring to me. Here's the breakdown so far:

- Celestial Seasonings Gingbread Spice = love it
- C.S. Safari Spice Red Tea, Red Rooibos = love it
- C.S. Sugar Plum Spice = On the fence about it. It's got a nice sweet fruit taste, but it has that gross carob and vanilla taste, too.
- C.S. Bengal Spice = It really tastes like a batch of fresh sweet tea. I don't like sweet tea, but I would serve it to people who do.
- Davidson's Coconut Vanilla = Another carob and vanilla tea. Yuck.
- C.S. Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride = Really smells like cookies, but but has carob and vanilla. Thumbs down
- C.S. Cinnamon Apple Spice = Tastes like some kind of wonky fruit scented air freshener. It has carob, too.

So I need ideas. Recommend some good teas for me to try