But if you’re here, you’re wondering one very important thing: What size is the red cup?
The answer is simple: it’s a “Grande,” meaning it’s a 16-ounce cup. So be prepared to order a drink you want a lot of, because it’s one of the bigger sizes (although it’s not a Venti).
There you have it! Go get your red cup on Thursday and enjoy.
That’s right, it’s Red Cup Day 2024, which we figured was coming on Thursday. That’s the annual day at the coffee chain in which you can get one of their reusable holiday cups simply “with the purchase of any size handcrafted holiday beverage,” as the chain said on Instagram.
As noted by USA TODAY: “This year’s reusable cup is made with 95% recycled materials and will only be available while supplies last … Customers who return to Starbucks with the custom cup, or any reusable cup, will receive a 10-cent discount on their order and Starbucks Rewards members can earn 25 stars when they bring back their reusable red cup for future orders.”
Yes, I said free Krispy Kreme. And it’s World Kindness Day 2024, so you know you need a donut to celebrate.
Here’s the deal: On Wednesday, November 13 2024 — which is World Kindness Day — if you walk into a participating Krispy Kreme and you’re one of the first 500 guests of the day, you get a FREE bunch of dozen Original Glazed donuts. You don’t need to do anything but show up.
Pretty neat, right? And it’s one per customer, as you’d expect, with no purchase necessary.
Got all that? Good. Now go get your free glazed donuts and enjoy them. Also, have a happy World Kindness Day!
It’s dried fruit. But it’s good enough my family crushed two bags before I got to write a formal review, so…
Welcome back to FTW’s Beverage of the Week series. Here, we mostly chronicle and review beers, but happily expand that scope to any beverage (or food) that pairs well with sports. Yes, even cookie dough whiskey.
I’m not sure when I became a dried fruit guy, but I’m assuming it happened somewhere around the time I got a Costco membership. Suddenly, an array of exotic trail mixes were laid before me. There was more to this world than wrinkled drupes. Bananas, cherries, papayas… CRAISINS??? They were all in play.
Thus, I was pretty excited to receive a sample pack from California’s Mariani Dried Fruit. Not only did this appear to be a cut above the cubed and smushed fiber I’d normally only find next to cashews and yogurt chips, but it came from a family-owned company with origins on the east coast of the Adriatic Sea once whence my own family once emigrated.
But then, a problem. I opened up my sample bag before review and ate, well, a bunch of berries. My daughter finished off the rest. So while I assure you the mixed berries are crushable and satisfying, I was left to craft a review beyond “my family raided two bags worth before I could write about it.”
Fortunately, I had some backup strawberries to review on top of the mix that worked so well. Welp, let’s talk about them.
Sweetened dried strawberries: B
You’re getting full strawberries dried down to about one-third their normal size. It’s a little unsettling to look at. The texture is a problem as well; the dried berries are dense. Not chewy, but just a little bit unappealing upon first bite. Think about how an organic gummy would feel in your mouth; kinda weird, right?
Once you get through that, you get sweet, full-bodied fruit flavor. It’s unmistakable strawberry, coated with just enough sugar to be a hit in any child’s cereal. I don’t think Mariani needs that extra sweetness, but I also understand there’s a whole wide spectrum of strawberry flavor from tart to almost savory, so this helps create a uniform taste across each bag.
I like these strawberries better as smaller chunks of a mix, but they’re fine on their own. Not something I’d seek out, but something I enjoy. While that extra sugar and 140 calories per serving ensure I won’t think of this as a healthy snack, I’m getting some fiber out of the deal. That’s apparently something you worry about when you’re 40.
via Mariani.com
Berries n’ Cherries: A
This was absolutely my jam and my daughter’s as well, apparently. When you’re able to create a moderately healthy snack a 40-year-old and a six-year-old can share, that’s a good sign. My only regret is not having more, so she could open a fresh bag, decide she no longer likes them and never touch them again.
This would not have been a problem for me. Dried cherries and blueberries are the best part of my default Costco trail mix; the snack I buy when I just killed off a family sized bag of Cool Ranch Doritos on my own and want to eat “healthy.” With Mariani’s they’re even better, shriveled into tiny, chewy capsules that burst with flavor and a satisfying texture with each bite.
You’re paying a premium for that quality. As you can see in the screenshot above (because, again, we ate both sample bags before I could take a picture. I am a true professional), you’re looking at more than $1.25 per ounce. Which means by the time I’m done (because there’s no chance in hell I’m stopping at a single ounce of snack food) I’ve eaten what would otherwise be a 12-ounce bag of potato chips worth of food.
That makes it more of a luxury than I’d like, but I can’t say it’s not worth it. While I’d OK with skipping the full strawberries, the Berries n’ Cherries mix is exactly what I wanted it to be. Now I just need to figure out where to buy more so my daughter can get immediately sick of them.
Would I (eat) it instead of a Hamm’s?
This is a pass/fail mechanism where I compare whatever I’m drinking to my baseline cheap beer. That’s the standby from the land of sky-blue waters, Hamm’s. So the question to answer is: on a typical day, would I eat Mariani Berries over a cold can of Hamm’s?
Well, a bit of a berries to beer comparison here, but if you made me the very weird one-or-the-other offer, I’d take you up on the nut-free trail mix. Probably not the strawberries, but those weren’t too bad either.
It won’t blow you away, but it’s smooth, simple and flavorful for $45 a bottle.
Welcome back to FTW’s Beverage of the Week series. Here, we mostly chronicle and review beers, but happily expand that scope to any beverage (or food) that pairs well with sports. Yes, even cookie dough whiskey.
Everyone from George Clooney to The Rock to Guy Fieri has thrown their hat in the ring when it comes to baking and distilling agave. This has led to some hits, some misses and what I can only assume are truckloads of money, given the sheer amount of music, movie and other stars in the lineup.
This was too much for Matthew McConaughey to pass up. Admittedly, he didn’t sound entirely jazzed about the product — he’s quoted in the press release accompanying the booze’s debut as saying “the world doesn’t need another celebrity tequila.” But the world didn’t need a Vince Vaughn season of True Detective either and McConaughey had executive producer credits on that, so here we are.
Anyway, Tequila Pantalones, from McConaughey and his wife Camila, is distilled in the same place as Tres Agaves. Does it bring anything new to the table, or is it just a cash grab? Let’s find out.
Pantalones tequila reposado : B
The smell off the top of the pour is sweet and salty. There’s enough agave there to let you know you’re dealing with a tequila, but enough fruit, spice and … a little butter (?) to let you know it’s a decent one.
That sweetness is the first thing that hits your lips. It lingers throughout the sip, making it the headline even after it’s cleared your throat. That brings a certain softness to the whole affair. You’d think that would be to counteract a harsh, boozy burn but, nope. There’s the obvious warmth of an 80 proof spirit, but nothing that would make you wince.
As such, it’s pretty solid as a sipper or a shooter. It’s a mellow reposado that isn’t especially complex but brings elements of the barrel aging that got us here. There’s a little vanilla, some oak and just enough tropical fruit to reward you for sticking with it.
It’s not gonna wow you, but you’ll enjoy each sip. At $45 per bottle, that’s a decent value. Maybe not perfect — I’d like it a lot more at $10 cheaper — but you won’t be disappointed.
Would I drink it instead of a Hamm’s?
This is a pass/fail mechanism where I compare whatever I’m drinking to my baseline cheap beer. That’s the standby from the land of sky-blue waters, Hamm’s. So the question to answer is: on a typical day, would I drink Pantalones tequila over a cold can of Hamm’s?
Yeah, I’d mix in a glass or two before moving on to beer. It’s tasty enough as a sipper or in a cocktail.
If you’re a Starbucks drinker on Friday morning, I feel for you.
After the app was down on Thursday — the first day with the 2024 holiday menu in place — it appears the mobile app is having issues once again on Friday. No word yet on if it’s a temporary issue or something larger that’s a problem.
Fans are taking to social media to complain, so we’ll see if that helps, or by the time you read this, it’s all fixed and you can get your coffee and breakfast orders in online.
@Starbucks Could you please get it together? Day number 2 of this nonsense of having to stand in line to order my coffee like a peasant because your app is broken 😤 pic.twitter.com/KYZCQKBPGJ
That one, we … don’t have an answer to. Sorry. But what we do know is it was on November 16 last year and November 17 the year before. Both of those were a Thursday. So if that trend continues, then it could be on Thursday, November 14.
Circle it on your calendar and see if we’re right.
It’s November, which means the holiday season is coming fast.
And that, in turn, means it’s time to cozy up and drink some festive potables from Starbucks. That’s right, it’s time to go over the new Starbucks holiday menu for 2024.
1. The Cran-Merry Orange Refresher: “Flavors of sweet orange, tart cranberry and warm spices, including notes of cardamom, cinnamon and nutmeg, shaken with ice, water and real cranberries.”
2. The Cran-Merry Orange Lemonade Refresher “combines the Cran-Merry Orange Refresher shaken with ice, lemonade and real cranberries.”
3. The Cran-Merry Drink ”features the Cran-Merry Refresher with creamy coconut milk poured over ice and real cranberries.”
4. Peppermint Mocha has espresso, “steamed milk, mocha sauce and peppermint-flavored syrup, and topped with whipped cream and dark chocolate curls.”
5. Caramel Brulee Latte: espresso “with steamed milk and rich caramel brulée sauce, topped with whipped cream and caramel brulée topping.“
6. Chestnut Praline Latte: espresso with “steamed milk and flavors of caramelized chestnuts and spices, topped with whipped cream and spiced praline crumbs.“
7. Iced Sugar Cookie Almond Milk Latte: Blonde espresso, “ice, and almond milk, topped with red and green sprinkles.”
8. Iced Gingerbread Oatmilk Chai: “combines warm chai spices, creamy oatmilk and ice, and is topped with nondairy gingerbread-flavored cold foam and a spice topping.”
The food offerings: Turkey Sage Danish, Dark Toffee Bundt, Penguin Cookie, Snowman Cake Pop, Sugar Plus Cheese Danish, Cranberry Bliss Bar
(This post has been updated with new information.)
McDonald’s knows what it’s doing.
By offering menu items like the famed McRib or the Grimace milkshake (shudder) for a limited time, the demand gets driven up, people buy the product and by the time it’s gone, the chain has created serious buzz. It’s smart marketing.
So here we are with Spicy Chicken McNuggets. People are desperate for them to be a permanent menu staple, but alas: they are “back for a limited time with a spicy breading that adds a real kick to the fan favorite Chicken McNuggets.” (UPDATE: I’ve been informed that they’re a regional offering in places like Phoenix, Dallas, New York, Houston, Memphis elsewhere.)
Sounds really good. Go get ’em before they all run out.
