My taste in lollipops have not decreased as I got older, but it has certainly matured. When I was a kid, a Dum Dum from the local liquor store or laundromat was exotic enough for me, and the caramely sweetness of the butterscotch and the buttery flavor of the creme soda ones were enough to satisfy the sweet tooth for a while.

As I moved to my teen years and had to buy my own lollipops, I found Chupa Chups, flavored like ice creams, luscious and milky – and could find me actually sucking them all the way without crunching them to smithereens. As a grownup, I find myself more often than not passing by the lollis at the store – not wanting all that concentrated sugar in my mouth.

Javapops have changed that. Fortunately for me, they are not sold in a store around here, or I would be hooked. These tasty coffee flavored treats are definitely something worth checking out. While you can get these from lots of places online, the wonderful folks at buzzbasket.com were kind enough to send me a sample (and sell them cheaper than anyplace I saw too).
Taste:9
These are not the first caffeinated lollipops I have had, as Tootsie Roll came out with Maxxed Pops, a very tasty but incredibly hard to suck on candy about a year ago. These are infinitely better though, tasting like a thick rich espresso, with no hint of the bitterness caffeine can leave. They are are also very big – almost to big to pop into your mouth at first. You actually have to take your time with these – and the taste is good enough that you will want to stretch it out.

Buzz/Nutrition:9
These Javapops have a good deal of caffeine in them, so you know right away that this is not kids stuff. While 60mg is not a big load for an energy drink – it is VERY decent for a lollipop. Maxxed Pops only had 40mg in theirs – and you can actually feel the caffeine in this one.
However, If you are wanting these for the buzz as much as the flavor, I would just get 2, giving you an hour or so of sucking time ( unless your crunching brings the time down) and a very decent 120mg of caffeine – a bit stronger than a cup of coffee.

Mcjak is a small candy company, so they are not going to be packing in the tons of preservatives you would expect from a big candy plant. As a matter of fact, all the ingredients are things you could find in your kitchen counter, from melted sugar, corn syrup to coffee flavorings.

The only things I would be sure to point out is that for a candy this has a pretty high caloric content (110 calories per pop – as much as an average energy drink) and is does not use natural ingredients (artificial dyes and flavors). Still, compared to a skittles these are downright health snacks.
Packaging:7
Simple, clean and nice, the only problems I had were the lack of caffeine listed ( bummer) and that the whole thing seems pretty homegrown. I wonder what would happen to these if they took them to a design house to repackage? I like the “made these packages in my kitchen” look pretty well, especially with the two Kosher symbols – just in case just in case someone wanted to slip a little gelatin in my candy.