It used to be that no one was (or could be, for the most part) aware of global candy. Slowly though, over the years, a few brands have proliferated our grocery store shelfs. And while you still might not be versed on Hi-Chews, they’re certainly among those vaunted few brands.

Hi-Chews are essentially a much better version of Starbursts. Nothing against the burst, but…these are unquestionably better, with better flavors. We usually only get access to the regular and tropical varieties in the states, but many more flavors exist, especially in Japan where they’re from. I had never heard of nor seen the sour variety, so I jumped on it when I stumbled across them online.

Right off the bat, what’s not to like here, am I right?  Lemon, lime and grapefruit flavors. Hell, normal Hi-Chews have a bit of tartness to them, so I was eager to check out how extreme these got.

Frist thought: make the lemon wrappers a lighter yellow or the lime ones a darker green. As is, they look too much alike and that makes me angry. But I’m certainly not mad at the taste.

Lime: nice, but not quite bitter enough for my tastes. I love that real, accurate lime zest thing. Still though, tasty, and nice and tart.

Lemon: very classic lemon, again not very bitter, but this one feels a bit more on point. Subtle levels of sour, and very delicious.

Grapefruit: aaaaaaand we have a winner-by a landslide. Holy crap are these amazing. Probably because we really don’t get a lot of grapefruit flavored candy, but even if we did, this one just knocks it out of the park. Sweet, but with a strong grapefruit tang that develops into a delightful sour stew, also I just realized that the phrase “delightful sour stew” is horrendously unappatizing. Oh well, not to worry, because these little gems certainly aren’t.

The only problem is that my bag literally came with three of those, and about 8 of each of the other flavors. In 2016, how does this shit happen?   Clamp that issue down, and we’re looking at a serious winner.

If youve tried and liked Hi-Chews, you will like these. If you’re new to Hi-Chews and like chewy candy at all, you’ll like these.  Best part is, they’re now easy to get.  Click the link below, and I’ll cross my fingers that you get more grapefruits in your bag than I did.  Also, Matty found these at his local Walgreens, so they might be even more accessible than we thought.