This product doesn't suck -- but should!

Now I do hope I haven't startled you too terribly by using in my heading what in certain instances can be a vulgar word. But today -- and there is no way 'round this -- I am writing about a new (to me) product that I wish I could say sucks. Only, it doesn't. I'm talking about the Hammond's Candies Iced Tea Sippers I found at a T.J. Maxx over the weekend.

These Iced Tea Sippers came to my attention last year, actually, but it would have been too expensive to order them and have them shipped to me. When I saw two flavors at T.J. for just $3.99 each, I had to try them both, the Lemon and the Watermelon, since they would "playfully flavor your tea," the package said. Hey, "playful" is my middle name!

I eagerly plopped a Lemon Iced Tea Sipper into my glass of iced tea (Red Rose), and I tried to sip through this candy "straw." Nothing. I waited a few minutes, thinking perhaps it needed to soften up. Nothing. DH came in from the deck and, since I was standing there sucking air from a piece of rock-hard candy in a glass of tea and felt a need to explain what I was doing, I asked him to give it a try. Nothing. "Maybe it's just supposed to dissolve in the tea?" he said. "But it SAYS 'sip as a straw!'" I said.

Not one to give up easily, I opened the package of Watermelon Iced Tea Sippers. Several of them had broken (which I couldn't tell before opening the package), so I bit off a piece. It tasted slightly strange for watermelon flavor, but it had the consistency of old-fashioned soft peppermint so I thought this one had a chance of working. I placed it into my tea and stirred. I reached for the Iced Tea Sipper, and as I *attempted* to sip through it, the piece I was holding disintegrated into merely a powdery memory. Soon, I watched the underwater ballet in my tea glass as my Iced Tea Sipper splintered into pieces like the Titanic heading to its watery grave.

I can only conclude that T.J. Maxx, in a rare let-down for this shopper, must have acquired a batch of old Iced Tea Sippers, and I am sorry to say they didn't work for me. And that simply sucks! (Please forgive me, gentle readers, but you know I had to say it!)