Dragon Soul Mints

This is another fantastic find from the candy aisle at the Asian food market. Don't let the scary goth design and layout on the front deceive you, these are some of the most powerful mints I have ever had the pleasure to try. Not in caffeine content, but in sheer power - one little white mint is the equivalent to eating an entire pack of Halls. The vapor travels up your nose and wakes your senses like no ordinary Altoid could dream of. Sure, the caffeine is weak, but nothing will wake you up quite as quickly as popping 5 of these tiny Dragon Souls in your mouth. What this guarana mint lacks in caffeine more than covers in menthol power.

Released in June 2007, FRENTE International combined both the fun of menthol with the buzz of Guarana and called it the Dragon Soul - made for young people (20+ guys, mostly), these mints underwent consumer research to perfect the flavor and package design. While I have not seen a whole lot of press about this in the US, I imagine it is only a matter of time.

Taste:9
For the price of a box of breath savers, these super tiny pills are a potent powerhouse. Truly, these are completely worth that trip to your corner Asian market. You don't have to worry about these mints being hot or spicy, for they are as sweet as can be. Heat is not what you should be wary of. Start with one of these if you have not had them before - see what you got yourself into. If you are Macho, try holding 5 of these on your tongue for 2 minutes, then chew them into a powder and see how long you can handle it! your jaws will ache, and your face will flush - certainly this will demolish any head sniffles you may have had hanging around.

Packaging: 9
This is clearly one of the best packages for mints I have seen in a long time. It is so easy to open and snap shut, with a wave of your thumb - like a cigarette lighter. I went on a long hike in the mountains and had no trouble fishing these out from a pocket, popping 2 or 3 into my mouth and going on my way.
The design on this is also getting better and better.

Right now the design is very cool, but the newest design out of japan is even better! My only problems with this is the lack of caffeine information, and there is no warnings that these mints are so powerful.

Buzz/Nutrition:8
there are 22 calores in a tin, flavored with guarana and ginseng. More than that is the extreme amount of menthol, plus the sweetness of sorbitol, sucrose esters and aspartame. There are about 5mg of caffeine in each mint, which while is not terribly significant, the buzz from that much menthol vapor in your mouth is very buzzworthy. While it may not perk you up in the long run, the initial rush is enough to garner this a higher rating than other lightly-caffeinated mints.

Website: 3 frente-int.co.jp
FRENTE International has a small site with these products listed, bnut there is almost no information on this candy, other than calories and protein content. I was hoping that since they are trying to capture the young male audience and the mints are SO good there would be a nice site, but unfortunately it was a HUGE letdown