I recently received a gift card to ThinkGeek and decided to pick up a few random items for review. When the package arrived, the first of the goodies I tested were the Effervescent Cupcake Drink Tabs.

When I first saw them online, I figured screw turning water to wine – you can’t get much better than making water into cupcakes, or at least somewhat cupcake-y water. The tin and its contents looked safe enough – For $3.99, you get a small tin with 15 nickel-sized cupcake tablets. I popped one into a coffee mug of water and waited for the cupcake explosion to ensue.

Then, I waited some more.

I was expecting and Alka-Seltzer-like “Plop plop fizz fizz, i’m drinking freaking cupcake water!!” Instead, after 15 minutes of swirling the tablet in the cup, I had this:

That’s not effervescence my friends, that’s what I like to call “Cupcake Chum”. For the life of me, I can’t figure out what the water now resembles. I know, however what it doesn’t resemble – a cupcake.

The water was relatively tasteless, and after about 15 minutes, I gave up. Here, you can see what was left of the tablet after all was said and done.

I figured that if the tabs didn’t work in water, they might work if I simply ate them like a breath mint. I was wrong. Dead wrong.

The tabs seemed far more effervescent while in my mouth, but the flavor certainly didn’t wow me. It was somewhat cloyingly sweet, while also salty – probably due to the tablets containing some amount of baking soda in order to provide the lackluster effervescent bubbles. The tablet didn’t really taste like cupcakes either. There was a hint of eating frosting from the can, but that sensation was fleeting at best.

I was quickly losing faith in these miracle tabs, so I shoved a few more tablets in my mouth just to see if I could concentrate some of the cupcake goodness. This time around, I decided to chew them immediately to release the cupcake beast within. All I got was a mouth full of salty Cupcake Chum, and some strange looks from the people around me, as I was now foaming at the mouth like a rabid dog.

All in all, I am sorely disappointed in the cupcake tab experience. I partially blame ThinkGeek for not testing these ahead of time and discovering what a huge cupcake failure this tin contained. However, I also blame myself for having such high expectations of a $4 tin of “Cupcake Tablets”.

Next up: Effervescent Bacon Drink Tabs….I can’t wait!

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