The Jungle Jim's Podcast

This week kicks off with me hopping on my soap box to talk about high prices at the competition that I experienced during my leave this summer. Don't worry, I'm still mad about having to pay almost $10 for a bottle of body wash that is 3.99 here. Jump past the ranting about 15 minutes into the show to get to the main focus. Speaking of, the main focus this week is a new product to Jungle Jim's, from one of the coolest groups of people in town - Mom 'N' Em coffee! They've got two locations in the Cincinnati area and we're one of the best places to come pick up their beans to make it at home. We sit down with the Ferrari Bros, Austen and Tony, as well as their brilliant roaster Colin to talk about all aspects of the coffee business. From Tony and Austen building the space for their first location and all the changes that went in there, from the incredibly detailed discussion from Colin about how your beans get to be as good as they are. We talk about some of their seasonal flavors and some upcoming offerings as well. I got so cranked up on coffee, I'm almost embarrassed to admit it, but obviously not enough to not-type it into this episode description. GET SOME BEANS ALREADY!

This week, we're ready to launch into fall vibes and flavors and we're trying a ton of fall-themed treats in the store:  Little Debbie Brownie Pumpkins Coastalo THC Soda - Pumpkin Spice Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Coffee Drink Pop Daddy Dutch Apple Pie Pretzels Jungle Jim's Pumpkin Gummies Wafer Master Rolls - Pumpkin Spice (from Turkey) Jelly Belly Pumpkin Pie and Pumpkin Juice Better Butter - Pumpkin Spice Butter Tootsie Caramel Apple lollipop Doh Joy Vanilla Wheat Bread Liquid Death Psycho Cider We're joined by former employee of Jungle and current employee of Dr. Pepper, Pat, as it's his last week with all of us before he takes a new career path in Washington - lets wish him well!

We are SO back! This week, Lucky joins me on the show to help parse through some of our most interesting Japanese snacks and products. Do you think we are going to love the little hamburger shaped cookies? What about Pocari Sweat? Jungle Jim's has so many wild products we will experience the heat death of the universe before we try them all. What are some of your favorite international items that you'd like us to try?

We're bringing Italian food in in a BIG WAY! I'm easing back into the studio, talking about the Weekend of Fire hot sauce festival that just passed, and helping launch some new products in the store. Eddie from OGI joins me to talk about the excellent internationally produced foods that they're bringing to our Italian section. I'm pretty excited about the spumoni, as you can tell here, but the Italian ices are going to get the midwest excited with me! So many new products in here, croissants, cookies, pastas, you name it!

This week is the Weekend of Fire at Jungle Jim's International Market! That's right, an entire festival dedicated to everything hot and spicy - you'll find some of your new favorite hot sauces there. Speaking of finding your new favorite hot sauces there, I found one of my favorites in Stanky Sauce - they've got flavors from mild to wild and they're bringing TWO NEW EXCLUSIVE hot sauces to the festival this weekend. Find out more with Stanky Sauce owners Eddie and Eric! See you at the festival this weekend - you can get your tickets now at www.Junglefests.com

This week we're talking all about two fun new products coming to Jungle Jim's soon! First, is Coca Cola's collaboration with Oreo! Per our friends at CandyHunting on Instagram: Coca-Cola and Oreo have collaborated to launch two new, limited edition products internationally! New Oreo Fizzy Cookie flavored Coca-Cola and Coca-Cola flavored Oreos will be out in countries including the US, Canada, China, Mexico, Brazil, and "more," according to the press release. The official date for the US launch is Monday, September 9. The Oreo Fizzy Cookie flavored Coca-Cola will be out only as zero sugar. In the US, it will be available in 12 oz sleek cans, 20 fl oz bottles, and 12 and 6 packs of mini cans. The Coca-Cola flavored Oreos have one chocolate cookie made with Coca-Cola syrup, one red-colored golden cookie embossed with Coca-Cola designs, white creme, and popping candy. Sounds delicious! Next, our pals at Liquid Death are cooking up a killer limited fall edition that should be landing at Jungle Jim's this Friday (August 16th 2024) called Psycho Cider - here's more: Murder your thirst with this fall 2024 limited edition flavor from Liquid Death. It’s a delicious combination of apple pear and cinnamon flavors - get some Psycho Cider while you can!

Finally got linked up with the fine folks of ShineWater, a new tasty drink - 100% of your daily vitamin D, zero sugar, and more! I've found myself enjoying quite a bit of the samples I got to try during my "wheelchair era" while recovering at home. So far, the Strawberry lemonade is my favorite. We talk about the inception of the brand, some of the struggles of standing out in the marketplace, how they create new flavors, and a few teases of what's on the horizon! All that and more on the Jungle Jim's podcast!

We're launching a ONE PIECE CARD GAME Official Pop-Up Shop & Gashapon Bandai Official Shop at the Jungle Jim's Eastgate location and our director of development, Phill Adams is here to tell us all about it along with the mastermind behind this (and one of our store's buyers), Martha. We get to learn about the exclusive stuff they're bringing to the store as well as seeing the 300 Gashapon machines they're bringing into Jungle Jim's! The card game shop is open from August 1st to August 11th, and the Gashapon machines will be in store from August 1st to September 30th! Get in and get some when you have the chance!

Great-ish news everyone, only about 4 more weeks of recovery for me. I assure you, i'm losing my mind. This week on the show, we're talking about some new samples that just arrived from Levity Cannabis spirits. Levity has a whole line of pre-made cannabis (Delta 9) cocktails, as well as actual cannabis spirits like a play on whiskey, tequila, and more. I also received the new high dose, 25mg can of Orange Soda from Coastalo, which also uses Delta 9. Coastalo is from the brains of Urban Artifact, known for their Midwest Fruit Tart beers. Pretty excited to try all of these. Then we dive into Pickle Day at Urban Artifact, a collab between them and us here at Jungle Jim's. I sat in a motorized wheelchair and it was one of my first times out in public. Huge thanks to Devin and Scott at Urban Artifact for literally carrying me out of my house. Congrats to the winner of the pickle eating competition that you're about to enjoy now! 

Day 298 of being trapped in my house! I went full YouTuber on this episode. In my time out of the office, I've been setting up for remote interviews - but I was bummed that I missed out on so many fans coming through the store this summer. One listener reached out and we'd planned to do this episode together in the studio, but unfortunately it wasn't meant to be. I gave Kevin some Cincinnati favorites, and he brought me a bunch of St. Louis favorites! Even cooler is now you can get some of these items, like Fitz's Root Beer and other sodas; hopefully i'll get these chips in at least! I tried a classic ooey gooey butter cake, Imo's Pizza, Louisa's Toasted Ravioli, Old Vienna's Red Hot Riplets. Kevin reviewed Glier's Goetta for us on the show, and we sent him some Cincinnati chili brands, buckeyes, and Grippos - what do you think we should've made him try?