Bottle Caps (candy)
Bottle Caps are sweet tablet candies made to look like metal soda bottle caps in grape, cola, orange, root beer, and cherry flavors. They are sold by Nestlé under their Willy Wonka Candy Company brand.
Bottle Caps have a sour but slightly sweet taste to them, not wholly dissimilar to Smarties Candy Company's Smarties (Rockets outside the U.S.), SweeTarts or Runts, but with soda flavors and altered shapes. Bottle Caps come in purple packages weighing 0.73 oz (16 g) and containing approximately 24 pieces. They also can be purchased in a box containing 48 packages, or in small individually wrapped pouches of three candies, which can be given out as Halloween treats in the U.S. They may also come in a box with 6 oz (170 g) of the candies.
In the past, Bottle Caps contained a lemon-lime flavor instead of the current cherry flavor. There was also a time when Willy Wonka Co. made Fizzy Bottle Caps (called Fizzy Jerkz in the UK). These were like the original but contained ingredients to make them fizz when eaten.
In early 2009, each individual piece of Bottle Caps candy was made much smaller than they had been in the past. The underside was flattened, and no longer resembles the underside of a bottle cap. This is in exception to the paper tube packaging, which retains the original size and shape.