Today's Review: Cadbury Ghooost Egg

Halloween has rolled round again, and despite the Christmas stuff lining the shelves since the beginning of September, it seems the spooky stuff is only just starting to come out. Thankfully there are a few interesting products making their debut this year, and this looked like one of them. The last couple of year's we've had Screme Eggs, with their distinct green fondant, and now we have Ghooost Eggs. A terrible effort pun-wise compared to the other ones, but I was hoping it indicated a difference in what's in the wrapper.

Of course, it didn't. This is a Creme Egg. Actually, it's worse than a Creme Egg, because the stuff inside is just white, there's no yellow fondant in sight. Fitting with the ghost theme, sure, but it's quite a cop out. To make matters worse, it turns out there are a few out there that do have yolks, and finding one means you've won a family ticket to Alton Towers. So they've removed a key feature of the Creme Egg, and left some in as a prize winning gimmick. I mean, I might be making too big a deal out of this, the yellow and white fondant are pretty indistinguishable anyway, but this is pretty unoriginal compared to the Screme Eggs. We're just left with an egg with less features than the original, and since they've changed the chocolate they're not that great anyway. Poor effort, guys.

My rating: 1/5

Today's Review: Tesco Finest Spicy Thai Sweet Chilli Crisps

More crisps from Tesco, they really can't get enough of these new flavours these days. This time they're tackling the thai sweet chilli, something Asda has already done, but which paled in comparison to the mighty Walkers Sensations. I figured I'd see what Tesco's take on it is, I had some faith that maybe these could be as good.

The texture of these is a pretty good start, there's a nice crunch to them, and they're some nice, sizeable crisps. They definitely have a sweet element to them, but the spice is quite dull in comparison. There's something there, but it's really not enough to call these "spicy". It's not a bad flavour overall, there may be too much sweet in these, but it's not completely overwhelming. This isn't a great bag of crisps, but they're certainly edible. They're just very lacking in spice.

My rating: 3/5 

Today's Review: Starbucks Citrus Mint Green Tea Latte

Alongside the Teavana range that I reviewed yesterday, there are a couple of tea lattes gracing the menu, that I was invited to try out the other day. There's a chai tea latte on offer, which is much like a chai latte, but a little more tea like, it's nice, but nothing extraordinary. The other latte, however, is an interesting combination of green tea and mint with a citrus twist.

Now, I never considered myself a fan of green tea, and just a couple of weeks ago I was saying how mint flavoured drinks should not be a thing, so by all means I should not have enjoyed this drink. In reality though, it's damn good. It has a nice thickness to it provided by the steamed milk, and the flavours in the tea and syrup seep through really well. The green tea provides a nice clean flavour base, which the mint then builds upon with a hint of freshness that doesn't overwhelm the rest of the drink. It's subtle, and blends in nicely with the tea, perhaps if it were just mint in the syrup I would have thought differently, but the citrus twist really makes this. There's a bold lemon taste throughout that really brings everything together, and there's a sprinkling of lemon essence on top to bring out more citrus notes. The separate elements didn't sound great to me, but they make a great combination, providing a fresh, filling and all round tasty latte. This is one of my new favourites for the season, that is until the red cups come around...

My rating: 5/5

Today's Review: Starbucks Teavana Range

I was invited to the Starbucks store in Wardour Street last night to sample their new Teavana range that is launching this week. There are a whopping ten varieties available, on top of some interesting new tea lattes, but I'll go over them later. For now I'll focus on these wonderfully presented bowls of tea leaves, which come in a nice mix of flavours.

Now, I'm not tea expert, but thankfully there was one on hand to explain the processes of tea to me. I didn't take any notes because at heart I'm unprofessional, but I think I can remember the gist. Tea leaves are picked from the same plant, with each "leaf" consisting of a bud and two young leaves. Depending on how the leaves are processed, you can end up with a lovely selection of different teas. The youthberry shown above is a white tea mixed with acai and pineapple. This is good stuff, the tea is quite subtle, while the fruity notes develop quite nicely, and they're all pretty easily noticeable. It's refreshing and fruity, with a lovely bold red colour, and definitely was my cup of tea.

The jasmine pearls create a pretty fresh green tea, leaves bundled up and wrapped in jasmine that give it a nice aromatic taste. I can't say I've ever considered myself a fan of green tea, and this one didn't particularly rock my world, but it's a nicely brewed tea with some fresh, clean flavours.

I didn't quite get to try out the whole range, but what I did taste was pretty good, certainly better than the tea bags I've dabbled in at home. There are some great looking ones on offer, from a classic English breakfast to a chai tea, so there's probably a bit of something for everyone. Unless you don't like tea, in which case I'd probably say you haven't met the right tea yet. The range is on sale now, so you can pick up a box of whatever tickles your fancy. Tune in tomorrow, when I'll be going over the tea lattes.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Poundland Peach Rings

As far as sweets go, you can't really go wrong with Poundland. Their Haribo selection is very respectable, they have a nice selection of American candy, and they also have big, generically labelled bags of other sweets, like these here peach rings. It's my firm belief that the Lidl peach rings are the best, but to be fair they're the only other ones I've really tried, so I needed to try these to get a proper opinion.

These could be exactly the same as the Lidl ones actually, it's been a while since I had them, and these look pretty much like the same one repackaged in a clear bag. They're pretty good though. They taste like peach, with a nice squishy underbelly and a pleasant sugary topping. A good amount of chewiness that lets the flavour seep out, although after a few chews the taste does become a little too artificial. It's not a big problem though, as the fruitiness does stick around, just less dominant then before. They're good peach rings, they're rings and they taste like peach, can't ask for much more than that. You get a fair amount in the bag too, so good going Poundland.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Tesco Finest Beef Steak & Spiced Mustard Crisps

It's time for another new flavour of crisps, Tesco seem to be churning them out like nobody's business nowadays. These ones didn't exactly tickle my fancy, as they feature both meat and mustard, which I don't believe translate well into crisp form. But, for science, I figured I'd give them a go. After all, they might surprise me, or better yet, give me some ranting material for a negative review.

Well, they're better than I thought they'd be, but I didn't think they'd be all that good. The steak is quite nicely done, a meaty undertone that has an element of juiciness, it tastes like steak, but not so much that you'll be mistaking it for a T-bone on a plate. It tastes good while eating, but leaves behind that strange meaty crisp aftertaste. As for the mustard, I was hoping it wouldn't blow my head off with unpleasant spice, and it didn't really. It is quite intense, at times taking over the whole flavour, but there are some other spices thrown in that make it a lot better than just straight mustard. But while these aren't as bad as I thought. they're not fantastic. I enjoyed the experience somewhat while eating, but I don't think I'll pick these up again.

My rating: 3/5

Today's Review: Dunkin' Donuts Blueberry Pie

Dunkin' have another new range out to round off the summer, three new pie themed varieties. There's the classic apple, and the more American style blueberry and pecan. I can't resist a bit of blueberry, so that's the one I snapped up. It consists of an iced donut with blueberry filling, topped with blueberry swirl and some crumbly pie bits.

The blueberry filling is the main attraction, and thankfully there's a lot of it. It's somewhat dark and very sweet, definitely with a blueberry flavour, although it is perhaps a little too artificially sweet. I guess that's how American blueberry filling would taste, and it's alright, but it could be better. One other thing I would say is that the crumb on top, while adding a bit of extra texture, isn't all that noticeable alongside the filling, so this is less of a blueberry pie and more of a straight blueberry donut. It's not bad, but it's not one I'd rate alongside the classics. Perhaps I'll give the others a try.

My rating: 3/5