Cadbury Wispa Hot Chocolate Review

This is a very welcome new hot chocolate from Cadbury based on their classic Wispa chocolate bar. Remember when Wispas were discontinued and public demand brought them back? And now look at them - all grown up and so popular they even have their own hot chocolate! I don't often drink instant hot chocolate but I'm such a fan of the Wispa bar that I had to give this a try.

Cadbury's have a fair few versions of instant hot chocolate already on the market, but what makes this Wispa Hot Chocolate different is that is bubbles up. Not in a fizzy way - that would certainly be very odd. What we're talking about here is a soft frothy covering of seriously big bubbles on top of the hot chocolate itself.

I followed the suggested preparation method of adding 200ml of hot water to four heaped teaspoons of the powdered drink. The hot chocolate frothed up instantly with the biggest frothiest bubbles I've ever seen on a hot chocolate, and without the need for any effort at all on my part. Not even a bit of whisking required, nada. At first the bubbly layer makes up almost half the drink but this eventually settles down to a thick frothy layer on top of the hot chocolate, as you can see in the photo below.

The flavour of the hot chocolate is essentially the same as the regular Cadbury's hot chocolate; it's super sweet and with a subtle cocoa flavour that builds nicely as you drink. The frothy bubbles add a lovely texture to the hot chocolate, and makes it feel a lot more luxurious and velvety than a standard instant hot chocolate. Usually I would add some cocoa powder or marshmallows to the top of my hot chocolate, but the bubbly effect on the top of this drink is gorgeous enough on it's own.

This Wispa Hot Chocolate (or Hot Frothy Instant Choccy as it says on the front) is a very warming and delicious hot chocolate and it's worth buying for the frothing affect alone! If you don't fancy buying a whole jar then there are also individual sachets available (pictured above) that are only 36p each.

Grocery Gems Verdict: Cadbury Wispa Hot Chocolate

RATING: 8.5 out of 10.
Buy them again?: Definitely.
Nutrition (each serving): 105 calories. 3g protein,  20.0g carbohydrates, 16.0g sugar, 1.4g fat.
Purchased: Tesco.
Price: £2.79p (for 246g jar) or 36p per sachet.

What do you think of the new Cadbury Wispa Hot Chocolate? I'd love to know your thoughts on this, so please leave a comment below.

New York Soup Co Smokey Bacon & Herby Tomato Soup Limited Edition

My Hubby bought this Limited Edition New York Soup Co Smokey Bacon & Herby Tomato soup at the weekend. I think it was the word "bacon" that lured him in rather than the "limited edition" part! We've been eating a lot of soup recently, especially for dinner. It's usually of the home made variety but it's useful to have a ready made soup in the fridge for busy days.

I love the Limited Edition star and the whole American style of the packaging. This Limited Edition soup is a combination of vegetables, bacon and spices and looked slightly more watery than I was expecting once opened. There were lots of "bits" in the soup but they were mostly very small pieces, with not enough larger chunks.

The tomato flavour was good, and there was plenty of seasoning and herbs. The bacon part was slightly more disappointing. Even though there was a nice smokey flavour to the soup, there were too many little stringy strands of meat rather than chunks of bacon. However, it was still a very satisfying soup and I always prefer tomato based soups to creamy ones. I like the New York Soup Co range but this limited edition soup probably won't be added to my list of favourites from their range.

Grocery Gems Verdict: New York Soup Co Smokey Bacon & Herby Tomato

RATING: 7 out of 10.
Buy them again? I'll be trying one of their new "skinny" soups next.
Nutrition (per half pot): 140 Calories, 3.6g sugar, 8.1g fat, 1.3g salt.
Purchased: Tesco.
Price: £2.20p.

Metro Deco Matcha Green Tea Review

I was delighted when Brighton based tea specialists Metro Deco offered to send me a sample of organic matcha green tea. As a green tea fan (I usually drink several cups a day) I have always wanted to give matcha green tea a try.

Matcha green tea, which has been used for centuries in Japanese tea ceremonies, is made from shade-grown tea leaves that are ground down to a fine powder. It has all the health benefits of green tea but in a more concentrated format; with matcha powder you ingest the whole leaf as well as the brewed water. It is said to have ten times the amount of antioxidants compared to green tea. There are a multitude of health benefits which are associated with matcha green tea; energy boost, weight loss, heart health, liver function and many others.

Metro Deco were also kind enough to send me some samples of their Rockerfella Cleansing blend, which is a delicious mint infusion in a "tea temple" rather than tea bag. This mint tea has a very similar taste to Tea Pigs peppermint tea, which is, without doubt, one of my favourite teas. I brewed one of the Metro Deco mint tea temples and added a small teaspoon of the matcha powder to make a "minty matcha" tea. This made the tea a slightly darker colour and gave the mint a slightly earthy quality without impairing the clean fresh mint flavour at all. It was still a delicious cleansing minty tea, and a combination that I would happily drink again and again.

My husband is also a fan of green tea and peppermint tea, and he thought this "minty matcha" tea was just delicious - energising and cleansing at the same time. Matcha green tea powder is high quality and organic, which is reflected in the price, but I think it's a worthwhile purchase, not just because of the health benefits, but its many different uses.

Image: Metro Deco

Metro Deco sent me some lovely suggestions such as adding the powder to some cocoa to make a "matcha mocha". It can also be added to other drinks such as smoothies and lattes, sprinkled onto porridge or cereal, and even used as an ingredient when baking. A quick look at Pinterest shows all sorts of fab ideas for using matcha powder in baking: cupcakes, cakes, cookies, desserts - the list is endless. In Japan you can even buy a matcha flavoured Kit Kat! I've already added some matcha powder to make a delicious matcha latte and I'm planning to make some gorgeously green matcha cupcakes next!

Grocery Gems Verdict: Metro Deco Matcha Tea

RATING: 9 out of 10.
Buy them again?: Absolutely.
Available: Sent to me for an honest review by Metro Deco.

Sainsbury's Red Nose Day Doughnuts

I picked up these Red Nose Day themed doughnuts at Sainsbury's. They cost a very reasonable £1 for four doughnuts with 15p donated to Comic Relief.

The doughnuts are covered in a red (well really it's a pinkish colour) icing and crunchy white sprinkles. 

Even though they don't look much like a red nose, they still have a fun bright look which is perfectly in keeping with the Red Nose Day theme. 

Supermarket bakery doughnuts can be a bit hit and miss in terms of taste, it often depends on what time of day you buy them as to whether you get a delicious treat or a stale/soggy mess. As I bought these in the morning and they had just been baked, they were very tasty, the doughy part was very soft and light, with a lovely golden colouring. The icing on top was quite firm with a nice crunchy texture from the sprinkles. They're cheap and cheerful and made a lovely half-term treat.

The last time I did a Red Nose Day review (for the Limited Edition Red Nose Day Pez) I felt it fitting to end the review with a joke. This time I'll leave the jokes to the doughnut addict that is Garfield:

Image: Garfield.com

Grocery Gems Verdict: Red Nose Day Doughnuts

RATING: 7 out of 10.
Buy them again?: Worth a buy.
Nutrition : None given.
Purchased: Sainsbury's.
Price: £1.00p.

Angry Birds Lagoon - Apple & Pear Drink (CyberCandy)

I recently reviewed the Angry Birds Space Comet cola and orange drink and found it to be a very tasty twist on a classic cola. I also bought another drink from the range - this Angry Birds Lagoon. It's not a cola this time, but an apple and pear fizzy drink. Originally made in Finland, these official Angry Birds drinks are available to buy from CyberCandy.

You can probably tell by now that we are a household of gaming fans, and yes, we do seem to have a rather large number of Angry Birds toys! I love the design of these cans; they are bold, fun and appealing, much like the gaming characters they represent. It turns out that the drink inside the can is colourful too, being a bright green shade.

The drink has a lovely taste too, the flavours are very fresh and light. There is a lovely burst of apple flavour at first which is sweetened by the subtle pear aftertaste. There is no sour edge to this drink, as I sometimes find with fizzy apple drinks, just a delicious fruitiness. Overall, this is a very refreshing drink, perfect for keeping hydrated during an epic Angry Birds playing session (is that just me?), and I will certainly be trying even more from this Angry Birds range.

There are four Angry Birds drinks available: tropical fruit flavoured ‘Angry Birds Tropic’, the mandarin and pineapple-flavoured ‘Angry Birds Paradise’, orange and cola flavoured ‘Angry Birds Space Comet’ and this apple and pear flavoured ‘Angry Birds Lagoon’.

Grocery Gems Verdict: Angry Birds Lagoon drink

RATING: 7 out of 10.
Buy them again?: Yes.
Nutrition (330ml can): 124 Calories.
Purchased: CyberCandy.
Price: £1.85p.

Other Angry Birds Reviews:
Angry Birds Space Comet cola
Angry Birds Gummy Sweets (Finland)
Angry Birds Ice Lollies (Portugal)