Your ViewsKeep your e-mails pouring in, it's good to know that there are lots of you out there with views and opinions. To help you work out what is what, are now little icons to help you see biscuit related themes. And now you can see at a glance which are the most contested subjects via this graph (requires Flash 6.0 plugin). Please keep your mails coming in to nicey@nicecupofteaandasitdown.com | If you like, you can use this search thingy to find stuff that matches with any of the icons you pick, or use the fantastic free text search, Yay! | Your e-Mails |
Margaret Morrell
Tim Tam vs Penguin Review |
Dear Arnotts,
I am wondering whether you have any idea of the cruelty you regularly inflict on lovers of the best biscuits in the world - Tim Tams?
This cruelty lies in the fact that in every packet there is a prime number of biscuits - 11 - divisible only by itself.
This means that unless one is a lone biscuit eater ( and I don't think even I could eat a whole packet ) you, Arnotts ensure either a total fall-out amongst a group gathered together to partake of said Tim Tams, or at least one disgruntled person ( cries of "unfair" are heard ). It is, after all, a well known fact that a packet of Tim Tams must be consumed at one sitting.
I beg you to rectify this sorry situation by putting 12 biscuits in your packets in future. In this way, when 2, 3, 4 or 6 are gathered together, peace will reign supreme.
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Nicey replies: No don't mind me you just have a go at Arnotts. |
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Trev Edwards
Tim Tam vs Penguin Review |
Dear Nicey,
I first became aware of Tim Tams because of the ramblings of Phill Jupitus, the presenter of the breakfast show on BBC 6 Music (a newish "digital" service you need a special radio or digital satellite to receive although it is well worth the effort). Then in the recent media blitz about nicecupofteaandasitdown came along I paid a visit to find that you were featuring them as well.
So, when I heard Tesco now has some and went and bought some. I now find myself in the position of a man desperate to warn my fellow countryman about the big difference between Tim Tams and Penguins, which is the way they are packed. This will leave aside a discussion of which is the superior biscuit because I love them both.
The problem with Tim Tams as sold here in the UK is that they come in a tray in a packet. One big packet. Once opened, there is only your will power in the way of eleven delightful, crunchy chocolaty fragments of ambrosia. With Penguins you see, you have that second or two of pause before you can eat the next because each is individually wrapped. I drink my Yorkshire Tea from
a pint mug and this means I can easily eat a whole packet of Tim Tams before I know what has happened. My diet has failed.
I now have the Tim Tam monkey on my back. People should be warned!
Regards,
Trev Edwards
City of PRESTON, England
Everybody is a geek for something... |
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Chloe Milton
Tim Tam vs Penguin Review |
TIM TAM MESS(AGE)
Participants,
Lizzie age over 30
Paul age over 40
Chloe age 13 and 2 days
Elise age 8
First of all I have to say that following my family's TIM TAM SLAM taste test, the following guidelines should be made widely available to other folk -
1 Tea must be very hot - any cooler and the results are not reliable.
2 Make sure that you bite off diagonal corners - failure to bite off the correct bits will leave the taster in a state of unenlightenment.
3 Suck tea vigorously and noisily through the biscuit, only practice tells you the right time to stop, although any longer than three seconds will almost certainly cause the biscuit to implode into a chocolatey mess.
4 Under nines should only carry out a TIM TAM SLAM test under the supervision of an adult due to the difficulty in removing chocolate stains from clothes and carpets.
Nevertheless. fun was had by all, the Tim Tams were excellent and no creatures including penguins were injured or harmed in any way during the test proceedures.
Best wishes
Chloe Milton
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John Z
Tim Tam vs Penguin Review |
Nicey,
Just in case this has slipped your biscuit intelligence network I will outline the shocking story of the Tim Tam scandal. As you were no doubt told at the Australian High Commission, Tim Tams have been an Australian Icon since at least the 70's - well that's how long I can remember them anyway.
Arnott's had been an Australian company since its creation many moons ago but has been purchased by some American company fairly recently (I can't tell you the exact date as I spent the last decade in London and I'm too lazy to look it up on the Internet). Upon the change in ownership, it was widely rumoured that the quality of Tim Tams had been reduced, less chocolate (opening the market for 'double dipped' which according to one of my sources is merely returning to the standard of yesteryear) and a change in the packaging to reduce the number of biscuits in a packet. To be fair, this may be down to the 'Wagon Wheels Shrinkage' effect mentioned in your site.
The rumblings of disappointment appeared as an opportunity to one Dick Smith, baron of electrical components, round-the-world solo helicopter pilot and the person responsible for establishing the Australian Geographic magazine, purveyor of cute marsupial photos and science-lite to school children. In effect, Australia's answer to Richard Branson.
Mr Smith has established a brand of food products that maintain Australian ownership and manufacture, an admirable if embarrassingly jingoistic enterprise (lots of Australian flags on the products and 'Aussie' mentioned a bit too much). To tap in to the groundswell of discontent about the Tim Tam scandal (rumoured) he released a biscuit going by the name of Tem Tins. Arnott's, being owned by a good American company, sued for the obvious play on the Tim Tam name and after a widely reported but basically boring court case Dick has won. By the way, in the opinion of many including myself, Tem Tins are a poor substitute for even the reportedly inferior modern variety of Tim Tams.
So it appears that Tim Tams may have been released in the UK as Arnott's is panicked about the seditious feeling in the homeland of the biscuit. Of course, ex-pat Australians such as myself (when I lived in the UK) performed guerrilla marketing for Arnott's - so the job has been already started, in a way.
I realise that NiceCupOfTeaAndaSitDown by temperament tends to avoid controversy but sometimes the issues are just too big to ignore.
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Nicey replies: Yes we had our supply of Tem-p-tins turn up a couple of weeks ago, from Simon Smith our trusty biscuit man in the Antipodes. Clearly they aren't as good as the biscuit they are so clearly imitating, I don't think I even finished the pack which are languishing in Biscuit Enthusiast Mandy's fridge.
Thanks for balanced that round up of the episode. As for Tim Tams appearing in the UK that is all to do with Tescos seeking them out, to add some world class and to 'our' eyes, exotic biscuits to their range. |
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Phil Leicester
Tim Tam vs Penguin Review |
Where are they? I sent me mum down Tescos to get some and they didn't have any! (Not an easy feat as she's 5000m away from me) So where are they.
Desparate.
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Nicey replies: Their location amongst the biscuits can vary wildly. However we have been informed that the official Tesco policy is to put them next to the Cadburys fingers.
I'm a bit lost with the 5000m thing to your mother. Still never mind. |
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