You don’t need a scientist to tell you that we’re a nation of tea drinkers.
You don’t need a scientist to tell you that we’re a nation of tea drinkers. Us Brits have brewed, poured, stirred and slurped our tea since the time of the Tudors, where ships sailed in with tea leaves from the Far East.
Whether it’s a cuppa on your lunch break or a flask whilst picnicking on the hillside, a cup of char is a symbol of Britain, just as much as the Queen or our love for reality TV shows.
But what’s a cup of tea without a few biscuits on the side? Forgive me for being slanderous about our favourite hot beverage, but isn’t a brew a bit dull without a biccie on the side to dunk into? The traditional rich tea finger or chocolate digestive dipped into your tea cup and then eaten, usually in one, is a tradition for many. Forget about table manners, you dunk that biscuit Britain without worrying what your snotty aunt might be muttering under her breath. Yet it’s not as easy as you thought.
You see, the art to dunking your biscuit without ruining your tea by dropping half of your Hobnob in is a challenge. It takes time and patience to master the skill, so much so you’d think it would have been made an Olympic sport by now. No one likes a soggy biscuit in the bottom of their mug – a waste of tea and a waste of biscuit. So how do you successfully manage to dunk and drink without a disaster occurring? Well, it all depends on your choice of biscuit.
And here, at Kettle Mag, we have the Top 5 Biscuits to dunk in your Cuppa, ensuring no biscuit is left stranded at the bottom of your tea cup.
Digestive
You can’t go wrong with a traditional digestive. Filling and slightly larger than most biscuits, it’s one of those biccies you need to dunk a few times before you can savour the flavour. Start with lowering a few edges into your tea, nibble those off and then go in for the kill. I’d recommend submerging it for a few seconds before pulling it out and eating it. Chocolate digestives are the best. The coating gives it an extra layer of protection, like plaster on a wall, strengthening the support. Melted chocolate and soft digestive, yes please!
Bourbon
On their own, bourbons can be quite dull and messy. Try having a bourbon dry, it will be stuck in your teeth for days. Yet dunking a bourbon changes everything. It becomes soft dark chocolate tickling your tastebuds. What’s more, you can split it in half. Two for the price of one, what a bargain!
Custard Cream
Just like its darker cousin, the Custard Cream is similar to the bourbon in many respects, but usually a lot sweeter. I personally enjoy scraping the custard cream off first with my teeth and then dunking the biscuit. Each to their own.
Ginger Biscuit
One of the best biscuits for dunking, the Ginger Biscuit (or Ginger Snap as it’s sometimes known as) is usually quite hard if eaten dry, so won’t break up and crumble when lowered into your tea. The tea softens the biscuit, allowing the rich ginger flavour to melt on your tongue.
Shortbread
You either love it or hate it, but shortbread on its own is hardly exciting. But stirred into your cuppa, it’s surprisingly enjoyable. It’s lighter too. On its own, it can often be quite filling, but the sogginess makes it easier to wash down.
And the worse culprits:
Fruit Shortcake
As a child, these were always referred to as ‘dead fly biscuits’ because the raisins look like dead flies. This biscuit will end up dead in the water if you dunk it.
Rich Tea Biscuit
A pathetic attempt by someone to make a biscuit. I think it’s an insult to include tea in its name, you’ll only end up fishing for the soggy remains of this biscuit with a tea spoon if you take the plunge.
Malted Milk
One of my favourite biscuits, but this culprit is guilty of sinking to the bottom of several tea cups during my morning ritual of getting up and flicking the kettle on.
Nice Biscuit
There’s nothing nice about the Nice biscuit. One dip in your tea and it will be as bad a disaster as the Titanic.
Garibaldi
Arguably the most famous Gary in the world, its only claim to fame I can think of would be that it’s more of a floater than a dunker. Poor Gary remains unloved, left to get dusty on the biscuit shelf.
What do you think? What is your favourite biscuit to dunk in your tea? Have your say in the comments section below, on Facebook or on Twitter.
