Nescafé Lion Mocha Flavour (Ocado) By @SpectreUK

I’ve always loved Lion bars. That crunchy chewy chocolate sweet caramel goodness. I don’t particularly like instant coffee like Nescafé. I drink fresh coffee. I don’t drink instant coffee sachets, and I’m not that fussed about flavoured coffee. However, maybe, Nescafé Lion Mocha Flavour could change my mind.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a fair judgement if I didn’t have this Nescafé Lion Mocha Flavour as an afternoon drink, accompanied by a Nestlé Lion Bar. I mean, it would be rude not too.

I followed the instructions to a T. I stirred the mixture in twice from the sachet, and strangely tapped my mug on the surface three times. There was a chocolate caramel and a coffee aroma from the frothy liquid in my mug.

On taste of this Nescafé Lion Mocha Flavour, there was a sweet caramel taste of chocolate mixed with coffee. Of course, there wasn’t the crunchiness from a Nestlé Lion Bar, but the flavour of the drink was similar, asides the added coffee.

I must say, it did go rather well with my Nestlé Lion Bar, for an instant coffee sachet, that is.

Information on the box: Per mug is 77 calories, with 1.4g of fat, 11.2g of sugar, and 0.19g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Costa Salted Caramel Latte Sachets (Ocado) By @Cinabar

I am back on the coffee sachets and found these Costa Salted Caramel Latte Sachets under the new products listing online. I love a flavoured coffee, so they went straight into my basket.

I don’t normally see Costa sachets, so I was interested to try these, even though salted caramel isn’t exactly the most exciting flavour compared with some of the other autumnal drinks around. I always think salted caramel is a little bit of a lazy flavour, but it is popular for a reason: pretty much everyone likes it.

I opened the box and found a decent six sachets inside. That’s not quite as generous as Nescafé, which often gives you seven or eight, but it is much better than Starbucks, where you can get just four.

I mixed one up and it made a lovely frothy latte with no annoying lumps. The flavour was really good, with plenty of coffee, creamy milk and sweet caramel, followed by just a touch of salt for contrast.

The caramel was the bit that won me over. It had a lovely, soothing, almost toffee-like taste that made the drink feel really comforting. So yes, salted caramel might not be the most adventurous flavour, but it is undeniably nice. And sometimes that is exactly what you want from a coffee sachet.

Crushed Fruits Blueberry Yoghurt Pocky [@NLi10]

 Pocky was the first ever review I did for this site - mumble mumble - years ago... so when I spot an exciting variant in the wild I like to give it a go. In fact there is a Blueberry version in that original review - but in the 4 per pack tiny version.

I love blueberries, I love Pocky.  I also love Double Happiness (which at our take-away is two chicken fillets battered on a bed of fried rice with katsu sauce)

Here it just means fruit bits and fruit fondant - which is about as luxurious as the Pocky brand gets.

Far from my 35p a box Thai Pocky this is the top of the range and worth every penny. Still from Thailand like all the best Pocky flavours are, and this one sparkles with every bite and was well worth picking up.

McCoy’s Hot Kick Ketchup Crisps (Ocado) By @SpectreUK

When I am out and about looking around the shops and I see a Caribbean supermarket, I’m straight in there looking for one sauce only. There may be a shelf of sauces of all sorts of flavours, but Grace’s Hot Tomato Ketchup is the one I’m looking for.

So, when I saw these McCoy’s Hot Kick Ketchup, I thought maybe they’ll be able to sate my hunger for Grace’s Hot Tomato Ketchup a little, during my never ending search. After all, it’s a rare day I find a packet of McCoy’s crisps I don’t like.

On opening a packet, there was a chilli aroma from these McCoy’s Hot Kick Ketchup crisps, and perhaps a little tomato. On first taste there was a medium chilli warmth from the reddish potato crisis, but not much of a tomato flavour at all. On looking at the ingredients, dried tomato seemed to be more of an after thought mixed in with a multitude of other ingredients.

Don’t get me wrong, these McCoy’s Hot Kick Ketchup crisps don’t taste bad at all. However, to my tastebuds there wasn’t a hot chilli kick, and there wasn’t much of ketchup flavour either. I’ll continue looking for Grace’s Hot Tomato Ketchup then, shall I?

No tomato’s were particularly bothered during the making of these crisps. 

Information on the packet; Each 25g bag contained 132 calories, with 7.8g of fat, 0.7g of sugar, and 0.12g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Pick N Marks Blond Chocolate Malt Balls (Marks and Spencer) By @Cinabar

These new Blond Chocolate Malt Balls are part of the Pick N Marks range, which sounds like Pick N Mix, but isn’t mixed, just grab bags. Totally confusing, but there’s lots of chocolate in the range, so I’m still in.

Blond chocolate has been very popular, following on from the salted caramel trend, and as I have a sweet tooth, it definitely works for me. I opened the bag and the malt balls are a decent size. I bit into one and found a lovely layer of thick blond chocolate, followed by a really nice crispy crunch. The flavour was pure caramel, white chocolate and malty goodness. There was plenty of sweetness, with a bit of contrast from the malt and even a touch of salt. They’ve really maximised that sweet and salty balance, and it just works.

These are very moreish and tasty, and I can see this bag disappearing rather quickly.

There was a time a few years back when every ‘grab bag’ like this would have a resealable sticker, so you could have a few and seal them up for another day. That stopped being a thing for quite a few brands, and these don’t have one either. So, yeah, we’re just going to have to finish the bag tonight while watching a movie. What a shame!