Trendmaxing - Starbucks, Matcha & UBE in the same cup [@NLi10]

 I wanted to find out whether the Trendmaxing idea of putting the last hip thing in the same pot as the next big thing was a good idea or a bad one.  So - while waiting for friends my partner bought me this £6.50 soft drink that both had the Matcha Tea trend, and the Ube purple drink trend - together at last!

Now - this is from the same Cineworld Starbucks where the lady decided to be kind and add all of the matcha from the pot to my drink to finish it off (making it insanely strong to the extent that when I got home I used the matcha sludge to make a 2nd tea) - so maybe they aren't the best mixologists in the world.

That said - the purple looked correct, and the matcha was certainly frothy enough to float on top.

And both parts were acceptable.

Trouble is - when we went to Coventry we had an Ube drink there which was so much thicker and more exciting than this watery 'late'.

Fine as a cheap option, but at the premium prices this was a fairly disappointing affair - maybe there was too much ice?

It's perfectly fine as a sweet treat to drink while watching the latest movies, but I don't think you'd go out of your way to go back and try it again.

JD’s Smoked Hot Honey Chipotle Infused sauce (Tesco) By @SpectreUK

Hot Honey seems to be the in flavour this year. This JD's Smoked Hot Honey Chipotle Infused sauce is recommended with Fajitas, Tacos, Chilli, Nachos, Burgers, veggies, and everything else. So, I'm going to try mine with potato Smily Faces and a Chicken Kiev tonight.

JD's Smoked Hot Honey Chipotle Infused sauce is a blend of hot honey, and smoky and sweet chipotle chilli for a medium smoky heat. On opening the sauce, I noticed the honey had crystallised, so I followed the instructions on the label, and put the bottle in hot water for a few minutes.

There was a sweet honey aroma and the smoky heat of chilli. On first taste this sweet Hot Honey sauce has fire. There was lots of smokiness, lots of honey, and lots of chilli heat. It went perfectly well with my Chicken Kiev and also my potato Smiley Faces. This was a gorgeous sauce. I'll certainly give it a try with everything else.

Racer Hot Chocolate (Aldi) By @Cinabar

Racer is Aldi’s take on a Snickers style chocolate bar, packed with caramel, nougat and peanuts, so I was curious to see how that would translate into a hot chocolate.

This is a new instant version inspired by the bar, and there are a couple of other flavours in the range too. I picked up another one to try next week.

Preparation was simple, just hot water and a quick stir. It mixed well with only a few bubbles on top and, importantly, no lumps. The flavour is nicely sweet with a good chocolate base, backed up by a gentle hint of caramel and nut. It is not overpowering, but the inspiration is definitely there.

Overall, it is easy to drink and full of flavour, making it a solid and comforting option if you fancy something a bit different from a standard hot chocolate.

Cadbury Dairy Milk Crispello - From Egypt With Love (via B&M) [@NLi10]

 Cadbury's is one of Birmingham's biggest exports.  It started a short bus ride from my house, and has travelled the world. Like most international brands there are regional variations but most of it seems to make it to the UK at some point.  While in Wales we popped into B&M and spotted this - and it's new to us!

We think it's got a double-L in it so it's Crispello, but unlikely to be pronounced in the Welsh way as it's imported from Egypt. 

It even has Arabic on the packaging. Cool!

Same familiar Cadbury branding, and while it claims to be Dairy Milk crumb, it's not quite to the British taste and is a little milder than I'd expected.  This said - I've not had Egyptian Dairy Milk mix so I'll have to remember to try that when I'm over there visiting the Grand Egyptian Museum (although with the current chaos that's on hold).

What this is - tiny crispies inside a finger of dairy milk - seems like a great idea for a bar. That said, it's only a tiny 4 fingers, and there just isn't enough of the crispy bits to get excited.  Double the sizes and we are talking.  We shared one of these in the car and both felt like it was a little too slight.

I'll have to pop to Cadbury World and see if there is anything like this in the factory shop - I know the Dairy Milk Delights series had something similar.

So - not worth importing, but worth grabbing for cheap in B&M as a light bite. 

Prime Time Pear Fruit Lager - But Better (Tesco) By @SpectreUK

Spring is here and I fancy a light crisp fruity beer to wash down my Hunters Chicken and Curly Fries tonight. This 4% in volume Prime Time Pear Fruit Lager But Better was made with Nashi pears.

Nashi pears are a good source of fibre, helping to maintain good bacteria in the gut, and can help balance cholesterol. The can states that Nashi pears contain polyphenol plant compounds, containing antioxidants and enzymes studied for breaking down alcohol and reducing oxidative stress. How about that!

On opening the can there was a strong slightly sour aroma of pears, which reminded me of a dry pear cider. Deep golden in colour, Prime Time Pear Fruit Lager But Better tasted of slightly sour pears to begin with, then the unmistakable flavours of lager kicked in.

The pear flavour was there throughout each mouthful, but the lager flavours of sweet malts and fruity hops stopped my tastebuds in there tracks from thinking that this was just another pear cider. And it washed down my chicken dinner a treat. What a lovely pearing!