As well as arguing the case for the ten best biscuits for coffee and tea, the team at the Office Coffee Company have also looked at some of these great biscuit debates:
- Why do we dunk biscuits?
- Is it OK to Dunk?
- Is a Jaffa cake a cake or a biscuit?
To Dunk or Not to Dunk…
Dunking was first used by the ancient Romans who used to dunk their hardened wafers in wine. In the 16th century, it was done by sailors who used to dunk their ‘hard tack’ biscuits in beer to soften them.
In more modern times it has evolved to dunking biscuits and cookies in milk, coffee and tea. In the United States, Oreos are dunked in milk while here, in the UK, it’s the McVitie Digestive that’s the most popular choice for dunking in tea. It was the Victorians that started dunking with afternoon tea in England and Ireland - this soon spread in popularity around the world.
Is it OK to Dunk?
Previously, this practice was frowned upon and seen as working class, despite the fact that Queen Victoria was said to enjoy dunking her biscuits. Nowadays, it’s a bit more commonplace although, be careful when taking a chance of dipping your biscuits in a coffee during a meeting!
The 10 Best Biscuits to Enjoy with Tea and Coffee
Anyway, enough of that.. what you actually want to know is our top ten list, right? Here are the biscuits we think are the best for pairing with your break-time coffee. Feel free to let us know if you think we’re wrong (we’re sure you will!)
10. Rich Tea
The thing about Rich Tea biscuits is that they’re basic and straightforward, yet incredibly popular. They’re a safe bet with no surprises. Be careful though, they don’t withstand much dunking and you could end up losing your biscuit to the bottom of your mug. They are also entirely moreish and one is never enough. Actually, that can be said for most biscuits. Before you know it, half the packet is gone. This dilemma only increases when you start dunking them.
9. Ginger Nut
The gingernut taking such a low ranking will probably ruffle a few feathers, but not everyone likes ginger and even fewer like it with the added coffee taste. Does it pair well with coffee though? We will leave that up to you to decide.
8. Jammie Dodger
Look, we don’t care what you say: strawberry jam and coffee do go well together. Sure, it’s got to be the right moment - this is definitely a post-lunch coffee biscuit - but it gets this place for offering something a bit different.
7. Digestive
The hardy brother of the rich tea, the digestive is a sturdy biscuit that will soak up a lot of coffee before breaking up. This makes it a great shout when breakfast is far beyond you and lunch is still out of reach. It’s a perfect choice for the later afternoon cups, too. While it only makes number 7 on our list, it does happen to be the most UK’s most popular dunking biscuit. If this was an article ranking dunking alone, it would probably be number one.
6. Chocolate Digestive
Usually adding chocolate massively improves a biscuit, but with a digestive, it’s only a slight one. One of the best aspects of the digestive is its simplicity, so the chocolate topping adds a slightly too fancy aspect. Having said that, the addition of chocolate to coffee is always great, hence it beating out the normal digestive on this list.
If you ask us our preference, we’d have to opt for the dark chocolate digestive over anything else however, we appreciate it’s not to everyone’s taste.
5. Chocolate Hobnob
The hobnob is a top biscuit, but really peaks when you add chocolate to it. As we just said, chocolate and coffee is a perfect combo, while the hobnob itself goes well with both. Excellent biscuit, excellent coffee pairing. Dunking skills? Well, as the famous Peter Kaye sketch goes… the hobnobs is the Marine of biscuits in this department. You can get some serious dips with a hobnob.
4. Custard Cream
Oh, this is a definite favourite. Many might put this further up the list, but we’re happy with this spot. The custard cream flavour pairs well with the bitterness of coffee, and we place this combination as a decent mid-afternoon choice.
3. Shortbread
Shortbread is an incredible biscuit, and it goes so well with coffee thanks to its absorbing qualities; few biscuits can soak up as much coffee without falling apart in your hand. We find adding chocolate chips to shortbread gives it even more appeal!
2. Bourbon
A chocolate biscuit with a strong cup of coffee. What else was going to take second place? There are so many ways to enjoy a Bourbon. Some find it hard to just eat it normally, instead preferring to pull apart the biscuits and enjoy the cream in the middle. You can’t really do that in company or in the middle of the office though. Perhaps save that habit for the comfort of your own home.
1. Lotus Biscuits
This can’t be argued with, in our humble opinion. Found loitering next to your coffee in cafes all over the country, you need to get some of these into the office too. Based on these alone, we’d say caramel makes a better partner with coffee than even chocolate. Is your mouth-watering yet? Why not add some office biscuits to your next coffee order?
The Jaffa Cake - Cake or Biscuit?
Before we go, time to discuss the great debate. We turned to Google to answer this for us. Apparently, it’s actually a biscuit-sized cake! In fact, this was the subject of a VAT tribunal in 1991 where the court found in favour of McVities that the Jaffa cake could be classed as a cake for VAT classification purposes! The difference being that a biscuit is classed as a luxury item with the full VAT levied while the cake is zero vat rated.
What you also may not know is that the bottom of this cake is actually chocolate! Every day is a school day, right? Personally speaking, we don’t mind what it is. It works as the perfect cake/biscuit with your coffee and tea.
What have we missed and what is your favourite biscuit or do you have anything you’d like to add? We’d love to hear from you.
Choose your perfect coffee machine and coffee beans to make delicious coffee to go with your biscuit (or biscuits) of choice!
