Top Five Biscuit Dipping

For anyone who follows me on twitter you may have seen my constant complaining and whining about having to study for exams, having to do exams and worry about what my results are going to be like. Exam period is the one time of year I hate more than any other, I inevitably put on weight, consider taking up smoking and contemplate ripping the vocal chords out of my beloved, but persistently annoying, cat.

However there is one advantage; I drink shit-loads of tea. With tea comes biscuits to dip into it. I tried, over the past month or so, dipping with five different biscuits, so starting with the worst and leading to the best, here are the top five biscuits to dip with.

5. Jamie Dodgers

I love Jamie Dodgers, I love shortbread, I love jam, I love them together. Because of this I was dismayed to discover that they do not dip well. The biscuit part became soggy but the jam was resilient, leading to this odd sensation somewhere between chewy and soggy. Chewy goes with hard, it does not go with soggy.

Dip Rating - 1/10

4. HobNobs

Only number four!? Yes, the 'classic' dipping biscuit is fairly low on my list. Don't get me wrong, they are resilient but to me they are actually too resilient. I like the biscuits to get a little bit soggy but you have to dip the humble hobnob four to five times simply to get the desired result. That much dipping is a lot of effort whilst trying to get through The Critique of Pure Reason.

Dip Rating - 4/10

3. Rich Tea Fingers

I perhaps made a rookie mistake here by selecting rich tea fingers, rather than their classic bigger brother of the traditional rich tea. Taste wise there was no biscuit which suited tea better than the rich tea, however one dip and the finger would be so soggy it fell into the tea more often than not. Fishing the soggy biscuit residue from the bottom of a tea cup takes away from the whole dipping experience. Best for taste, worst for dip so Rich Tea Fingers finish third. Perhaps if I had gone for the real rich teas there would be a different winner, alas I did not.

Dip Rating - 5/10

2. Chocolate Fingers

Whilst the rich tea fingers were not up to the dipping task, the same cannot be said for the chocolate finger. The heat of the tea melted the chocolate which allowed it to ooze down as I brought the little finger to my mouth. Absolutely fantastic. Only real negative was that unfortunately the biscuit itself was a little insulated from the chocolate. A very close second to the eventual winner though.

Dip Rating - 9/10

1. Abernethy

I only ever tried my first Abernethy biscuit a couple of years ago, but they are pretty good. On their own they are fairly humble, straight forward, sweet, hard biscuits. However they come into their own when you add tea. The sweetness of the biscuit is a perfect combination with the tea and the natural hardness of the biscuit gives it durability for dipping, but not so much that the desired sogginess cannot be achieved. Lovely simple looking biscuits which dip perfectly. If you are sitting with a cup of tea and about to dip a biscuit right now and it is not an Abernethy then I pity you. Fantastic and my number one choice for tea dipping enjoyment.

Dip Rating - 10/10

Currently I am waiting for my results, my final ever results for my course, the ones that decide my final undergraduate results. If I do not get the grade I want then at least, I will have achieved something in my degree. A deeper knowledge of tea and biscuits.