Arnott’s Tim Tam VS ALDI's "knock-off": Who is the surprising winner?
Undoubtedly one of Australia's favourite biscuits, the iconic Tim Tam has been put to the test by consumer advocacy group CHOICE.
Arnott’s classic packet of $3.65 Tim Tams has been pitted against ALDI's “knock-off” version that costs less than half the price at $1.59.
CHOICE ran a blind taste test with a group of consumers to see which chocolate biscuit came out on top.
Surprisingly, 39 per cent of experts thought that ALDI's Belmont Just Divine product tasted better than Arnott's Aussie classic.
However, a majority of the 75 people who participated in the experiment said that they could taste the difference between the two.
Meanwhile, some admitted that they couldn’t tell which one was which.
61 per cent of the taste testers voted that Tim Tams were their favourite, whereas 27 per cent were confused and said that ALDI's biscuits were Tim Tams.
6 per cent couldn’t figure out the difference at all.
“It's a lot closer than I'd thought. They're almost identical,” said one of the testers.
CHOICE found that Tim Tams have 8.2g of sugar whereas Just Divine has 7.4g of sugar. ALDI's Just Divine brand were more popular amongst those who were less inclined to sugary treats.
“Number 2 is definitely the real Tim Tam but I like number 1 better. Number 2 is too sweet; number 1 struck a good balance,” explained one of the testers.
In a surprise that comes to no one, the taste testers were thrilled about being involved with the testing.
“In the interests of rigour I demand we conduct several repeatable trials over the course of the next couple of years so we can be confident of the results. Science demands it,” joked one of the taste testers.