Not sure who is wicked, but it is not good enough for me to feel wicked! (Options Wicked White Choc)

Member Name: catsholiday

Product:	Options Wicked White Choc
Date:	07/11/09 (104 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Low calorie, tasty

Disadvantages: Food additives and sweeteners

WHAT HAVE WE HERE?

Options Wicked white chocolate drink.

The small oblong sachet varies in price from 20p to about 35p. I NEVER buy them at the latter price but do often pick them up when they are 5 for £1 or similar. The sachet is a subtle sky blue colour with a creamy white chocolate front. Tempting you to try are the word" I felt WICKED, It was a WHITE gold ring, CHOC full of diamonds" which presumably it to give the impression of luxury and wealth. The highlighted words are of course the name of the Options drink in question.

WHEN TO USE:

I found these extremely handy when I was working as I often went from school to school or various other places where people paid for their coffee/tea etc and as I did not go regularly i didn't contribute to the tea fund so I felt guilty abusing the other teacher's generosity. I had a few of these or a couple of coffee or tea bags from hotels and then I could use their hot water and enjoy my own drink without feeling guilty.

The other handy use I have for these little sachets is when we travel. We pack our travel kettle if we find the places we are going do not have kettles in the room and then we put in tea bags, small jar of coffee, sugar for hubby and yukky coffee Mate instead of milk for me, plus several of my options sachets and then we can enjoy a hot drink in our room without paying hotel prices.
Other than that I do always have them in my cupboard as the sachets keep really well and I don't drink hot chocolate every day so i can keep a variety of flavours to enjoy when I want with no fear of them going funny in a jar.

WHAT TO DO:

It is pretty obvious really but, tear the top of the sachet and pour contents into a small mug (don't use a big mug as it tastes really watery then). Pour boiling water in and if you like you can add a little milk but it is not necessary. I suggest you leave a little while to cool unless you have asbestos lips and tongue.

NOW THE TASTE:

Part of taste is smell-related and the smell is dreamy, it really does smell of white chocolate as you pour in the water the smell rises up with the steam whetting the taste buds in preparation of the treat to come. A big deep sniff and I am ready to sip, I have waited patiently for the liquid to cool sufficiently to avoid the burning tongue.

I sip and the flavour is of creamy white chocolate, not quite as creamy as real white chocolate but still very tasty. It is also quite thick too which is surprising considering all you have added is water but I guess it is probably something I don't want to know about making it thicker. All in all I find it quite satisfyingly chocolatey and just about enough to stop me craving the real thing.

Positive things are that each sachet only has 45 calories providing you don't add extra milk of course and that it does taste like creamy white chocolate. It is satisfying and hot so I find it fills me and reduces chocolate desires to quite a large extent. There is still 1.4g of fat which is interesting.

Negative things, well, it is NOT chocolate but it doesn't pretend to be either so I suppose I shouldn't be too critical of that. It does contain a bit of sugar but also has the dreaded sweeteners, aspartame which on the whole I try to avoid as I am not convinced that they are harmless and they certainly are not a good food source. They also contain other questionably valuable things such as food stabilisers which does not thrill me either. The thickness of the product comes from Acacia gum and stabilisers which don't sound very appetising either. On the while there is not much good food value to be gained from drinking this at all so you certainly would not choose this thinking you were gaining anything positive food wise apart from the fact it taste pleasant and does stop a chocolate craving.

SUMMARY:

This is not what you might call a health food option. The taste is pleasant and I think they have captured the chocolate creaminess of white chocolate quite well with whatever flavours and E numbers they have put together. If you need to know the precise details then you need better eye sight than I have as the writing on the sachets is very small print and the brown colour against the pale blue also makes it hard to read.

It is probably a good option for those watching calories and craving something with a chocolate flavour, it certainly fills that requirement. I think you have just got to be a bit sensible and not go overboard on having too many things with sweeteners, flavourings and stabilisers but in today's supermarkets they are hard to avoid.

So, in short, a tasty and convenient hot drink but you should be aware that it does contain some not so positive food additives. Make your own mind up on these but if used in moderation I feel I can enjoy these once in a while especially when I need a chocolate fix and am trying not to eat chocolate and other yummy goodies high in calories.

I'm going to give it 3 stars as it lets us down on food value and has some questionable food additives but it gets the stars as an option for a low cal chocolate drink with a nice taste.

Thanks for reading .This review may be posted on other sites under my same user name.

©Catsholiday

Summary: A useful low cal chocolate drink in a convenient sachet