Blind Taste Test

Heinz vs Branston vs Co-op generic - baked beans

2008-03-09T16:54:00.003Z

It's the big one. Baked beans. The market is dominated by Heinz, with fanatical niche devotion for Branston (and HP - but they didn't have any of those in the shop). Meanwhile most supermarkets sell their generic beans for a snip of the price. It's a consumer trauma - to put your hand in your pocket for the brand giant, or cut corners with an economy brand? What to do? Well, ponder no more dear viewer, for Blindtastetest.blogspot.com has the video evidence to help you decide.

Before we watch the clip, though, here are some facts. In terms of sugar and salt content, all three of our samples are pretty similar. You may have expected Heinz to have more sugar? But, no, the key difference that one can glean from the ingredients would appear to be tomatoes. Heinz and Branston both list their second biggest ingredient as "tomatoes". For Co-op's own, it's "reconstituted tomato paste". Branston claims 36% of contents is tomato, Heinz claims 33%, Co-op claim only 24%. All three have the same amount of beans - about 50% of total ingredients.

So, what does Jo-jo, our baked bean expert (she says: "They were my staple diet as a child and they are close to being my staple now as an adult!") make of the three samples? Watch the video to find out.

Click below to see the test in action.

Why not try your own baked beans blind taste test? Upload your video to YouTube and send the result to blindtastetesters@yahoo.co.uk

Coco pops vs Waitrose Choco Rice Pops

2007-10-16T17:53:00.000Z

Can Kellogg's see off Waitrose's challenge for chocolate rice-based cereal domination?

The undoubted king of the children's cereal jungle is Kellogg's Coco Pops - so firmly rooted in the consciousness of the British public that they don't even need to bother with a product description on the bright yellow packet (or not on the front at least). Waitrose, meanwhile, opt for 'milk chocolate coated crisp rice' to describe their Choco Rice Pops, which pretty much covers it for both. They're in direct competition, that much is clear. But which one delivers the greater taste sensation? We put them to the test.

click below to see the test in action

Try your own Waitrose v Coco Pops Blind Taste Test - email your results and/or YouTube video to blindtastetesters@yahoo.co.uk

Tetley tea bags v loose tea leaves (posh)

2007-10-16T17:31:00.000Z

It's a question as old as humanity itself: is upmarket tea really nicer, or are the posh-cuppa brigade just a bit up themselves? We'd had a tin of loose (and therefore posh by definition) tea leaves hanging about in the back of the cupboard forever. I actually thought it was coffee, so never tried it (don't drink coffee really). Actually even if I'd know it was tea I wouldn't have used it 'cos there's no difference, the posh-cuppa brigade are just a bit up themselves, right? Well we thought it was about time to put the question to bed once and for all and rest easy in our beds at last. We took a brand-new, first-one-out-the-packet Tetley tea bag, and brewed it up (in the mug). We took a couple of spoonfuls of the undefined posh tea leaves and brewed them in the pot until they and the Tetley looked about the same colour in their respective mugs. In a nod to science we added precisely the same exactly one shot of milk and half a spoon sugar to each. So which tasted better to the 'blind' tester...?

click here to see the test in action

Send your own Tetley's (or any other normal tea) v. (any) posh tea test results and/or Youtube video to blindtastetesters@yahoo.co.uk