Best food and drink: taste test winners gallery April 2013

Expert food and drink taste tests

We've tested food ranging from everyday store cupboard essentials, such as olive oil, to more expensive luxury buys like champagne and sparkling wine.

The results are often surprising. Sometimes supermarket own labels beat well-known brands, and we find cheap products taste better than more expensive rivals. 

We publish full results of our taste tests in Which? magazine. If you're not a member, discover the benefits of a £1 trial of Which?, including instant access to all of our online product reviews and advice.

Best milk chocolate digestives

McVities Milk Chocolate Digestives

Our taste test panel of 100 biscuit eaters rated 10 types of milk chocolate digestives, including brand leader McVitie's and its supermarket alternatives. Despite scoring the highest score of 73%, McVitie's has reformulated its digestives, so we can't can't award it a Best Buy Logo.

Waitrose Essential, Sainsbury's and Lidl Tower Gate Milk Chocolate Digestives all came a close second with just 2% less at 71%. And Lidl's biscuits are a real show-stopper for value - costing a third of the price of McVitie's at 59p a pack. 

Find out how your other favourites did in our milk chocolate digestives taste test.

Best champagne

Sainsbury's Blanc de Noirs

We asked the supermarkets to nominate non-vintage brut champagnes costing £35 or less. Sainsbury's Blanc De Noirs scored an impressive 86% and our experts thought it had a classic character, comprising a creamy texture with savoury, nutty and toasty flavours. 

Find out which other champagnes and sparkling wines our experts rated in our best champagnes for Christmas taste test.

Best cereal bar

Nakd Apple Pie

Cereal bars are often promoted as a healthy snack or breakfast, but our expert analysis of 30 bars from bestselling brands showed this isn't always the case. Of the 30 bars on test, only the Nakd Apple Pie doesn't contain any added sugar. 

Find out the nutritional content of cereal bars in our full report. 

Best sausages

The Good Little Company Great Big Sausages

Four sausage experts tested 17 premium plain pork sausages with an 80% or higher meat content to find the winner, comprising nine branded sausages and eight supermarket own-brands. 

Find out which other sausages proved you don't need to pay premium prices to get a premium sausage. 

Best ketchup 

Sainsbury's Tomato Ketchup

We put 13 widely-available tomato ketchups to the test, asking 130 members of the public to blind-taste them. Generally, supermarket own-brand ketchups fared better than branded ones. Find out which ketchups taste the best.

Best orange juice

Aldi Del Rivo

Our 100 testers drank 660 shots of orange juice from supermarkets and big brands such as Innocent and Tropicana. Each juice was rated for its taste, texture, aroma and appearance, then given an overall score. 

If you'd rather make your own juice, check out our juicer reviews.

Best ground coffee

Asda Extra Special Fairtrade Colombian Roast and Ground Coffee

Taylors of Harrogate Guatemala Cloud Forests Ground Coffee

A total of 16 premium ground after-dinner coffees were put to the test by three industry experts, who blind-tasted each coffee in two batches. They also assessed the aroma, appearance, body, sweetness and overall balance of the flavour. 

Want to serve your own espressos, capuccinos and lattes? Check out our coffee maker reviews to find the right coffee machine for you.

Best mayonnaise

Lidl Vita D'Or Mayonnaise

Aldi Bramwells Real Mayonnaise

We asked 100 consumers to taste six brands of real, or full-fat, mayonnaises from leading brands and supermarkets. Mayos were tasted with chips and scored for aroma, appearance, taste and texture.

However, if you feel like making your own mayonnaise check out our food processor reviews.

Best balsamic vinegar

Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Aceto Balsamico di Modena 4 Leaf

The Co-operative Truly Irresistible Balsamic Vinegar of Modena

When it comes to buying balsamic vinegar, you tend to get what you pay for. However, our expert taste test of 21 vinegars have revealed that there are great bargains to be had. See their results for Best Buy balsamic vinegar.  

Best sparkling wine 

Waitrose Cava 

Ridgeview Bloomsbury Sparkling Wine

Our experts blind-tasted 10 sparkling wines costing less than £15 – three from bestselling brands and seven from supermarkets. They also rated five English sparkling wines, to see whether it’s worth paying extra for a locally-produced fizz.

Best extra virgin olive oil 

Napolina Extra Virgin Olive Oil

A total of 12 extra virgin olive oils were rated by three industry experts. Each oil was rated for its aroma, taste, balance and complexity. 

Find out what makes a Best Buy olive oil in our video, which includes advice from olive oil expert Charles Carey.

Best luxury boxed chocolates

Marks & Spencer Belgian Collection 

An expert panel assessed nearly 200 chocolates, from premium supermarket own labels to branded luxury assortments. 

Check out the full line-up of chocolates we tested for our chocolates review.

Best Christmas pudding

Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Cognac Laced Christmas Pudding

Our expert panel rated Christmas puddings from each of the nine major supermarkets on taste, aroma, texture and appearance, and found out you don't have to spend a fortune for a tasty finale to your Christmas lunch. 

Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Cognac Laced Christmas Pudding topped the taste tests with an impressive 74%, and cost £5.00. 

Find out the results of our other Christmas pudding taste tests and how to flambē a Christmas pudding.

More on this…

• Grocery prices - our expert analysis reveals the cheapest shop for a basket of goods
• The best supermarket - Which? members rate the best and worst supermarkets
• Save money on food - our experts' top 10 money-saving tips