The best biscuit for dunking into tea revealed
Where does your favourite rank?
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Biscuits and tea go together like fish and chips, French and Saunders, and Tom and Jerry.
Whether your biscuit should be dunked in your tea, however, is a divisive matter.
If you are a dunker though, is there anything worse than holding your biscuit in the tea just a fraction of a second too long, leaving you with a soggy mush at the bottom of your brew?
Fortunately, a new study has revealed which of the nation’s classic biscuits holds their own for longest when dunked in a hot cup of tea.
Would a custard cream crumble under the pressure? Or perhaps a rich tea would come out on top?
In fact, the best biscuit for dunking has emerged as the chocolate bourbon.
Yes, everyone’s favourite chocolatey pick-me-up is more than just a pretty face - it beat all the other teatime staples in the study by Wren Kitchens.
It’s thought the filling gives the biscuits extra strength, as jammie dodgers and custard creams also scored highly.
Researchers reached their conclusions by dunking various types of biscuit half-way into a freshly brewed cup of tea and holding in place until it broke. A stopwatch was used to record the breakage time.
They were then able to rank the biscuits based on for how long they held their form and also come up with a recommended dunking time for each one.
Here are the standard biscuits ranked from worst to best, with their breaking time, and recommended dunking time:
- Hob Nob, 15 seconds, 5 seconds
- Malted Milk, 20 seconds, 6 seconds
- Ginger Nut, 32 second, 3 seconds
- Fig Roll, 38 seconds, 4 seconds
- Chocolate Digestive, 41 seconds, 4 seconds
- Digestive, 48 seconds, 5 seconds
- Chocolate Hob No, 51 second, 9 seconds
- Rich Tea, 58 seconds, 4 seconds
- Custard Cream, 1 minute 6 seconds, 8 seconds
- Jammie Dodger, 1 minute 8 seconds, 8 seconds
- Shortbread, 1 minute 20 seconds, 11 seconds
- Bourbon, 2 minutes 39 seconds, 7 seconds
The researchers then decided to carry out the same test with some less traditional biscuits, and here are the results:
- Oreo, 27 seconds, 3 seconds
- Nice, 18 seconds, 4 seconds
- Fruit Shortcake, 15 seconds, 4 seconds
- Party Rings, 58 seconds, 5 seconds
- Garibaldi, 15 seconds, 5 seconds
- Maryland Cookie, 21 seconds, 6 seconds
- Chocolate Digestive Thins, 1 minute 5 seconds, 7 seconds
Previous studies into the very important matter have, however, drawn different conclusions.
In a 2004 study, the rich tea was crowned champion, but a 2009 survey of 3,000 people claimed the chocolate digestive took the top spot.
There’s only one thing for it: eating a lot of biscuits.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments