Christmas is just around the corner and many people will now be getting their gifts organised as well as starting to think about the food shop. But before that, people's minds may have turned to another festive menu, other than their own.
A number of restaurants, cafes and shops will have their own take on Christmas classics by putting stuffing, turkey and sausages into sandwiches or coming up with winter drinks and Costa is of course among them.
So with Christmas nearing and Costa's menu having been released, we wanted to taste test some of their popular menu items. Here's what we thought
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To warm us up and kick start the working day, we went for their 'Terry's Chocolate Orange® Hot Chocolate' which you can get with alternative milk if you wish.
Describing the festive drink they say: "Our signature Hot Chocolate, flavoured with bespoke orange syrup, topped with glittery sprinkle."
The drink was strong when it came to the chocolate orange taste but not overly sweet to the point we couldn't finish it which was great. We went for the larger size which cost us £4.70 and although slightly pricy given this didn't include whipped cream, a flake, marshmallows or alternative milk. So, it gets full marks.
Next up was Costa's Pigs under Blankets Panini.
The description reads: "Succulent pork sausage with maple cured bacon, pork, sage and onion stuffing and sweet cranberry sauce in a stonebaked sourdough panini."
This cost us £5.45 and we would rate this a seven out of 10. The bread, whilst nice and toasted, was rather dry and the lack of cranberry sauce didn't help. As you can see it was spread on very thin to the point you couldn't taste it.
The stuffing was the same and it felt as though you were just having a sausage and bacon panini with a slight taste of stuffing and cranberry sauce every now and again.
We also opted for the Burts Limited Edition Maple Pigs In Blankets crisps costing us £1.50 which were strong in favour but nothing special. They tasted like bacon crisps that you could pick up in the supermarket however they were thick and tasted like good quality crisps bringing them to a score of 8/10.
Last on our lists of items to try was their Crispy Festive Wreath which cost £2.85.
This is a "crispy base made with dark chocolate and caramel, topped with white chocolate and decorated with edible decorations" which we would give full marks too.
It's not overly sweet and isn't hard to eat and is in fact surprisingly soft to bite into making it a great treat for many people who don't like treats that are difficult to eat.
Overall the menu is great but not one that impressed us too much. Despite this we would return to try the rest but maybe avoid the panni in future!
Have you tried Costa's Christmas menu yet? Which items did you enjoy and which would you rather see cut from the festive menu?
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