Here are the items I received in this month’s box:

Alpen Protein Berries & Yoghurt and Chocolate

I was dissatisfied to see that the wrapper of the Berries & Yoghurt bar had torn open and the bar itself was slightly damaged, so I reported this to Degusta Box. They apologised and said they’d send me another one of these bars with my next box as well as award me with 5 Degusta Points, which brought the total to 100 and led me to get a box for free. Despite their apology, they sent me an extra triple pack of Hartley’s Strawberry Jelly in my October 2019 box probably my mistake, so I contacted them about this. They said they’d send me two extra Alpen bars in my November box. Unfortunately when I received my November 2019 box, I found two packets of Milkybar Buttons (also in this month’s box) and two Kit Kat Senses bars. When I contacted Degusta Box about this, they told me that the Alpen bars were out of stock and they would refund me the cost of the bars as well as give me an additional £2.00 discount to my Degusta Box account.

Despite the Berries & Yoghurt bar being damaged, I liked the chewy texture of this bar as well as the sweetness of the berries while the yoghurt coating had a bit of a sour aftertaste.

The chocolate one had a chocolate half-coating, but it wasn’t overly chocolatey.

Rating: 8/10 for the Berries & Yoghurt variety, 7/10 for the Chocolate variety

Gran Gallo Arborio Risotto Rice

Risotto is one of my favourite dishes to cook, so I was content to receive this rice in my box. I made a sausage, bacon, mushroom and tomato risotto with this rice and some pork stock and it was delicious. The box came with a recipe for Pea and Marinated Cherry Tomato Risotto on the reverse of the items list and I gave the recipe a try myself; however I didn’t use anchovies because I don’t like them and I replaced them with chorizo. The recipe turned out very well, but I added some tweaks such as mushy peas instead of making purée from half the fresh or frozen peas as stated in the recipe, vegetarian Italian hard cheese instead of Grana Padano, frozen garlic instead of fresh garlic, non-alcoholic white wine (Eisberg Sauvignon Blanc) and hard boiled egg on top because it needed to be used by the day after I made the risotto.

Rating (for the rice): 10/10

Lucozade Zero Orange 1 Litre

A 500ml bottle of the original Lucozade Orange was included in the April 2018 Degusta Box, so I was pleased to find a bigger bottle of the Zero version in this month’s box. The Zero version tasted similar to the original Lucozade Orange albeit less sweet.

Rating: 8/10

Eisberg Alcohol Free Sparkling Rosé

After having already received the Eiseberg Sauvignon Blanc Alcohol Free Wine in a small bottle in My June 2017 Degusta Box, I was intrigued to find a bigger bottle of the rosé in this month’s box. When I first tasted this rosé, it was an acquired taste, but I liked it more with each sip.

Rating: 7/10

Very Lazy Garlic Paste

I have used garlic paste/purée in the past and I’ve heard of the Very Lazy brand. It is a quick and versatile way to add flavour to my meals. The first dish I have used this in was the cooking YouTuber Barry Lewis’s One Pot Chicken Pesto Pasta (see below for video) and I was very satisfied with how the meal turned out.

Rating: 10/10

Nestlé Milkybar Buttons

Milkybar is my favourite kind of cheaper white chocolate and I hadn’t had their original Milkybar Buttons for a while ( I normally buy the Milkybar Giant Buttons), therefore I was pleased to find two packets in my box. The original Milkybar Buttons had the same amount sweetness and creaminess as the Giant ones. What caught my eye was that the bags had QR codes on them that link consumers to 80 Awesome Things to Do. One QR code took me to a game of Stuck in the Mud that I loved playing when I was a child while the other took me to instructions for tree bark crayon rubbings, which is what I also loved doing when I was younger.

Rating: 10/10

Chum Bites Berry and Peach

I have already tried the Strawberry and Apple varieties from my March 2019 box. Out of the two varieties in this month’s box, my favourite was the Peach. While they had a strong yet realistic peach flavour, the Berry ones tasted more like apple and I could hardly taste any berries in them.

Rating: 10/10 for the Peach variety, 7/10 for the Berry variety

Appy Kids Co Yummy Bakes Raspberry

These remind me very much of Go Ahead! Fruit Bakes as well as the small cartons of whole milk from my February 2019 box. The bakes part itself has a lovely sweet and buttery taste, but the raspberry filling has a slight tang and its flavour could have been stronger.

Rating: 7/10

Boka Choco Mallow and Caramel Cereal Bars

The Caramel bar had a sweet and prominent caramel flavour. The Choco Mallow one had a bit more of a floral taste, probably due to the mallow element. While I liked the taste of the caramel more, I also liked the chewy texture of both bars.

Rating: 9/10 for the Caramel variety, 7/10 for the Choco Mallow variety.

Hartley’s Strawberry Jelly

I have had Hartley’s Strawberry Jelly in the past albeit in different forms from the ready-to-eat jelly in pots. Like the strawberry Jelly Squeeze from the previous month’s Degusta Box, the Hartley’s Strawberry Jelly had a slightly artificial taste when eaten straight from the pot at room temperature.

Rating: 7/10

Epicure Chermoula Pesto

This is the one item I didn’t try because I was worried it would be too spicy for me, so I donated it to my local food bank.

Pact Coffee and Coupon Code

The box also came with a coupon code for Pact Coffee to get £5.00 off my first subscription plan. I went for decaffeinated ground coffee for my cafetière and I chose to have it delivered every two weeks (the coffee comes in letterbox-sized pouches), but I cancelled  my subscription after receiving two different varieties of ground decaf (one pack of the first variety, two packs of the second) because I don’t drink coffee that often. The first variety I received was Decaf el Rincon from Guatemala that has notes of baked pear, raisin and milk chocolate. Despite the claim of the taste notes, I couldn’t taste any of them because my coffee tasted a bit burnt; however its normal coffee taste was still there. My second coffee variety is called Decaf Asomuprisma from Colombia. It has hints of dark chocolate and candied citrus fruits. The Decaf Asomuprisma had an initial acidic taste, but afterwards I could detect its normal taste and I could smell the candies citrus fruit notes. This was slightly better than the Decaf el Rincon and it was great when it was cooled down and mixed with milk and Cadbury Choc Shake powder the next day. Even though I cancelled my subscription, there is still the option to make one-off purchases of Pact Coffee online.

Rating: 7/10 for the Decaf el Rincon, 7.5/10 for the Decaf Asomuprisma.

In conclusion, this box is a notch above the previous month’s box. My favourite items were the risotto rice, the Very Lazy Garlic Paste, the Milkybar Buttons, the peach Chum Bites and the Boka Caramel cereal bar.

Overall rating for the products I have tried including the Pact Coffee that wasn’t included in the box: 121.5/130

Degusta Box U.K. website: https://www.degustabox.com/en/

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored blog post. All opinions expressed are my own.