Nothing goes better with a cup of tea than a chocolate digestive biscuit, but with a packet of McVitie’s setting you back £2.25 at the checkout, they aren’t the cheapest of sweet treats.

With that in mind, I wanted to find out if a cheap pack of digestive biscuits was just as good as the well-known McVitie’s brand, so I headed down to the supermarkets to find out. I shopped from Aldi, Lidl, Asda, Morrisons, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, M&S and Waitrose. I judged the biscuits on taste, texture, amount of chocolate and dunking factor (how nicely the biscuit holds when being dunked into a cup of tea).

McVitie’s

Starting off with the iconic McVitie's chocolate digestives, they are the most expensive out of the bunch, and the brand is known for its high-quality products.

I found the biscuit had a sweet yet subtle taste to it. The biscuit melted in your mouth, and the dunking factor was on point. When dipped into tea, the biscuit got moist pretty quickly, yet still retained its shape.

I was disappointed with how much these biscuits lacked a crunch, but the taste was enjoyable.

Rating: 6.5/10

Sainsbury’s 

I very much liked these chocolate digestives from Sainsbury’s that retail for £1.25. It tasted very rich and buttery, and quite luxurious - even more so than McVities.

The biscuit had a great crunch, however, I did find them a bit too sweet for my liking.

Rating: 7.5/10

Tesco 

Right from the off, I could see that the tops of these 80p biscuits were not coated well with chocolate.

The biscuit itself had a much crumblier texture than the rest, and didn’t hold steady when dunked into a cup of tea.

I didn’t quite like the chocolate and found it left a rather strange aftertaste.

Rating: 4/10

Asda 

There was also a nice smell when you opened the pack and a satisfying crunch to the biscuit from Asda, coming in at 89p.

However, the chocolate was not evenly covered - there were patches of no chocolate on the biscuits.

Rating: 7/10

Aldi 

When it comes to cheaper alternatives to expensive brands, Aldi has been a go-to for me. It’s hard to find another supermarket that offers the same quality of products at a cheap price.

I decided to see if their 89p chocolate digestives could measure up. After biting into a biscuit, I was pleasantly surprised.

There was a thick chocolate layer, more generous than McVities. It was also much sweeter, and the biscuit was mild, which emphasised the chocolate flavour.

It was smaller in size than the others. But apart from that, this makes for a great alternative.

Rating: 9/10

Lidl 

When looking at the design of Lidl’s 89p biscuits compared to the other supermarkets, it was noticeably similar to Aldi’s.

When taking the first bite, the biscuit broke into several pieces and was very dusty. The chocolate was not even, and the biscuit itself was too sweet.

Rating: 7/10

Waitrose

Considering the price of the pack I picked up from Waitrose being the same price as Sainsbury’s, I was disappointed with these.

The immediate downfall of these was that I could see the digestive part through the chocolate on the back of the biscuit, meaning they had not been very generous when adding it.

For £1.25, I was expecting more chocolate than biscuit. This explained why the taste of the biscuit lacked in sweetness compared to the rest.

Rating: 4/10

M&S

Marks and Spencer is known for its quality products, and is usually much pricier compared to other supermarket brands. With a higher price tag matching Sainsbury’s and Waitrose, I wanted to see how the taste and quality compare.

There was a good amount of chocolate coating the biscuits, and it had a good dunking factor, in that the biscuit stayed intact when dipped.

I didn’t very much like the taste of the biscuit and found it rather underwhelming. It couldn’t compete with most of the brands above.

Rating: 5.5/10

Morrisons 

As I went to take a bite, I could smell it more than the others - the sweet aroma of milk chocolate drifted before I could taste it.

The biscuit has a lot of flavour, it’s got the sweet yet salty combination right. The chocolate on it was nice, but I did find it a little grainy.

Rating: 8/10

Verdict 

I was surprised as to how the high-end supermarket brands did not fare that well. I was also surprised at the taste of Tesco chocolate digestives, as I thought I'd score them much higher.

There was a clear winner out of the lot. Aldi came out on top, and as one of the cheapest digestive biscuit brands compared to the others, that is a great bargain.