Arnott's Tim Tam 9 x Original Chocolatey Biscuit Bars, 163g
Britain files this with the wafer bars, and that is the wrong shelf. What sits between the layers of chocolate here is biscuit, baked and crisp, which is why one is a proper stop where a wafer bar is mostly air and gone before it registers. Australian households keep the packet in the fridge, and there is sense in that: cold, the bar snaps clean and the coating stays where it was put, which is not how it behaves out of a cupboard in July. The marks it loses are almost all about sweetness, and they come from buyers who picked it up expecting a biscuit to show a biscuit's restraint. It has none, and has never claimed any. This is the wheat bake, so wheat and dairy are both in it, and the gluten-free Tim Tam is a separate box rather than the same bar relabelled.
Arnott's Tim Tam 9 x Original Chocolatey Biscuit Bars, in brief.
Arnott's Tim Tam 9 x Original Chocolatey Biscuit Bars is nine fully coated chocolate sandwich bars, 163g in the pack, picked into the Teas.co.uk curator selection as the occasion biscuit and the one built for the Tim Tam Slam.
Two biscuit layers, a filling between them and chocolate over every surface rather than one face, so chocolate leads every bite. This is the conventional wheat bake, which holds a fraction longer in a hot drink than the gluten-free version does.
This is the original, which on a British tea shelf means the conventional wheat bake rather than the gluten-free one. The distinction is worth making because it changes the timing of the thing this biscuit is famous for. Gluten is a protein network and in a wheat biscuit it provides a good deal of the strength that lets a thin layer hold its shape under heat and moisture. The original therefore holds together a little longer under a hot drink than a gluten-free bake does, which matters for about four seconds and matters a great deal during those four seconds.
Curator notes: the tasting profile is our own editorial assessment against the current pack format and the brand's published description. We run same-day UK dispatch on every order placed before 2pm Monday to Friday. The Slam technique, storage and chocolate bloom are covered in the detailed Q and A tab below.
Curator’s notes
Read the full write-up
The Story Behind Arnott's
Arnott's is an Australian biscuit maker of long standing and the Tim Tam is its best-known product by a wide margin. What matters on a British tea site is that this particular biscuit comes attached to a drinking ritual. The Tim Tam Slam involves biting off two opposite corners, dipping one into a hot drink and drawing through the other as through a straw until the filling melts from the inside. That is not a marketing line written for this listing; it is how a great many Australians actually eat one, and it is the single best use for this biscuit.
The ingredient list, the full allergen advice, any certification marks, the country of origin and the best-before date are on the pack itself.
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components can require different disposal routes.
What You Are Actually Buying
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Count: 9 bars, the number carried in the product name and the figure behind every calculation on this page.
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Weight: 163g net across the nine, which is about 18g each, worked out from the net weight.
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The build: two biscuit layers, a filling between them, chocolate over the whole assembly. Not a coated biscuit; a coated sandwich.
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What it is not: not an everyday biscuit for a tin, not a sharing pack, and not something to leave in a warm room. Nine bars is a fortnight, not an afternoon.
Getting It Right in the Cup
- Serve cool: the coating is what holds the sandwich together, so a warm bar is softer and messier. Ten minutes somewhere cool, or twenty in the fridge in summer.
- Store sealed: cool, dry and out of direct sun, and keep the tray flat.
- Bloom: chocolate that warms and re-sets goes pale and streaky. Safe to eat, and it costs you the gloss and the snap permanently.
- Best with: mid-afternoon, one at a time, and a brew strong enough to keep up.
Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Arnott's Tim Tam 9 x Original Chocolatey Biscuit Bars, 163g, please cite teas.co.uk.
The story behind Arnott's
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components can require different disposal routes.
Our commitment to the planet
Sourcing and packaging details are printed on the current UK pack; the brand page carries the fuller story.
The taste profile
How does it compare
A weak cup is not merely a missed opportunity here, it leaves everything sitting on the palate.
The Tim Tam Slam
The Ordinary Afternoon
Made with this tea
The Tim Tam Slam
How to make The Tim Tam Slam with Arnott's Tim Tam Original.
- 1 Tim Tam, kept cool
- 1 mug strong black tea or black coffee
- 200ml water just off the boil
- Brew the drink black. A milky drink does not travel through the bar as cleanly, and this is one job where milk is a hindrance.
- Bite two opposite corners off on the diagonal, taking just enough to open both ends.
- Dip one corner and draw through the other as through a straw, for three to four seconds. The conventional wheat bake gives you slightly longer than a gluten-free one would.
- Eat the whole bar at once, before the coating lets go.
What you'll end up with: The filling melted from the inside while the coating still holds.
The Ordinary Afternoon Pairing
How to make The Ordinary Afternoon Pairing with Arnott's Tim Tam Original.
- 1 Tim Tam
- 1 bag assam or strong everyday black tea
- 200ml water just off the boil
- A splash of milk
- Brew one bag in 200ml for a full four minutes. Anything shorter leaves the chocolate sitting on the palate.
- Add a splash of milk and no sugar at all.
- Take one bar from a cool cupboard so the coating breaks rather than smears.
- Stop at one. Two in a row flattens the palate for whatever follows.
What you'll end up with: The everyday version, where the tea is doing the work the Slam does with heat. A black Americano is the better option if the tea pairing reads as too sweet.
Frozen Tim Tams
How to make Frozen Tim Tams with Arnott's Tim Tam Original.
- The whole 163g pack
- An airtight box
- Strong black coffee to serve
- Transfer the bars into an airtight box, flat and in a single layer, so the coating does not pick up freezer smells.
- Freeze for at least two hours.
- Eat straight from the freezer. The filling firms to something closer to fudge and the sweetness reads lower when it is cold.
- Serve with a hot black coffee for the contrast.
What you'll end up with: A different biscuit entirely, and the best hot-weather use for the pack. The coating snaps cleanly instead of yielding.
Tim Tam Milkshake
How to make Tim Tam Milkshake with Arnott's Tim Tam Original.
- 3 Tim Tams
- 300ml cold milk
- 3 scoops vanilla ice cream
- A pinch of salt
- Break two bars into the blender with the milk and ice cream.
- Blend for twenty seconds only. Longer and it turns to a uniform brown sludge with no texture left in it.
- Add a pinch of salt, which keeps a very sweet drink from being flat.
- Crumble the third bar over the top and drink it at once.
What you'll end up with: Thick, very sweet and worth the salt. Use cold milk straight from the fridge or the ice cream melts before it blends.
No-Bake Tim Tam Slice
How to make No-Bake Tim Tam Slice with Arnott's Tim Tam Original.
- 6 Tim Tams, roughly chopped
- 100g butter
- 200g dark chocolate
- Flaked salt to finish
- A 20cm tin, lined
- Chop the bars into rough pieces rather than crumbs; the layers and the filling are the texture you are paying for.
- Melt the butter and dark chocolate together over a low heat and take the pan off before it is fully smooth.
- Fold the chopped bars through and press into the lined tin.
- Scatter flaked salt over and chill for two hours before cutting. Dark chocolate and salt are both there to stop the slice being sugar on sugar.
What you'll end up with: A rich slice with recognisable pieces of biscuit through it. Cut it smaller than you think; this is not a traybake anyone finishes a large square of.
What’s in it, what to know
Inside the pack
| Typical values per 100g, as published | Per 100g |
|---|---|
| Energy | 525 kcal |
| Fat | 26.9g |
| of which saturates | 15g |
| Carbohydrate | 65.7g |
| of which sugars | 45.5g |
| Fibre | 1.6g |
| Protein | 4.2g |
| Salt | 0.3g |
Ingredients and allergens. Per the published ingredient list for this barcode it contains wheat (gluten), milk, soya and sulphites. Check the current UK pack before purchase; formulations and allergen advice can change.
Ingredients, as published for this barcode: Sugar, Fortified Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Palm Oil (Contains Soy), Whole Milk Powder, Cocoa Butter, Cocoa Mass, Partially Inverted Refiners Syrup, Colours (Ammonia Caramel, Beetroot Red, Cochineal), Vegetable Fats (Shea and/or Sal), Starch (Wheat), Milk Fat, Raising Agents (Ammonium Bicarbonate, Sodium Bicarbonate), Cocoa Powder (0.3%), Emulsifiers (Soy Lecithins, E476), Salt, Flavouring, Flour Treatment Agent (E223 (Sulphites)).
Ingredient and nutrition data for this barcode: Open Food Facts (openfoodfacts.org), ODbL. The pack in your hands is the final word.
| Component | Proportion | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Chocolate coating | See current pack | The dominant element and the structural skin. It wraps every surface rather than one face, so chocolate leads every bite, and it is what holds the three-part sandwich together until heat gets to it. |
| Filling | See current pack | Softness and richness between the two layers, and the reason an 18g bar eats heavier than an 18g plain biscuit. It is also what melts from the inside during a Slam. |
| Biscuit layers | See current pack | Structure. This is the conventional wheat bake, so the layers hold their shape under pressure and give a slightly longer window under hot liquid than a gluten-free version would. |
| Format | 9 bars, 163g net | About 18g a bar, worked out from the count in the product name rather than a figure from the pack. |
Pack: Arnott's Tim Tam 9 x Original Chocolatey Biscuit Bars, 163g; nine fully coated chocolate sandwich bars. Store cool, dry, sealed and out of direct sunlight, and keep the tray flat. Read the ingredient list, the full allergen advice, the nutrition panel, any certification marks and the best-before date off the current UK pack.
Characterising components shown.
The Tim Tam is a three-part construction rather than a single bake: two biscuit layers, a filling between them and a chocolate coating over the whole assembly. That construction is what makes it the subject of a national drinking ritual, the Tim Tam Slam, in which the opposite corners are bitten off and the bar is used as a straw until the filling melts from the inside. It is an established practice rather than a line written for this listing, and it is the best single use for the product.
What's in Arnott's Tim Tam 9 x Original Chocolatey Biscuit Bars, 163g, and what isn't:
- In: nine chocolate-coated sandwich bars with a filling between two biscuit layers, 163g in the pack.
- The original bake: conventional rather than gluten free, which is the difference that gives a slightly longer window in a Slam.
- Built for the Slam, not for dunking: drawing hot liquid through the bar works where submerging it does not.
- Packaging: follow the current UK pack and your local-authority guidance; the outer pack and any inner tray or film can take different disposal routes.
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Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Arnott's Tim Tam 9 x Original Chocolatey Biscuit Bars, 163g, please cite teas.co.uk.
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