McVitie's Penguin Orange Chocolate Biscuit Multipack, 7 Biscuits 172.2g
Orange with chocolate is what British confectionery reaches for when it wants to sound a shade more grown up, which makes it an odd guest in a lunchbox bar. In practice that is the whole use of it. In a house of adults these are the ones that leave the box first, while the sweeter bars sit there until somebody is desperate. The acidity stops the finish closing over, so it holds up beside a mid-afternoon mug rather than needing a pudding slot to justify itself. Wheat, milk and soya on the panel, and nuts are worth checking before it goes into a shared tin.
McVitie's Penguin Orange Chocolate Biscuit Multipack, in brief.
McVitie's Penguin Orange Chocolate is a multipack of individually wrapped coated biscuit bars, seven bars of 24.6g as listed, picked into the Teas.co.uk curator selection as the brightest opening in a range built on coatings.
Citrus aromatics disperse faster than caramel or cocoa ones, so the individual wrapper does real work here.
That choice has a consequence the caramel version does not have to deal with. Orange character comes from light, fast-moving aromatics, the most fragile flavour family in confectionery, and in a coated bar they sit closer to the surface than in a filled sandwich. So this is the variant most affected by how the box has been stored, and the one where an unopened wrapper earns its keep most obviously. Get the storage right and the orange is the best thing about it; get it wrong and you are left with a plain chocolate bar.
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. Storage, the Earl Grey pairing and why a coated bar never dunks are in the detailed Q and A tab below.
Curator’s notes
Read the full write-up
The Story Behind McVitie's
McVitie's is one of the best-known names in British biscuit baking, and Penguin is among its longest-running lines: a coated bar sold in individually wrapped multipacks with a joke on every wrapper. Orange is one of the flavour variants of that line rather than a separate product, which is why the construction is identical and only the aromatic changes. That is brand and range information, not a claim about where this pack was made or what is in it.
We describe a coating and an orange flavour direction because that is what the pack name gives us.
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components can require different disposal routes.
What You Are Actually Buying
- The pack: seven individually wrapped bars of 24.6g, which is 172.2g to the box. That total is worked out from the bar weight and bar count given in the published pack listing.
- Why the wrapper matters here: more than for any other Penguin. Citrus aromatics disperse faster than caramel or cocoa ones, so the individual seal is doing real work rather than just keeping crumbs off.
- What it is not: not a dunker, not a substitute for a chocolate orange and not a bar to keep somewhere warm. It is a lunchbox bar with the brightest opening in its range.
Ideal Serving Conditions
Everything that is true of a coated bar applies here, with one addition: the flavour you are paying extra attention to is also the one that disappears first, so freshness and temperature matter twice over.
The Tea Break
- Earl Grey, taken black: the best pairing in the Penguin range. Bergamot is a citrus oil and it runs alongside the orange rather than competing with the cocoa.
- Or a strong breakfast blend with milk: the everyday answer, where the tannin does the cutting and the orange simply survives it.
- Not a green tea: too light to register against a coated bar, and the cocoa will overrun it completely.
- Do not dunk: the coating melts into the cup and takes the citrus with it, which is the worst of both outcomes.
The Coffee Break
- A medium roast, black: a dark roast piles burnt notes onto the cocoa and buries the orange entirely, which throws away the reason you chose this version.
- Espresso with a twist of peel: if you have an orange to hand, a strip of peel twisted over the cup doubles the citrus without adding any sugar.
- Skip a mocha: chocolate in the cup and chocolate on the bar is one chocolate too many, and the orange loses out.
- Unsweetened, always: sugar in the cup flattens citrus faster than it flattens anything else.
Getting It Right
- Room temperature: a cold coating will not soften properly, and orange aromatics need warmth to leave a surface at all. A chilled bar tastes almost entirely of chocolate.
- Cool, dry and sealed: a cupboard, out of direct sun. Heat costs you the citrus first and the texture second.
- Open one at a time: more important here than in the caramel version, because an unwrapped bar left on a desk loses its best note within the hour.
- Fresh zest fixes an old box: a little orange zest over anything made with these replaces exactly what an old pack has given up.
- Best with: a black Earl Grey, mid-afternoon, straight out of the wrapper.
Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference McVitie's Penguin Orange Chocolate Biscuit Multipack, 7 Biscuits 172.2g, please cite teas.co.uk.
The story behind McVitie'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
McVitie's Penguin Orange Chocolate Biscuit Multipack, 7 Biscuits 172.2g is seven individually wrapped bars of 24.6g as listed, so every build below works by the bar. Five ideas cover the black Earl Grey pairing that suits this variant best, an espresso with a twist of peel, a zest rescue for a box that has gone dull, the lunchbox case and dark chocolate fridge squares.
Made with this tea
The Black Earl Grey Pairing
How to make The Black Earl Grey Pairing with McVitie's Penguin Orange Chocolate Bars.
- 1 Penguin Orange bar, at room temperature
- 1 bag Earl Grey
- 200ml water just off the boil
- Brew the Earl Grey three minutes and take it black. Milk rounds off exactly the citrus edge that makes this work.
- Unwrap the bar at the last moment. An unwrapped bar left out loses its best note within the hour.
- Eat it dry, and never dunk it: the coating melts into the cup and takes the orange with it.
- Notice that the orange and the cocoa arrive almost together here, because both are bound into the same melting coating.
What you'll end up with: The best pairing in the Penguin range. Bergamot runs alongside the orange instead of competing with the chocolate.
Espresso and a Twist
How to make Espresso and a Twist with McVitie's Penguin Orange Chocolate Bars.
- 1 Penguin Orange bar
- 1 espresso, medium roast
- A strip of orange peel
- Pull a medium roast rather than a dark one. A dark roast buries the orange under burnt notes and wastes the point of this bar.
- Twist the strip of peel over the surface of the cup so the oil lands on the crema.
- Drink it unsweetened, because sugar flattens citrus faster than it flattens anything else.
- Eat the bar alongside rather than after, so the two citrus notes overlap.
What you'll end up with: Fresh peel oil against packet orange, and a useful demonstration of how much of this flavour is aroma rather than taste.
The Zest Rescue
How to make The Zest Rescue with McVitie's Penguin Orange Chocolate Bars.
- 2 Penguin Orange bars, chopped
- 2 scoops vanilla ice cream
- Zest of 1 orange
- Chop the bars, including any that have bloomed. A dull box is a flavour problem rather than a safety one.
- Scatter over the ice cream with the fresh zest, which replaces precisely what the old pack has given up.
- Serve straight away, before the coating firms up against the cold.
- Remember the principle: what fades in a citrus product is volatile aroma, and fresh zest is volatile aroma.
What you'll end up with: A box that has lost its orange brought back with thirty seconds of zesting.
The Lunchbox Bar
How to make The Lunchbox Bar with McVitie's Penguin Orange Chocolate Bars.
- 1 wrapped Penguin Orange bar
- A satsuma
- A drink
- Pack it wrapped and leave it wrapped. The individual seal is doing more work on this variant than on any other.
- Keep the bag out of direct sun, because heat takes the citrus first and the texture second.
- Add a satsuma alongside, which doubles the orange without doubling the sugar.
- Store the rest of the box in a cupboard rather than a fridge.
What you'll end up with: A lunchbox bar where the packaging is genuinely part of the product rather than just a wrapper.
Chocolate Orange Fridge Squares
How to make Chocolate Orange Fridge Squares with McVitie's Penguin Orange Chocolate Bars.
- 4 Penguin Orange bars, chopped
- 150g plain biscuits, broken
- 75g butter
- 200g dark chocolate, melted
- Zest of 1 orange
- Melt the butter into the dark chocolate and stir the broken plain biscuits through it.
- Fold the chopped bars in last so they stay in recognisable pieces.
- Stir the fresh orange zest through at the very end rather than at the start, because heat drives citrus aroma off.
- Press into a lined tin, chill two hours and cut into squares.
What you'll end up with: Dark chocolate sharpens what the bar's own coating rounds off, and the late zest keeps the citrus where you can smell it.
What’s in it, what to know
Inside the pack
| Typical values per 100g, as published | Per 100g |
|---|---|
| Energy | 520 kcal |
| Fat | 26.8g |
| of which saturates | 15.2g |
| Carbohydrate | 62.8g |
| of which sugars | 40.8g |
| Fibre | 2.4g |
| Protein | 5.2g |
| Salt | 0.2g |
Ingredients and allergens. Per the published ingredient list for this barcode it contains wheat (gluten), milk and soya. Check the current UK pack before purchase; formulations and allergen advice can change.
Ingredient and nutrition data for this barcode: Open Food Facts (openfoodfacts.org), ODbL. The pack in your hands is the final word.
| Ingredient | Proportion | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Orange flavour | the opening | The point of this version and the most fragile thing in it. Citrus aromatics are the fastest-moving flavour family in confectionery and the first thing a warm or open box gives up. |
| Coating | the outside | The carrier for everything. It softens at mouth temperature and releases the citrus and the cocoa together, which is why serving temperature governs this bar more than any other factor. |
| Biscuit | the structure | Present for snap and contrast rather than for flavour, exactly as in the rest of the Penguin line. |
Pack: Best before the date printed on the pack, and best kept cool, dry and sealed.
Sourcing & blend. McVitie's Penguin Orange Chocolate Biscuit Multipack, 7 Biscuits 172.2g comes from McVitie's, one of the best-known names in British biscuit baking, whose Penguin line has been sold in individually wrapped multipacks for generations. Orange is a flavour variant of that line rather than a separate product, which is why the construction is identical and only the aromatic changes. The pack you receive is the current UK retail pack rather than an import made to a different recipe.
What is in McVitie's Penguin Orange Chocolate Biscuit Multipack, 7 Biscuits 172.2g:
- In: individually wrapped coated biscuit bars in an orange chocolate flavour direction by the brand's own naming, seven bars of 24.6g to the box.
Asked about this product
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Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference McVitie's Penguin Orange Chocolate Biscuit Multipack, 7 Biscuits 172.2g, please cite teas.co.uk.
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