(cracking and sizzling) (air whooshing)
(doorbell ringing) (paper ripping)
(lively music) - Hello, and welcome back to Sorted Food. - Now, as the world of food and drink becomes more and more convenient, we thought we'd test a
bunch of food subscriptions to see if they're worth signing up. - Or if they simply don't make the cut. - You can't start with the puns already, we haven't even got into it yet. - [Barry] We're going strong. (upbeat music) - Ta-da. - Perky Blenders Specialty Coffee. A coffee subscription? - [Ben] Yeah, Jay, this
is coffee subscription from Perky Blenders. "Perky Blenders send
coffee through the post to keep everyone nicely caffeinated." - [Jamie] That to me, stands out. I'd love to learn more about coffee, but it's the same with
anything that we do. We don't wanna become snobby
or pretentious about it. We just wanna be able to enjoy something and have a bit more knowledge about it. - [Ben] These guys have won Indy's Best Coffee Subscription Service. Recently it won two Time Out
Awards as best coffee place within three London postcodes. We've been signed up for a couple of weeks so we've got a few different flavours. We've also got a forest blend, and we got thousand hills. All different tasting notes
from different origins, and it's a bit of a lucky dip. Yes, you choose the grind but they will mix up the flavours. - Wow. Let's give 'em a go. (upbeat music) - [Ben] So Perky Blenders
is a couple of brothers who set it up. They started by just selling
coffee out of a cart. Then they expanded to supply
coffee to a few coffee shops and a few kinds of artisanal places. And now they've realised their expertise can actually be delivered to your door. And I think that's in part because of the changing
habits of the last year or so. More people working from home, and more people upping
their coffee game at home. - Let's go for the sour blend first. Cheers. (upbeat music) - Oh. - Rich. - It's very nice. - [Jamie] Very, very nice. There's a smokiness to it but
not like a burny smokiness. - I am getting the
sourness from it as well. - I get sour not smoke. - [Jamie] And this is the forest blend. (upbeat music) - [Barry] Oh, okay. - That's more you.
- Yeah. - That is chocolate.
- [Barry] Yeah. - That is big time chocolate. - Really smooth. - They're very different from each other, but not in a way that makes me go "I prefer one over the other." - They are noticeably different in terms of their broad flavour profiles. I don't know if I could
pick out plumb or cranberry or chocolate or whatever
the other one was. However, both really good
and both quite different. - I never do this with coffee though. - [Ben] No, and that's- - And that's a thing that
I find really interesting. - Isn't that kind of the
point of a subscription? You are educating yourself as much as you are just
feeding your pleasures. - To potentially pay a little bit more but have some more
knowledge about what it is that I'm drinking. Know that it's ethically sourced and know that it's doing all
the right things and I'm... I'm improving myself and
my knowledge and things. I think that's a good thing. - So in that case, how much? Subscription through your letterbox. Biodegradable, well-sourced,
freshly roasted and curated. - I reckon £10 per bag. Three months, £30? Oh no, you're doing a face. I can't tell whether I'm an, it's an under-face or an over-face. - That's quite an over-face. - [Jamie] Oh really?
- You can have three bags, one a month, for 19.50. So it's £6.50 a bag.
- [Jamie] Cool. Okay, I'm happy with that 'cause it takes a decision out of my hands in terms of what do I get? Have I got that one before? Or oh, I don't know. Did I like that one? You know, it doesn't matter. Send me stuff and it's gonna be new and
interesting every time. - In which case Jay, worth the grind or would you leave it behind? - This is worth the grind. I reckon I'll probably sign
up tonight when I get home. (upbeat music) - Your turn Baz, lift the cloth. (upbeat music) - Oh, you know what I'm gonna say? - Oh, he's done it already, he's done it. What's the point? - These guys are pretty early to the, kind of food subscription box game. And I was intrigued by
the idea at the start. - [Ben] This is an
artisan pasta recipe kit from Pasta Evangelists. And they say that pasta
makes everything feel better so why not make pasta taste better? Inspired by a simple mission to bring the freshness and
quality of the style of pasta he grew up making, the founder, with his nona in Italy
to our British kitchens. So you can pick and choose
the frequency of delivery, and whether you want single
portion or double portion. We've given you two
boxes of single portion. So you got four times one portion. So we can see the variety - Why I guess I'll just
start cooking something, shouldn't I really.
- Deal. - To test this fairly, I was gonna try three
very different dishes. There's a lasagna, which
all we do is cardboard off, plastic off, into the oven. (shouts) It's always impossible!. (chuckles loudly) Into the oven for 15 minutes. The others I'm gonna
try is the tortelloni, is the most extravagant of them all. Lobster, is something that
I wouldn't cook midweek, but this looks really easy
and could tempt me in. The other is carbonara. Something that I can
make with my eyes closed. - So for me, a carbonara
is absolutely one of those throw together meals. While the pasta's cooking, you're frying off
whatever your flavour is. Traditionally pancetta but it can be done with a number of other things. And then your source is egg
yolks, sometimes whole eggs depending on where you are. Parmesan and black pepper,
that's pretty much it. Use the pasta water and it all combines. This has got cream in it which I think helps to stabilise it, and helps to make it
even easier for at home. - [Jamie] But you would
get slapped around the face if you took this to Italy. - I'd have thought so. We've done it that way before and the comments had a go. (upbeat music) - [Barry] Yes!
- So out of interest, Baz. Which one did you sack off? - The only one I haven't, I'm not cooking right now is the ragù. 'Cause I think I know it's gonna be great. A ragù takes ages to make, and it's something that I
know I can't do at home, and I know that's gonna be amazing. - So every week there is a changing menu. A dozen, 15 or so different recipes. I'm sure there's favourites
that come and go. The menu gives you not just
the method, the ingredients, the allergens, obviously, but wine pairings and a
little bit about each dish. - [Jamie] Nice.
- [Ben] The region in Italy, and you kind of learn
bits and pieces as you go. (upbeat music) - Cheers.
- Cheers. - [Barry] Cheers. This is not gonna be pretty. (giggling)
(upbeat music) That is definitely luxurious. That is laced with a lot of
cream, very rich or naughty. - This feels also very naughty. It is a very rich, creamy, cheesy sauce. And I like it a lot. - Which makes it a trio because I'd say not
necessarily too rich actually but super, super, there's that word, depth of flavour and that
comes from the bisque and all the shells that
take forever to make if you're making your own bisque, 'cause that sauce is phenomenal and the fish is really fresh. - They're delicious. It's just for me, as a subscription, it doesn't quite make sense. - It's a bit different
to most subscriptions 'cause it's not a reoccurring price. You get 15 dishes to
choose from each week, of which you pick two. And depending which
dishes, the prices vary. - Okay.
- So the pasta carbonara, £7 for a single portion. You get a discount if you
do the double portion. It's not twice that, it's a bit less. Whereas the tortelloni with
the crab and the lobster and the prawn bisque, £11.50 for a single portion. No denying it's easy and it's convenient. And I think if you wanted to taste different regions of Italy, maybe once a month and
actually do the whole, get the wine to pair with it, explore the region, understand the region. Then it's quite a nice
way of curating that. For me, I don't get it as a subscription. I think it becomes very
expensive for the experience. This is purely good quality convenience. - [Jamie] Well, there's
only gonna be one question on everyone's lips, Baz.
- Yeah. - Is it pasta through the posty maybe, or is it pasta la vista, baby? - I (laughs), I think it's
pasta through the post, maybe. Because I'll just do it the once and then I might cancel that subscription. I love it as a treat. But I must stop there. - Ebber's in the hot seat. - [Barry] Lift it, boy. (laughing) - [Ben] Earth & Wheat. Crumpet. Focaccia. Seeded wraps. Wholemeal tortilla. Pancakes. - [Jamie] This is the Earth
& Wheat wonky bread box. In fact, they are the UK's
first wonky bread box, connecting UK bakeries
directly with customers looking to reduce food waste. They deliver perfectly tasty fresh bread that would otherwise have gone to waste due to appearance standards
or overproduction. - Straight off, not a
problem I considered. So I like the concept and the principle. - 24 million pieces of bread
are wasted in the UK every day. - That's 12 million sandwiches, Barry. (laughs) While Ebbers, it's bread, and we'd happily just eat
it, but you're a chef. So do you wanna rustle up some stuff to put with the bread
and then we'll try that? - Okay, I've raided the fridge and given what we've got in the box, few things I think we could do. - His version of raiding the fridge is very different from mine. - [Barry] Yeah, (laughs loudly) yeah. - Dairylea Dunkers and maybe
a three week old Babybel. - And some salad cream.
- And some salad cream. (laughing loudly) - [Ben] What a nightmare. - [Jamie] Have you spotted anything wrong with any of the breads? - They're all super fresh. They don't look very wonky to me. They look exactly the same. They just haven't got a home to go to. (Barry and Jamie ahhing) I'm gonna give them a great home. - In my belly. (laughs) - [Ben] Right, those
crumpets, toasty, toasty warm, which means they need butter. And what they absolutely need is some homemade seville marmalade. - He's bought all that in from home. - He has bought that in from home. - [Jamie] Can I give you a statistic that I find really hard to believe. - Go on. - So this is from Earth & Wheat's website. Each box you rescue
helps to save our planet, rescuing around 3,240
litres of fresh water and 3,053 grammes of
CO2 from going to waste. That's some big numbers from
every box, from a box of bread. - Somebody has had to plough the field, sow the seed, look after all of the crop, harvest it, mill it, bag
it, transport it to a baker. The baker's got their premises. They've put their own labour
in, their own expertise, their own ovens, They've then packaged it. And then it ends up in the bin. That's a real shame. I think it's that chain you're saving. - That's astonishing, isn't it? When you think about it like that. - [Barry] I mean, talk about variety. What, Ebbers, what have you done there? - [Ben] Store cupboard staples. A couple of focaccia with
some char-grilled asparagus. This one's got sun dried
tomato, caper, and parmesan. This one's got olive, some
pickled cabbage and feta. Crumpets, butter,
seville orange marmalade. And this is blueberry and maple
compote with Greek yoghurt. - [Barry] None of that looks wonky. - [Jamie] Cheers.
- [Barry] Cheers. (upbeat music) That, if anything, is fresher than I'd get
it in the supermarket. - Which has been on the
shelf for a few days, almost certainly. - And that's one of the things
they say on the website. These breads come directly from the bakers and get sent out the next day. Let's talk money, Ebbers. How much are you thinking? You get a new box delivered
to you every Wednesday. - £10 of bread a week? - £6.99, delivered to your door. - That seems smart. - That, it does feel
like a pretty good deal. I think you'd struggle
to get that much bread off the supermarket shelf for that price. - [Jamie] I know everyone in the audience is already asking it,
but let me ask you now- - In the audience?
- Yes. - They're sitting there, in the audience. - Sitting there with these exact words on the tip of their tongue. Are they on a bread roll, or will the direct debit take its toll? - Well, I don't think at that price, the direct debit's gonna take a toll if that much bread is for you. So on a roll. (upbeat music) - Lift the metal thing.
- What? Cool! The Brixton Wine Club. - [Jamie] In a can? - Cans of wine? - [Ben] This is the Brixton Wine Club and they say "We are wine
lovers, not wine snobs. Brixton Wine Clubs sells
premium wines just in cans. No need for underground
cellar or fancy wine fridges. Just great wines, ready to
drink at a moment's notice." - It means you get more variety. - [Ben] And that's why I love it, because in order to try lots of wines, you have to open lots of bottles of wine. And actually, smaller
measures makes it easier to try a greater variety
and expand your knowledge. So Barry, open up, one to six, and let's pour some samples out. - [Barry] I'm opening up all the drinks. (upbeat music) - [Ben] Brixton Wine, as a
whole, are premium wines in cans. And they've actually had a master of wine, so highest qualification in wine, there's only 400 or so around the world, who could not taste the
difference in a blind tasting of the fact that it had come from a can. Also, a fairly inert way of storing wine. It shouldn't impact the flavour. These are sealed, they've got a special lining on the tin, so they're not gonna affect the wine, they're not gonna taste aluminum-y. So this is their juice box, which means that once a
month you get six wines, and it is a real mixture. Or if you prefer whites
or sparkling or reds then you can pick and choose your box. But this is the juice
box that has the mixture. - Right, well, I should get drinking. Firstly, can secco rosé. (upbeat music) That is absolutely delicious. I had no idea that was from
a can and not a bottle. - Pop it down, move on to the next one. - [Barry] Okay sure. Wicked.
- So, so what I love is you get very, very basic tasting notes and they basically say, if you want to just enjoy wine, who cares what the tasting notes are, or if you want to know
about the tasting notes, they do live Instagrams once a month and will talk you through, in
the course of half an hour, all the wines, all the
vineyards, all the vintners, and tell you all the different notes. (laughing) - A lot smoother. I find white wine, is they
can be a bit acidy and a bit na, na, na. That was really smooth, and goes, ahh. - [Ben] Well that's,
that's a sauvignon blanc. - And this is generally how
we see Ebbers on a night out. Triple parked. (laughing) - What I love about Brixton Wine, and I watched their wine tasting, is they have a few rules. No red trousers.
- Yes! Does that include red shorts? (laughing) - No spittoons, and
ultimately, enjoy the process. It cuts through all the crap. She tells it to you, but
then she kind of says, "And these are tasting notes, but if you get something
different, that's also cool." If you don't care, drink it
at the beach and enjoy it. It doesn't matter. Okay, so talking about price, you can vary whether you
buy three, four or six cans in your monthly subscription,
but we got the six. So how much did we pay for six? - £30. - Including shipping, you're bang on. So they work out at £5 each. Gonna cost you more to go to a restaurant and buy six glasses of different wines. But you can do it at your own leisure. - [Jamie] There's various
options for this question, Baz. - Of course. - I'm just gonna go with one of them, so we'll see how we get on. Is it wine in a tin, or straight in the bin? - What was the other one? (laughing loudly) - Wine through the post, or would you not raise a toast? - Oh yeah, I prefer that. I think it's, it's gotta
be wine in the post. - So over to you guys,
would you sign up for any of these food or drink subscriptions? If so, why? If not, why not? - Comment down below if you've also seen
other food subscriptions you'd love for us to give a go. And as always, give the video a thumbs up. - [Barry] Have you ever got
to the end of a long day with no ideas, ingredients,
or energy to cook? Take away? Hmm, it'd be the fourth this week. Well, that's why we built our
revolutionary Meal Packs app. Thousands of people are
using it to shop, cook, and eat a whole lot better and easier while saving money as a result. You can go and use it
in its entirety for free for a whole month and see if it's for you. The link is in the description box below. (upbeat music) And now for the blooper. (loud ringing) - Would you like to grind, or you gonna leave it behind? - That's not the one we agreed. That's not how we agreed it,
that was not the wording.
