Tasty Tim Tams

I acquired a taste for them a year ago when I visited Australia for the first time. John and Sara had a pack of them at their place when Dave, Joe, and I stopped by for a barbie one night after Web Essentials 2004 was over. Maxine asked, “Would you like a Tim Tam, Doug?” Me: “What’s a Tim Tam?” Maxine, shocked at my response: “You’ve never had a Tim Tam?!“

I remember my first bite tasting kind of strange. Different. But the Tim Tam grew on me. It helps that I have a particular preference for just about any type of chocolate. Tim Tams are small “chocolate biscuits”, uniquely Australian, produced in NSW by Arnott’s Biscuits. Some of us would call them cookies. The chocolate coating is soft, and melts instantly in the mouth (and the fingers). The “biscuit” is a perfect crunch of more chocolate.

Haven’t had one yourself? Imagine the taste of a Girl Scout Thin Mint, without the mint. And a chocolate coating a little more toward the milky side. And twice as thick with more chocolate in the middle. That’s a Tim Tam.

It’s been a little over a year since my introduction to the Tim Tam. I haven’t had any since. Last week, just before leaving Sydney, I bought a small bag of them. They were gone the day I got back to San Francisco.

I’ve never seen them for sale at stores here in the States. How does one fill the craving for more of these chocolatey, biscuity gems when one is 6000 miles away from Australia? Ever seen them outside of Australia and New Zealand? (Oddly, the bag of 12 individually wrapped biscuits I bought in Sydney states that it was imported into Singapore.)

Need more. Clicked “Online Store” link on the Arnott’s site. Buggah! Closed for administrative reasons. Keep searching. Find an article on our own local SF Gate titled, Surviving outside of the Outback. Read about AussieProducts.com, a small Aussie importer that helps fellow Aussies battle homesickness and takes orders online. Discover that they’re just down the road in Santa Clara. Place an order for a few packs at US$3.60/unit, plus $10 for ground shipping. (For reference in Oz, that’s almost $5 AUD, not including shipping.) Order arrives today. All is right with the world again. Now it’s just a matter of discipline and self-control.

If you’ve never had a Tim Tam, and you’re into chocolate, find a pack of Tim Tams and try one if you ever find yourself Down Under. Alternatively, if you can’t wait to get to Oz, or if you’re from Oz and craving a taste of home, order your fix and have it in your sticky little hands within a few days.

And yes, you can also add a 5-pound tub of Vegemite to your order if you’re into that kind of thing.

(Note, I have no affiliation with Aussie Products, other than the fact that I just placed my first order with them a few days ago.)