It's been a bit since we did a taste-off at YAMU, but it's back! We rounded up the set yoghurt brands we could find at Keells Super, Food City, and Arpico for a taste test and we have a winner!
We picked up six brands that were available, and for this round up we'll be looking at the OG set yoghurt flavours.
[Ed Note: In this taste-off, what we've looked for is the taste and the texture of some popular Yoghurt brands. While sharing our experience in no particular order, we've been able to select a winner. Both Lucky and Pelawatte Yoghurts haven't been included in this taste-off, due to their unavailability in the market.]
So the contenders of this Yoghurt taste-off are as follows.
| Brand | Size | Price (Rs.) |
|---|---|---|
| Highland | 90g | 35 |
| Rich Life | 80ml | 35 |
| Kotmale | 80ml | 35 |
| Ambewela | 80ml | 35 |
| Newdale | 80g | 35 |
| Creamoo | 80g | 35 |
Before we start, just wanna give a quick insight into what yoghurt is. It is a food produced by bacterial fermentation of milk. When fresh milk is left in a container with friendly bacteria, the milk thickens and develops a delicious, sour taste. Add a bit of sugar to balance the flavours and stabilizing agent to help set (gelatin in most cases) and you've got your classic set yoghurt.
Creamoo
Unfortunately this was our least favourite of the lot, particularly cause of its sweetness. It was the sweetest of them all, overpowering the tanginess that one would expect in a plain yoghurt. While that may be a good thing for some people, that's not the proper yoghurt taste. There was little to no sourness and not enough creaminess in the texture.
Newdale
This is a popular choice among kids and even some adults. Newdale has been around ever since we can remember, so we're glad to see it going strong. They seem to be more popular for their stirred yoghurt, but their set yoghurt is quite good as well. This was a little less sweet than Creamoo, but still pretty sweet. While this was creamier than the Creamoo (ironic), this one had a firmer texture than we would have liked.
Ambewela
Ambewela is probably one of the only ones that has not added colorants to its yoghurt. It was the only one that was purely white which does give us a certain level of reassurance. There was very little sourness to it and the texture of the yoghurt was less creamy than we expected contrary to the colour. Fortunately, it wasn't overly sweet either so it has its pros and cons.
Kotmale
Kotmale's dairy offerings seem to be either a hit or miss across the board from our past experiences. Fortunately, their yoghurt-based products are the former. Their set yoghurt came in with a great creamy consistency and a slight sourness to it. The level sweetness again was on the lighter end making this one that we'd recommend.
Richlife
Richlife's offering was the creamiest of the bunch with a very welcoming milkiness to it as well. Coupled with a good balance of sweetness and sourness, you've got a really solid candidate. Richlife is more synonymous with their milk products, but it seems they've got more up their sleeves.
Our Pick: Highland
This pick probably won't surprise too many people, and for good reason. Highland has been consistently good for decades. It was the perfect yoghurt with a strong sour taste along with a slight sweetness to it and a deliciously creamy taste. The texture of it was not as thick as the other yoghurts, which made it a light, milky treat.
