Choice has tasted some of the readily available hot cross buns in 2026, the results of the taste test are out:
What is your favourite from this year’s batch, and do you agree with Choice’s results?
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I haen’t bought any so far this year, I’m a traditionalist so would prefer them to be available just before Easter. I like the Coles buns, always have. Never heard of the varieties mentioned in the article… iced vovo? Fairy bread? SACRILEGE!!!. The thing is, having so much and for so long has made the bun not so special anymore. I always looked forward to Easter, for the buns and the chocolate, but now, its all overdone. I’ll get a coles bun or six soonish.
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I also prefer the more basic of the spiced and fruity buns, and like others see the treat as special to one time of the year. Coles is far less accessible than Woolworths here, hence I’ll be looking to the better of their selection or one of our 3 nearby bakeries for our needs. Will need to sample from each to be sure in the lead up. 
As an aside - the chocolate Easter egg etc came to prominence due to promotion by well known British chocolate manufacturers in the later part of the 19th century. It’s debatable as to whether this qualifies it as a tradition. More a symbol of the power of marketing to extract a greater share of the wealth and or poverty of consumers, IMHO.
If one is a fan of celebrating chocolate - there are other ways. A trend or modern tradition in the making. More than just a card and more than one day of gift giving. Another celebration of retail success. 
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The review says a panel of 3 experts, any insight on what makes them experts in judging Hot Cross Buns… As the scores are quite spread 1, 2, Daylight, Everyone else.
Read all about their qualifications 
Meet our expert taste testers
Left to right: Brigid Treloar, Ian Huntley and Eddie Stewart
Brigid Treloar has been a freelance food consultant for over 30 years. The author of eight cookbooks, she also contributes to newspapers and magazines, reviews restaurants, judges cookery and recipe competitions, and judges chocolate in the Sydney Royal Fine Food Show Competition.
Brigid has presented specialist cooking classes around Australia and overseas, and often appears on TV and radio. She’s an industry assessor for Le Cordon Bleu, advises many of Australia’s food companies on product and recipe development, and also provides recipes and cooking information for company websites.
Ian Huntley is an accomplished pastry chef with over 35 years of experience in the industry. Trained in the UK and Switzerland, Ian specialised in confectionery, cake decorating, and bread making before relocating to Australia in the mid-1980s. Upon arrival, he spent five years honing his craft at two of Sydney’s premier hotels, The InterContinental and The Regent.
Ian went on to establish his own wholesale patisserie business, supplying a variety of desserts and pastries to airlines, department stores, hospitals, restaurants, and coffee shops across the region. His commitment to excellence and innovation has made him a respected figure in the Australian patisserie scene.
Today, Ian serves as the Chair of Judges for the Royal Agricultural Society’s Professional Bakery competition and is an Assessor for Patisserie and part time teacher at Le Cordon Bleu Sydney. His passion for pastry and dedication to nurturing the next generation of chefs continues to inspire.
Eddie Stewart started his culinary career at the young age of 16 and has amassed over 20 years of experience in the industry. Throughout his career, he has worked in various boutique restaurants and world-renowned hotels to develop his own unique style.
He has served as the Head Chef of Savoury and Business Development Manager for the internationally acclaimed Black Star Pastry in Sydney, where he has gained extensive knowledge of the intricacies of the culinary business.
In 2020, he joined forces with Min Chai to create a brand new concept called Tokyo Lamington, where you can indulge in deliciously created lamingtons and other baked items.
They are more than qualified to judge buns 
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Hi @Rockford, welcome to the community.
In the article, if ones scrolls near the bottom of the webpage, there is a section called ’ Meet our expert taste testers’.
This provides background to the testers.
The scoring methodology is also provided on the same webpage:
Scores
The experts independently judged all hot cross bun products. The CHOICE Expert Rating (our overall score) consists of the taste test score, which is made up of 50% for the toasted sample and 50% for the fresh (untoasted) sample.
The experts rate each hot cross bun on flavour, appearance, aroma and texture. These sensory characteristics are weighted as follows:
- flavour (50%)
- appearance (20%)
- aroma (15%)
- texture (15%).
We recommend traditional and chocolate hot cross buns with a CHOICE Expert Rating of 75% or more, and recommend gluten-free hot cross buns (all varieties) with a score of 70% or more.
The scoring is based on the above, rather than plucking a number out of the air.
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Strange the link in your Email for the Review just goes to this page. Which has nothing, hence my question. Maybe link to the main article/post instead?
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Please go to the first post in the topic and open the link to the whole article posted there.
In answer to:…
..I did a copy and paste (not a link) about the judges qualifications from that article..
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I realise that, but I’m saying the Entry point to the article From the Email you send to all subscribers doesn’t take you to the whole article. Hence my confusion, so maybe in future have the link point to the whole article (I guess my point is…)
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There is some confusion about my status, I’m not staff, I don’t send emails to subscribers..
If you are saying that you can’t access the whole online magazine, I’m with you because it’s happening to me too, I used to get access through Choice.com.au but now all I get is just part of the magazine (if I remember all the steps it takes)..
or we might even not be talking about the same thing..
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Yeah that’s fine, I thought someone from Choice might read it. And yes I’m referring to this link in the email I received from them. All good, I know that there is a full article lurking about somewhere for the review, and I just need to find it.
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It is possible the wrong link was provided in the Choice Insider email. We hope the link in the first post in this thread pointed you in the right direction.
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Thanks for the feedback @Rockford.
Usually when we publish a review, there are a few components to it including some accompanying articles. You can always click on the ‘Overview’ link at the top left of the review to see the related content. However, we do want to make navigation the site as easy as possible and I can appreciate adding in some additional links would help in this regard.
With this in mind, I will share your comments with our editorial team and we’ll see what we can do to improve this aspect in the future.
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Easter is upon us. The tradition or is it traditions of the spiced and crossed hot bun to be enjoyed. The following suggests that by the Royal Decree of one Elizabeth Queen of all England and …. It’s actually one of 3 auspicious occasions when one can bake and hence consume said buns.
There are however many other traditions for the enjoyment of similar buns, the crossed decoration representing the 4 seasons and the fresh spicy buns a celebration of the Goddess of Spring. NO - it’s not Nigela Lawson Goddess of home cooking. It’s also a celebration of the Saxons from the Nordic north of Europe, where a similar type of bread was offered in celebration of their goddess of Spring, Eostre. Also where we get the English word Easter from.
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If Aldi, who did not score well, would do better not to freeze them, or better yet leave them frozen so they can be eaten when wanted. (a bit like fish from the crappy seafood monger). BTW, both Coles and Aldi had them on sale the day after Boxing day
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