Nestle Original Polo Mints! Where do I start first? Well that’s easy, just pop one in your mouth and savour the sweet, fresh, mint flavoured candy. No, seriously, many adults will remember growing up with the Polo Mint, I do. The Polo Mint is one of those childhood favourites that generate ... Read review
Advantages: Mint flavoured addictive candy favourite Disadvantages: Mmm, now you are asking the wrong person!
Nestle Original Polo Mints! Where do I start first? Well that’s easy, just pop one in your mouth and savour the sweet, fresh, mint flavoured candy. No, seriously, many adults will remember growing up with the Polo Mint, I do. The Polo Mint is one of those childhood favourites that generate happy memories and is an enduring, favourite sweet which sells in its millions, over £41 million to be precise annually, and is loved equally by children and adults ... ...which time they launched the Polo mint. These lifebelt shaped mints were similar to the American Lifesavers and the British Navy Sweets Company’s Navy mints, but Rowntree boldly moved to the fore of the market with their slogan The Mint With The Hole which is now one of the best known in the UK. Rowntree later merged with Mackintosh and the Swiss owned international company Nestle bought the joint company in 1988.
Nestle Original Polo Mints! Where do I start first? Well that’s easy, just pop one in your mouth and savour the sweet, fresh, mint flavoured candy. No, seriously, many adults will remember growing up with the Polo Mint, I do. The Polo Mint is one of those childhood favourites that generate happy memories and is an enduring, favourite sweet which sells in its millions, over £41 million to be precise annually, and is loved equally by children and adults today.
Now once again where do I start? That’s easy!
In the beginning…
Confectioners, Rowntree originally opened a tea and coffee shop in York in 1725 selling their wares to the British public. By 1948 their range of confectionery had become extremely popular in the UK by which time they launched the Polo mint. These lifebelt shaped mints were similar to the American Lifesavers and the British Navy Sweets Company’s Navy mints, but Rowntree boldly moved to the fore of the market with their slogan The Mint With The Hole which is now one of the best known in the UK. Rowntree later merged with Mackintosh and the Swiss owned international company Nestle bought the joint company in 1988.
In 1867, Henri Nestlé founded a small business in Switzerland and began setting up factories in other countries. A branch first came to Britain in 1868 and by 1905 had merged with the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company. Nestle are also known for its vast range of food products and confectionery especially chocolate, cereals and coffee (I’m sure you are aware Nescafé is a Nestle product).
Trivia facts. Nestle now manufactures Polo Mint – Original. 38 million Polo's are produced every day and It takes the equivelent weight of two elephants to press a Polo mint. Polo's name is derived from the word 'Polar', which suggests the coolness in the mouth from the crisp minty taste. 147 of these delightful mints are consumed every second.
The Mint
The 20 chomp-able lifebelt shaped hard-pressed sweets are approx 1.9 cm diameter and 0.4 cm deep with a 0.8 cm hole cut through the centre forming The Mint With The Hole with the word POLO embossed twice on one face nestle (sorry for the pun) inside the foiled wrapper. The aroma is a strong, fresh, mint smell, which you notice when unwrapping the foil. Popping one into your mouth is a delight, the hard mint tablets although not overly sweet can be crunched and pulverised to quickly release the robust mint flavour or if you are like me, prefers to tease the mint with your tongue until it melts away leaving a cool lingering aftertaste that refreshes the mouth and breath.
As a child I would twirl the sweet around my tongue waiting for it to dissolve away into nothing reducing the thickness making it as thin as possible trying not to break it. Now don’t deny it, I would wager you and your friends would compete to see who’s polo melted first (approx five minutes) or who could suck the sweet to the thinnest before it broke. I did!
There is nothing complicated about the wrapper. The tightly wrapped, tube shaped pack is approx 11 cm in length in a silver foil backed plastic, which is easy to open, and does not tear easily but can be twisted to secure the contents. Excessive twisting may, however, cause a little of the foil to crumble away from the plastic backing. Binding the foil is a bold matt green paper wrapper with two dark metallic blue ellipsoids bearing bold green letters P and L with white images of the mints used as the O in the product name. Between the two ellipsoids in white and silver letters are the words The Mint With The Hole and once again the mint image is used instead of the O. In white and black you will find the a white and green recycle logo and the registered trademark of Nestle with the consumer services address, telephone number and web address and a bar code. The ingredients are listed of which sugar, glucose syrup modified starches, steric acid and mint oils appear. However there are no nutritional details listed although a visit to the Nestle web site can remedy that. Polo is also suitable for vegetarians.
I find them addictive and can easily consume a pack within a morning but be warned when you have been eating Polo’s like with all mints, wait a while before you eat or drink other food stuffs as the intense mint flavour that lingers in your mouth would make food and beverages taste strange. As with all confectionery the sugar contained within can be unhealthy for your teeth.
The Polo is ideal for smokers not only does it reduce the residual smell of smoke upon their breath but helps to employ your mouth if you are attempting to give up or you are within no smoking areas.
Weight watching consumers can enjoy the Polo Mint too. A full packet of 20 sweets is only 125 Kcal or even the Sugar Free version, which contain even less.
A packet of Polo’s will cost about £0.30 per packet and are available virtually everywhere within the UK.
Other varieties are: Spearmint: with the turquoise tinted flecks and a strong spearmint flavour and aroma. Fruit: Multicoloured boiled sugar sweets flavoured with fruits. Sugar free: A sugar free alternative to the original flavours, which are ideal for kids and diabetics but do contain sorbitol. Sorbitol has been known for it's laxative effect on some people. Polo Holes: The original flavoured pressed mint in the shape of the hole from the middle of the sweet which usually come in a small plastic tube approx half the size of the polo package itself. The holes actually do fit a Polo Mint. This silly boozma tried it. Mini Strong Polo’s: Tiny Polo shapes with an extra strong taste supplied in a white plastic flip open Polo Mint shaped box. Beware these are very strong. Smoothies: Blackcurrant, Sunshine Fruits and Strawberry flavour boiled sweet with a creamy strip for a smooth fruity treat. Clear Ice very much like the Foxes Glacier Mints but with a clear blue colour. Spearmint Clear which is a clear aqua shade with a refreshing spearmint taste. The Clear and smoothies are sold in 144g bags and are readily available in many supermarkets at approx £1.20 per bag.
Nutritional Values per 4 sweets: Energy 104KJ, 25 Kcal, Protein: nil, Carbohydrate: 5.9g, of which are sugars: 5.7g, Fat: 0.1g, of which are saturates: 0.1 g, Fibre and sodium are both nil.
The Mint With The Hole? Yes please, The Mint The Hole Mint and Nothing But The Mint!
Advantages: Strong Taste, Good Amount in Package Disadvantages: Far to Addictive
...actially buy the HOLE from Polo (supposedly the part they knock out of the middle of each Polo!!!!!). I would stress the Hole part was a marketing gimic that they thought up which was quite successful.
Polo was first launched in 1948 by Rowntree which was then taken over by Nestle in 1988.
A Polo is about 2cm in diameter, 0.43cm deep and has a 0.8cm wide hole. The original Polo is white in colour with a hole in the middle, and the word 'POLO' embossed ... ...I still buy them and love them and they are still value for money, but still I protest about the price.
All in all, Polo Original Mints are excellent, Spearmint Polo's are not according to my taste, other Polo variations are generally ok.
Verdict: 3 out of 5 ...
jpegington 11.11.2005
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Polo Mints
Advantages: Minty, Fresh, Small Enough, Tube, Lots In A Pack Disadvantages: More-ish, Addictive
...Whilst at secondary school Polo were selling 6 different varieties, though our school only stocked 4, I preferred the mint versions to the fruity varieties or the sugar free and so these became by sweet of choice.
The 6 varieties (+ additional varieties on sale at other times) are as follows:
=== Original === - a peppermint sweet with approximately 23 mints in a tube. Each tube is wrapped in a silver foil which is tucked in at the end to preserve ... ...written on it. The Original Polo was introduced to the public in 1948 and quickly became a favourite.
=== Spearmint === - again with approximately 23 mints in a tube and wrapped in exactly the same way as the Original mint, but with a turquoise blue paper wrapper. The Spearmint Polo was launched in 1994 and has also become a firm favourite, however over the last few years I have found that they are not being stocked as readily by shops as the original ...
carysb 18.08.2008
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Polo Mints
.....well have a polo then! Tsk what did you think I meant?? I'm a good little polo mint I'll have you know! Typical human that grabbed your attention didn't it? Before I start I'd just like to say I've hijacked Jo1l's computer to write this op. Well if she will log onto Ciao and go off for hours on end what does she expect? Being one of the best selling mints in the UK isn't easy you know! We might well be best sellers but we're not popular in the ... ...the Prevention of Cruelty to Polo Mints is looking into this case of polo abuse and the afore mentioned should be facing questioning! It is thought that any Polo's purchased from Sainsbury's are now safe to eat. My great grand-daddy first hit the shops in the UK in 1948, having been thought up by those nice people in the Rowntree factory in York,but it was only the residents of London and the South East that got to sample the great delights.Other ...
jo1l 24.11.2002
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Polo Mints
...circular sweets (around 2cms) with polo written around the sides with embossed lettering and they contain a hole in the centre.
~~Varieties~~
The polo originally started out with the (quite nice) plain mint flavour, then in crept the spearmint ones, which I really like and eventually the fruit ones sprung up. Within the last few years Rowntree (manufacturers) have gone all out!! Suddenly there were citrus polos, and mini polo’s (orange and ... ...~~Packaging~~
The polo citrus, fruit, spearmint, original and extra strong all come in a tightly wrapped pack, with a shiny packing underneath and a paper, slightly smaller one on top. They all contain the same amount of sweets (around 20). However to distinguish they all have slightly different coloured packets.
Original – Dark blue and green packing with white writing. The underneath shiny packaging is silver.
Fruit – Multi coloured ...
Honey_Bee 03.05.2002
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Polo Mints
Advantages: Nice, minty, sweeties, much cheapness Disadvantages: Some bugger has stolen all the holes
...have been mostly thinking of Polo mints! I really have no idea why because it’s been a while since I last had one. Still, the mind is sound even if the body is getting wrinkly. I have many memories of these little white mints in the dark blue packaging (with green and white lettering) and all are most fond. Forget all these fancy new pretenders to the throne in their new fangled, funny shaped packaging. The ORIGINAL Polo’s are still king and they ... ...opinion is in the Mint Polo category and that is what I am going to focus on!
As a child, these were never first choice on my list of sweets, although they were my favourite mints. Other mints available at the time were a bit too strong for my liking (I remember Trebor mints being particularly fiery! *Note the adapted advertising slogan, stolen and modified from Trebor to form my title!*) and like most children, sweetness counts over pain in my ...
Judgee 02.08.2002 (09.08.2002)
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Polo Mints
Similar reviews »
Reviews which might be of interest for "Polo Mints"
Advantages: fit in proper polos Disadvantages: small
In this insane world of ours some muppet thought we may like to eat the polo holes.
We did didnt we when we ait the normal polos, no we didnt because there was nothing there.
Now they taste lik ordinary polos yet they are smaller and do actually fit in the hole in a polo.
I know because i was sad enough to try.
They come in a sort off tic-tac tube with a pop top shoot so you can spray the fiddly little mites everywhere.
The mints are cool and are as excellent as th normal polos, but they are dam easy to lose.
Out of a tube i'll probably lose 25% and of that 15% disapears into thin air.
In my opinion they are ok as mints but the package is nuts its needs a new tube.
I like these specially to play with with normall polos but they are good easy to suck and they seem to last longer, maybe due to size but if your a loyal mint sucker ...
Advantages: A delicious sweet iced biscuit Disadvantages: None
of the way that Fox`s have designed a large white fun font to announce that the Party Rings are tucked inside of the plastic wrapper.
The Party Rings are on the parade ground, they form a perfectly straight and orderly row in their plastic tray.
Indeed they look amazing, colourful, vital and are rather beguiling.
Each biscuit makes a design statement and I am sure that Tracy Emin could create one of her famous pieces of artwork using Party Rings.
The best way to describe the shape of a party ring is to say that it is rather like a giant PoloMint, without the mint of course!
The underside is crunchy plain biscuit and each biscuit has been baked in a mould and has a design that comprises of criss cross lines. Turn the Party Ring over and you see a layer of thick hard crunchy icing which is usually pink, lemon, orange or chocolate ...
Advantages: Nicew and chocolaty, quite healthy, good size for a snack Disadvantages: Not that cheap, not many in a bag!!
are small round biscuits with a hole in the middle, like a donut or polomint. The bottom half is covered in chocolate, giving you that choccy kick. The biscuits are supposedly chocolate flavour but I dont really think they are, they are more just a sweet biscuit. You can still strongly taste the Cadbury chocolate though.
Nutritionally, these are actually relatively healthy. Here are the nutritional values taken from the back of the packet. The value are per mini bag of biscuits. Each bag contains approximtely 12 biscuits.
Calories: 75 KCal
Fat: 2.3g
Of which saturates: 1.3g
Carbohydrates: 11.6g
Of which sugars: 6.1g
Weight Watcher points: 1.5 points per bag
These biscuits are perfect for a little choccy biscuit snack, they certainly fulfill my craving for a chocolate biscuit! They retail at roughly 1.49 pounds for bag which ...
