How to do a Tim Tam Slam (and what to drink with it)

Updated 29 Oct 2026

Ask an Aussie about the Tim Tam Slam and you’ll probably get a story, often ending with half a biscuit at the bottom of a mug. Here’s how to do it without the mess.

Short answer: a Tim Tam Slam is when you bite the opposite corners off a Tim Tam, suck a hot drink up through it like a straw, then shove the whole thing in your mouth the second the drink comes through. Hot chocolate, tea or coffee all work.

What is a Tim Tam?

A Tim Tam is Arnott’s chocolate biscuit: two crunchy biscuits, a cream filling and a chocolate coating. Arnott’s says it created them in 1964.

The idea came from Ian Norris, Arnott’s food technologist. On a work trip in 1958 he found the Penguin biscuit in Britain and decided Arnott’s could “make a better one”. Ross Arnott named it after Tim Tam, the horse that won that year’s Kentucky Derby.

How to do a Tim Tam Slam

You need a Tim Tam, a hot drink and about ten seconds of focus.

1. Make your drink. Hot, but not straight off the boil. You’re about to suck it through a biscuit.
2. Bite off two opposite corners. Diagonally opposite, so you’ve opened up both ends. Don’t keep nibbling. It’s worth the wait.
3. Use it as a straw. Dip one bitten corner in the drink, put your lips on the other and suck gently. The drink comes up through the biscuit inside.
4. Slam it. The moment you taste the drink, put the whole Tim Tam in your mouth. Wait a second too long and it collapses into your mug.

Those are the same steps Arnott’s gives on its Tim Tam Canada page, where they’re called Prepare, Bite, Sip and Slam.

Our tips: start with an Original before you try the fancy flavours, and keep a napkin handy. If it breaks, fish it out with a teaspoon and call it a dunk.

The best drinks for a Tim Tam Slam

• Hot chocolate: the classic, and the easiest. It’s sweet, so the whole thing tastes like a melted chocolate bar.
• Tea: a milky cuppa does the job nicely.
• Coffee: our favourite. A flat white is our pick, as the milk softens the coffee against all that chocolate. If you like it strong, a long black is a good contrast with the sweet biscuit. Give it a minute to cool first.

Skip anything iced. A cold drink won’t melt the chocolate, so you just get a soggy biscuit.

Where the Tim Tam Slam went global

The slam got its big moment overseas in late 2001, when Natalie Imbruglia showed Graham Norton how to do it on his UK chat show. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Tim Tams picked up a cult following in England afterwards. The paper called it the “Tim Tam Suck”.

Tim Tams first reached US shelves in November 2008, when Pepperidge Farm, then Arnott’s sister company, sold them through Target.

Where to buy Tim Tams in the US

You don’t need a care package. Arnott’s sells Original, Chewy Caramel, Dark Mint, Extra Chocolatey and Dark in the US, plus a gluten-free Original. You’ll find them at:

• World Market: the 7 oz Original was $5.99 as of 28 Oct 2026.
• Target: the 7 oz Original.
• Albertsons, Publix and Sam’s Club, according to Arnott’s.

For flavours you can’t get here, like Double Coat and White, and for Vegemite, see our guide to where to buy Vegemite and Tim Tams in the US.

Got the Tim Tams sorted? Our city maps will find you a proper flat white to slam them in. Give it a crack!