News aggregator

Nawaal Nackerdien/Fourth Estate

BY NAWAAL NACKERDIEN, NEWS EDITOR AND CHRISTIAN SEGOVIA, ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

We understand how stressful the middle of the semester can be during this time of year. As we ease into the most difficult months of the year, a snack between breaks is much needed. We, at Fourth Estate, have your back. That’s why we decided to taste test and rate eight different flavors of Oreos so that you don’t have to.

Nawaal Nackerdien/Fourth Estate

Spooky Oreo

Our first Oreo is the Spooky Oreo. We grabbed it because of its orange-colored filling and various spooky designs on the cookies. Our excitement ended when we tasted it. It tasted the same as a normal Oreo. We were further dismayed to find out that it was just a rebrand of the original tried and true Oreo; therefore, we used this flavor as a control to refer back to during our testing.

Nawaal Nackerdien/Fourth Estate

Lemon Oreo

The expectations for this Oreo were both pretty high and pretty low. Nawaal was pretty excited since she loves lemon cookies. Christian thought it would just taste like a regular Golden Oreo, but sweeter. When opening the bag, it smelled like a standard Golden Oreo. During the tasting, it was sweet. The lemon taste came after the initial sweet taste but it was much more delightful than expected. It didn’t taste sour at all. However, it did have a bit of a weird aftertaste. Perfect for those looking for an Oreo that is on the calmer side but does everything right.

Overall Rating: 4/5

Nawaal Nackerdien/Fourth Estate

Coca-Cola Oreo

The expectations for the limited edition Coca-Cola Oreo were worrying. Mixing a soda with an Oreo doesn’t sound great. Upon opening the bag, Mady Godfrey, our copy editor, said that it smelled “like battery acid.” We all agreed that the smell of Coca-Cola was very powerful. During the taste test, the flavor of Coca-Cola wasn’t very apparent. It was very sweet, like all Oreos, but the titular soda was missing right before the end. But what made us give this Orea a high rating was the presence of popping candy within the cookie itself. As you ate it, the Oreo would proceed to pop in your mouth like an actual carbonated soda; however, due to an odd aftertaste and a lack of the signature Coca-Cola flavor, the overall rating is mediocre.

Overall Rating: 3/5

Nawaal Nackerdien/Fourth Estate

Java Chip Oreo 

The expectations for this Oreo were mixed. Neither of us are coffee drinkers. Nawaal, in particular, wasn’t keen on a java-flavored Oreo. When opening the bag, you get the strong smell of coffee like you’re inside a café or experience a morning where the kitchen smells like freshly brewed espresso. During the tasting, there were times when we could taste the chocolate chip and other times we couldn’t. Due to it being coffee, it was bitter. It was this Oreo that caused our two opinions to differentiate. Christian gave it a four out of five. This was his favorite out of all the Oreos. Nawaal absolutely hated it. She gave it a one out of five. “The bitterness is too much,” Nawaal said. We shook hands and met in the middle.

Overall Rating: 3/5

Nawaal Nackerdien/Fourth Estate

Tiramisu Oreo Thins

The Tiramisu Oreo Thins were the only flavor we could not find in the original form. Instead, we had to get the thins. The expectations for this Oreo were pretty high. Everyone was unsure of what it would taste like but we were looking forward to it. The smell of caramel was the first thing that we noticed when opening the bag. It was a sweetness that wasn’t as overbearing as the previous Oreos. During the tasting, the caramel of the Oreo stood out the most. It didn’t taste quite like caramel but that’s its closest comparison. Less filling meant less overwhelming sweetness. Overall, it was very enjoyable. 

Overall Rating: 3/5

Nawaal Nackerdien/Fourth Estate

Birthday Cake Oreo

Our expectations for this Oreo were that it would be either a hit or a huge miss. Christian was very excited for this Oreo. Nawaal was scared that it would be super sweet. It smelt of a birthday celebration. We also liked the bright and colorful filling. During tasting, we were expecting the feel of a birthday…and all we got was a standard Oreo with a little sweetness to it. It tasted closer to birthday cake ice cream than an actual vanilla birthday cake. 

Overall Rating: 2/5

Nawaal Nackerdien/Fourth Estate

Peanut Butter Oreo 

The expectations for this Oreo were…low. It’s peanut butter. We expected it to taste like it. When opening the bag, you get peanut butter. When tasting it, you get peanut butter. Our co-editor-in-chief, Viviana Smith, was excited to give it a try. As a peanut butter lover, she said that it tasted like two plain crackers with peanut butter in the middle, except with Oreos. Nawaal said it was likely due to how overpowering peanut butter is. 

“You can have peanut butter and banana in a smoothie because both of them overpower. If you have banana on its own, or peanut butter on its own in a, say, strawberry smoothie, you will taste the banana. You will taste the peanut butter. You’ll barely taste the strawberries,” Nawaal said. 

Christian said that it felt like a waste of money.

Overall Rating: 1/5

Nawaal Nackerdien/Fourth Estate

Dark Chocolate Oreo 

The expectations for this Oreo were low with the hopes that the chocolate would possibly melt on the tongue like a Kit Kat or Hershey Bar. The dark filling threw us off a bit. When opening the bag, it smelled like straight Oreo. During the tasting of the Oreo, all you could taste was the Oreo and no chocolate. It was bitter like the java chip Oreo with a slight espresso taste. We wanted more chocolate!

Overall Rating: 0/5

With that, our winner is the Lemon Oreos! Being the calmest flavor on the list, these cookies are unexpectedly the best of the bunch. We, at Fourth Estate, hope you enjoy the lemony taste between writing your essays and creating A-worthy PowerPoints. Don’t forget to take breaks in between studying for your tests and cuddle up as the temperature gets colder. That concludes our Oreo Test Testing. Stay tuned for more!

Mitchell Richtmyre/Fourth Estate

BY CHRISTIAN SEGOVIA, ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

On Oct. 26, Mason men’s soccer defeated St. Bonaventure 4-1 to gain sole possession of first place in the Atlantic 10. Mason’s win puts them a game ahead of Duquesne heading into the final weekend of the regular season.

Mason is now one of two in the country with 12 wins. The other is Pittsburgh, as the Panthers are ranked third nationally and sit atop the Atlantic Coast Conference. 

In the first half, the Patriots and Bonnies created chances for their teams to score a goal, but both defenses denied those chances, ending the first half 0-0.

St. Bonaventure’s Kenzo Brito opened up the scoreline, 1-0 in the second half. In the 56th minute, Brito got the pass inside the box, kicking the ball to the top left corner of the goal.

Mason wasted no time to come back. In the 57th minute, Mason forward Martim Sereno cut inside the box from the right side field, dribbling past St. Bonaventure defenders. Sereno passed to midfielder Javier Montava, who kicked the ball into the bottom right corner of the net, making it 1-1.

In the 59th minute, Montava started an attack, passing the ball to Mason defender Jordi Navio Sanchez on the right side of the field. Sanchez passed to midfielder Nicholas Prioli, who passed the ball to Mason’s Luis Maestre inside the box. Maestre found Sanchez running inside the box and kicked the ball to the left side of the net, making it 2-1.

In the 63rd minute, Mason continued its flurry of goals, as Sereno found forward Marek Gonda in the middle of the field. Gonda passed it to forward Kelly Janssen, who was running down the left side field. Janssen kicked the ball outside the box into the bottom right corner of the net, making it 3-1.

Bonnies midfielder Gabriel Addo picked up a red card, after two yellows from fouling two Mason players. St. Bonaventure went down to 10 men on the field after the 63rd-minute ejection. 

Mason capitalized on the man-advantage. Javi Sanchez passed to James Eliuda out of a free kick. Eliuda, from Mason’s defending side, crossed the ball to Janssen, running down the left field. In the 65th minute, Janssen kicked the ball past Bonnies’ goalkeeper into the bottom right corner, making it 4-1.

Mason controlled the ball for 54% of the whole game, while the Bonnies controlled the ball for 46%. 

Mason shot the ball 16 times with 11 of those shots on goal, while the Bonnies shot the ball 14 times with four of those shots on goal.

The Patriots will return to action on Nov. 2 in Richmond against VCU. A win against the Rams would clinch the A-10 regular season championship for Mason.