My Viva is strong and soft… like cloth!
We use a lot of paper towels at Burnt My Fingers. To mop up spills, handle the general mess around a smoker or outdoor grill, blot the excess fat off the top of a soup stock, and also to substitute for many of the standard duties of a side towel. So it’s surprising I’ve taken these ubiquitous clean-up aids for granted. I know to stay away from the generic brands that don’t actually sop anything up, and have tried the earnest recycled brands but been disappointed. I generally buy bulk, whatever name brand is on sale, and I forget what it was by the time the supply is gone. (Strange that paper towels, also toilet paper, don’t put their logos inside the cardboard rollers, no?)
All this time, there’s been an alternative primly waiting on my counter, like a shy but confident girl minding her own business in the classroom. (Times being what they are, I’m going to stop the analogy right there.) This roll might have been brought in by a guest cook, or left over from the folks who sold us our house. It’s different… tightly wound rather than loose and flabby like those supersized lumberjack rolls. And instead of the end of the roll lolling loose, or spewing sheets across the kitchen if I have an mishap, it tucks itself in, somehow clinging to its base until it’s needed.
The other day I had a spill and grabbed for a towel off this roll and to my surprise it did a great job cleaning up and held its shape while I was wringing out and could have returned for another wipe. I realized I had a paper towel crush. And a google for “paper towel that clings to the roll” quickly revealed her name was Viva, a Kimberly-Clark brand. I had to get some more! Viva is surprisingly hard to find at retail, but I picked up a single roll for $1.99 at Hannaford and confirmed this was indeed the paper product of my dreams.
One (critical) Amazon reviewer described Viva as “like cleaning with a Hermes handkerchief” while another (positive) reviewer said it was “soft enough to blow your nose if you need to, but strong enough to soak up spills and dirt and still be rinsable for reuse.” I’m so happy with this discovery that I’m proclaiming Viva the official paper towel of Burnt My Fingers. No, they haven’t paid me a cent, though maybe when they read this they’ll toss a roll or two my way.
Best way to buy is probably this 24-pack from Amazon which currently costs around $1.20 per roll. That’s under $30, shipped with Prime, for enough paper towels to mop up a year’s worth of spills and (thanks to the static-cling feature) make next Halloween’s mummy costume. What are you wanting for? Go get some now!
Nope, Brawney half sheet rolls!
If you had asked me what paper towel I use I would have told you VIVA more than thirty years ago. No other towel is even close. The roll is tightly wound so it looks like has less quantity than other rolls. It costs more per sheet but you don’t need to use as many sheets. I will purchase no other paper towel. It is easier to use because it works so well. About time you fell for the right paper towel. Oops, there’s some red sauce on the floor . . . but no matter I have VIVA on hand1
I used to use Viva towels religiously up until a few years ago. They changed the product and all of the sudden they were leaving lint wherever I used them to wipe something up. Really noticeable on the the bathroom mirror. I let them know and they did respond, but what was done was done. I would be willing to try them again to see if they had changed back though. I haven’t found anything I love as much as I did Viva.
Try them again, and please report back. We don’t want an official paper towel that leaves lint.