All products tasted were labelled as drinking chocolate or hot chocolate, as opposed to hot cocoa and we tested all the chocs with milk rather than water.
Cadbury
The price: $45
The value: Coming in at 500 grams, it is an enormous bucket of beverage for what you pay. We would say that if you need to feed the masses with little regard for the quality, this would be a winner.
The taste: A strong milk chocolate taste, as opposed to dark chocolate, extraordinarily sweet, and reminiscent of vending machine hot chocolate you might press a button to extract. It dissolved easily, which made it simple to make. Hot or not? Not so much. We could taste the sugar, and the aftertaste and consistency was somewhat chalky and coated the mouth. Not overly pleasant, but cheap and chocolatey.
Foodie rating: 3 stars
Guittard
The price: $85
The value: We felt a little betrayed by the grandiose packaging as when we tore back the foil lid, the container was literally half empty.
The taste: The cocoa is ‘rare red Dutch processed cocoa’, which must be the reason they could only locate enough of it to fill half the tin. The Dutch cocoa was very smooth in flavour but held a grainy quality that meant it wasn’t overly pleasant to drink. There was one element of the flavour layer, however, that we couldn’t quite pinpoint but that elevated the chocolate taste, which was quite nice and heightened our enjoyment. Hot or not? Not really. The very grainy nature of the cocoa was hard to dissolve, despite persistent stirring, and we were still incensed that they had sold us only half of our rare Dutch cocoa.
Foodie rating: 3 stars
Café Direct
The price: $45
The value: This one is Fair Trade, and has a lovely back-story as to why their chocolate tastes so good. It comes in a simple cardboard tube, and has just two ingredients: sugar and cocoa!
The taste: The raw mix looks very homemade and rustic, which means it takes a little longer to dissolve but is entirely worth it. The taste is dark and rich, the aroma heavenly and far less sweet than cheaper hot chocolates. It has an almost oaky aftertaste that we would gladly let linger on. Hot or not? Definitely hot. The best value of the bunch, indulgently choco-centric but also very drinkable.
Foodie rating: 5 stars
Green & Blacks
The price: $90
The value: As a reputable organic company, we had high hopes for this one, especially with the glass bottle, Fair Trade stamp and suave packaging.
The taste: Very light, but not overly chocolatey. It was actually rather thin and watery. This may be because of the fat-reduced cocoa, but that also made it reduced in flavour. Hot or not? We found this mild all round. Not quite living up to the expectations we had for G&B.
