We Tasted 19 Hot Chocolate Mixes—Here Are Our Favorites

It’s the most wonderful time of the year: The holiday lights are twinkling, the tinsel is hanging, and here in New York, it’s finally cold enough to curl up on the couch with a blanket and a cup of hot chocolate. Although making my own hot chocolate mix It’s that simple, there are days when we just want a cup of hot chocolate that calls for a little more a whisper Several tablespoons of perfectly calibrated mixture in one mug Or saucepan Of boiled milk. Luckily for us, there are many store-bought hot chocolate mixes to choose from… as long as we know which one to choose.

To find the best hot chocolate mix, we tasted 19 different mixes that you’re likely to find online or at your local supermarket. We prepared each according to package directions using whole milk, then sampled them without knowing which hot chocolate was which. Our tests include hot chocolate is all you need remedy Boil on its own and on the stovetop, as well as more simple blends that come in individual portions and can be prepared directly into your mug. After each of our editors tasted 19 different cups of hot chocolate, we tabulated the results and crowned an overall winner, who got to drink the night before Christmas (or any other night), as well as other worthy contenders. We will be happy.

criteria

As is the case with many products that we taste frozen pizza, yellow cake mixOr Strawberry ice cream-The criteria for making great hot chocolate are extremely personal. Some people may prefer a lighter drink made with a combination of cocoa powder and sugar, while others, our editorial director, may prefer DanielWant to drink melted ganache. Although all of our editors have different opinions on what the ideal cup of hot chocolate is, we all agree that a great hot chocolate mix should be rich, the chocolate flavor should be deep, and it should taste good without feeling greasy or gritty. There must be a body. It should neither be too sweet nor too bitter. A good hot chocolate mix doesn’t have to taste homemade, but it should be delicious enough that you’ll happily make a cup or pot for yourself or your family when you’re in the mood.

overall winner

Angelina Hot Chocolate Mix

French patisserie Angelina is famous for their hot chocolate, and we were pleasantly surprised by how delicious their hot chocolate mix was. It’s luxuriously thick and creamy, and of all the blends we’ve tasted, it most likely feels like homemade or even professionally made.

“After all, that tastes like chocolate,” our associate editorial director Megan wrote. “This is my favorite so far. Thick, but not pudding-like. This is definitely for dark chocolate lovers only. Similarly, Daniel thought this hot chocolate was rich and chocolaty with some intensity. Although our associate visual director AMANDA Thought it was almost too thick – considering he would probably have difficulty drinking the entire mug of it – everyone else enjoyed this hot chocolate.

Made from cocoa powder, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, low-fat cocoa powder, and both whole and skimmed milk powder, Angelina’s Hot Chocolate is velvety smooth, just thick enough, and has a rich, bitter-sweet chocolate flavor.

runner up

Best Hot Chocolate Mix for Dark Chocolate Lovers: Williams-Sonoma Double Dark Hot Chocolate

Williams-Sonoma’s Double Dark Hot Chocolate was a little too bitter for Amanda, but other tasters thought it was well balanced and had a nice chocolate flavor. Although it wasn’t as thick as our winning choice, it still had a good body and was thick enough to coat a spoon. It was one of three blends with chocolate as the first ingredient; Most of the other mixes we tried had sugar as the first ingredient. If you enjoy dark or bitter chocolate, we recommend you reach for this chocolate.

Best Hot Chocolate Mix for Milk Chocolate Lovers: Valrhona Dark Hot Chocolate Mix

“It’s like a Swiss Miss with some spunk,” Danielle wrote. “Sweet, user-friendly, but much more chocolatey than usual.” Valrhona’s blend is labeled “dark hot chocolate”, and although its color is dark brown looks like Like dark chocolate, its sweet, milky flavor profile reminded our tasters more of milk chocolate than dark.

Oldest Hot Chocolate Mix: Starbucks Hot Cocoa Classic

Although the mix was a little sweeter than Megan’s liking, she thought it had a “rich and classic cocoa flavor”. Daniel thought it was “chocolatey, but mildly.” It’s not particularly thick, and has a slightly more bittersweet and complex flavor to the hot chocolate than the Swiss Miss. If you’re looking for something a little more subtle than the basic supermarket stuff, this is your best option.

contender

• 365 Organic Hot Cocoa Rich Chocolate Flavor Mix
• Angelina Hot Chocolate Mix
• Cadbury Original Drinking Hot Chocolate
• Dandelion House Hot Chocolate
• Ghirardelli Premium Hot Cocoa Mix
• Godiva Milk Chocolate Hot Cocoa
• Jacques Torres Classic Hot Chocolate
• Lake Champlain Traditional Hot Chocolate
• Lindt Hot Chocolate
• Nestle Hot Cocoa Rich Milk Chocolate
• Raaka Classic Hot Chocolate
• Rovira Zokotasa drinking chocolate
• Starbucks Hot Cocoa Classic
• Stop in and buy Hot Cocoa Mix
• Swiss Miss Milk Chocolate
• Valrhona Dark Hot Chocolate Mix
• Williams-Sonoma Classic Hot Chocolate
• Williams-Sonoma Double Dark Hot Chocolate
• Zingerman’s Hot Cocoa Mix

in conclusion

Going through the taste test results, it was very clear that most of our editors preferred thick, silky smooth bitter hot chocolate over sweet, milky hot chocolate. Many hot chocolate mixes contain anti-caking agents such as silicon dioxide or synthetic sweeteners; Our winning picks contained nothing and less than six ingredients. All of our top picks were a blend of all or some of the following ingredients: sugar, chocolate, cocoa powder and/or butter, vanilla, and sunflower lecithin.

Several tasters commented that they would have enjoyed some of the blends more if the chocolate had been richer, sweeter, or thinner. Ultimately, the best way to prepare hot chocolate mix may be to ignore the recommended proportions on the package and use the mix as needed to achieve your ideal hot chocolate cup.

Our Testing Method

All taste tests are conducted with completely hidden and undiscussed brands. Tasters taste the samples in random order. For example, taster A may taste sample 1 first, while taster B will taste sample 6 first. The purpose of this is to prevent palate fatigue from erroneously giving advantage to any one sample. Tasters are asked to fill out a tasting sheet, ranking the samples according to various criteria. All data has been tabulated and results calculated without any editorial input to give us the fairest representation possible.