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Page: 6 of 6
In this report
- Introduction{1 mention}
- Chocolate vs. Cocoa{1 mention}
- Supermarket Hot Chocolate{3 mentions}{10 mentions}{1 mention}
- Gourmet Hot Chocolate{4 mentions}{4 mentions}{4 mentions}{1 mention}{3 mentions}{1 mention}{1 mention}{1 mention}
- Useful Links
- Our Sources
Hot Chocolate: Ratings of Sources
Total of 16 Sources
For an explanation of how we rank reviews, see our ratings criteria page.
Tasting Lab: Hot Cocoa Mix
by Editors of Cook's Illustrated
by Editors of Cook's Illustrated
Our AssessmentEditors at Cook's Illustrated taste eight brands of hot cocoas, some of which are prepared with milk and others that are prepared with water. They evaluate the hot cocoas on taste and ingredients.
Which Cocoa's a Go?
by Editors of Consumer Reports
by Editors of Consumer Reports
Our AssessmentConsumer Reports runs ten packaged hot cocoa mixes past a panel of testers. They found that the best taste great, but the worst can taste thin, weak and oily. A chart compares cost, calories, amount of fat and amount of sugar. Most just need hot water, but one of the Hershey's cocoas calls for the addition of sugar, salt, hot water, milk and vanilla.
Taste Test: Hot Cocoa
by Debby Goldsmith
by Debby Goldsmith
Our AssessmentGood Housekeeping's staff tastes 19 nationally available supermarket brands of hot chocolate, but only lists the three winners: Swiss Miss Milk Chocolate (which is prepared with water) and Godiva Milk Chocolate Hot Cocoa (which is prepared with milk). Lake Champlain Old World Drinking Chocolate takes the top spot in the dark chocolate category. The magazine says nothing about mixes that didn't make the cut, although they report that many taste "thin and watery."
Standout Hot Chocolate
by Editors of Real Simple
by Editors of Real Simple
Our AssessmentReal Simple taste-tests 40 brands of hot chocolate and comes up with six winners. Land O' Lakes Cocoa Classics Supreme and Swiss Miss Chocolate Sensation are named best hot chocolates under $5, while Godiva Dark Chocolate Truffle and Schokinag Extreme Dark win the $10 to $15 category and Jacques Torres Wicked and MarieBelle Aztec take the over $15 slot. No mention is made of the brands that weren't top-rated.
Taster's Choice: Top-rated non-organic cocoa mixes produce stirring results
by Carol Ness
by Carol Ness
Our AssessmentA month after rating organic hot cocoa mixes, SFGate.com (the website of the San Francisco Chronicle) taste-tests 14 supermarket brands. All of the hot cocoas are rated, and points are awarded for taste, texture, appearance and whether the tester would buy the product. All products are tasted blind. The top finishers are The Spice Hunter Winter Sippers Cioccolata and E. Guittard Grand Cacao, followed by Trader Joe's Sipping Chocolate. Surprisingly, Scharffen Berger -- which is top-rated by other sites -- finishes next to last, above the house brand of Safeway.
Taster's Choice: Trader Joe's organic hot chocolate takes the chill off
by Carol Ness
by Carol Ness
Our AssessmentIn the only taste test of organic hot chocolate mixes, editors taste-test eight varieties. The top finisher is Trader Joe's Conacado Organic Fair Trade Cocoa, followed by Equal Exchange Hot Cocoa. All the other organic cocoas tasted receive less favorable scores.
The Serious Eats Hot Chocolate Taste Test
by Ed Levine
by Ed Levine
Our AssessmentSerious Eats is a website focused on sharing food enthusiasm through online community. In this review, the Serious Eats staff tries out five brands of hot cocoa and hot chocolate, each costing less than 75 cents per serving. The top finisher is Dagoba Organic, deemed "far and away the richest, most chocolatey, most satisfying cup we found." Swiss Miss Rich Chocolate has no "discernable chocolate flavor," but panelists still like it for its texture and "sweet, smooth taste."
Top 10 Drinking Chocolates
by Brett Moore
by Brett Moore
Our AssessmentBrett Moore, About.com's Guide to Gourmet Food, lists his ten favorite hot chocolates. L.A. Burdick Dark takes the top spot for its "luscious and complex" flavor, followed by Vosges La Parisienne Couture Cocoa, MarieBelle Aztec Original Hot Chocolate and Schokinag Extreme Dark European Drinking Chocolate, even though it's "a bit thinner than other brands." (Note that ConsumerSearch and About.com are owned by the same parent company, but are not affiliated editorially.)
Invasion of the Drinking Chocolates
by Stephanie Zonis
by Stephanie Zonis
Our AssessmentStarChefs is an award-winning online magazine for food aficionados. Chocolate columnist Stephanie Zonis and some of her friends taste-test 13 gourmet hot chocolate mixes, giving "recommended" ratings to their favorites. The top mixes here are Enric Rovira Chocolate a la Taza, Schokinag European Drinking Chocolate and the "deeply chocolate" Bonnat.
Haute Chocolate
by Sajan Kuriakos
by Sajan Kuriakos
Our AssessmentCookie is Condé Nast's family magazine. Sajan Kuriakos and Cookie's testers make three picks in each of three categories: gourmet, after school and every day. Jacques Torres Classic is the top gourmet pick, described as "not too sweet and not too bitter." The "deliciously milky" Starbucks Chocolate Cocoa Mix is tops for the after-school crowd, while Swiss Miss Chocolate Sensation and the low-caffeine Hershey's Goodnight Kisses finish neck-and-neck in the everyday category.
Taste Test: Hot Chocolate
by Jen Murphy
by Jen Murphy
Our AssessmentIn this short review, Food & Wine editors try out an unspecified number of hot chocolates and come up with four top picks: Bernard Callebaut, Scharffen Berger Natural Cocoa Powder, Ghirardelli Double Chocolate and Schokinag European Drinking Chocolate. This review would rate more highly if editors revealed more of their testing criteria and disclosed which mixes didn't make the cut.
Taste Test: Hot Chocolate
by Buck Tilton
by Buck Tilton
Our AssessmentBuck Tilton and the Backpacker Magazine staff try out 16 hot chocolate brands, choosing four as the best: Hershey's (Chocolate Raspberry and Goodnight Kisses), Land O' Lakes, Stephen's Gourmet and Swiss Miss (Rich Chocolate and Caramel Cream). Hot chocolates that didn't make the cut are not listed, which damages this review's credibility.
Hot Cocoa Mixes
by Debra Samuels
by Debra Samuels
Our AssessmentBoston.com is the website of The Boston Globe newspaper. Debra Samuels and the Boston.com staff taste five packaged hot cocoa mixes. There's no clear consensus about the winner, but Hershey's Goodnight Kisses receives top picks from three of the eight judges. Tasting notes for each mix are included.
Hot Chocolate Tasting
by Editors of Tastingmenu.com
by Editors of Tastingmenu.com
Our AssessmentIn this informal but detailed blind taste test, a group of Seattle-area food aficionados sample ten hot chocolates, rating them for six characteristics including aroma, texture and quality of flavor. The winner is McNess Hot Cocoa, followed closely by Scharffen Berger Natural Cocoa Powder. Washington Huskies Dawg Gone Good Gourmet Cocoa makes the testers regret they didn't have a spit bucket.
Hot Cocoa Roundup: Seven Varieties Reviewed
by "Amber"
by "Amber"
Our AssessmentCandyAddict is a blog about candy founded by Brian Pipa. Author "Amber" is the only participant in this impromptu taste test of seven hot cocoa mixes, but she writes up each brand in detail and does a good job describing each one's good and bad points. Each brand is rated on a scale of one to five stars. The top finishers are Swiss Miss French Vanilla, which she calls "perfect," and Godiva Hot Cocoa, which is "like drinking melted chocolate." Hershey's Special Dark and Land O' Lakes Mint are both panned.
Snuggle up with a cocoa
but which one?
by Editors of The Desert Sun
by Editors of The Desert Sun
Our AssessmentTen tasters for this Palm Springs, California newspaper try out three mainstream hot chocolate mixes: Swiss Miss Diet with Calcium, Nestle Double Chocolate Meltdown and Starbucks. None of the three receive outstanding scores, but "the smooth but not memorable" Starbucks does best. This article is very short, with only a one-sentence verdict for each mix. However, this was the only source we found that tries a diet variety (testers say Swiss Miss Diet was like "dirty water," however).
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This is our assessment of the review’s relevance, clarity of testing and thoroughness.
Read more about our Ratings Criteria by clicking the link at the top of the page.
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Swiss Miss Milk Chocolate No Sugar Added Premium Hot Cocoa Mix - 60 Envelope Pack
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Schokinag Extreme Dark Chocolate - European Drinking Chocolate
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Hershey's Hot Cocoa, Goodnight Kisses, 4-Count Boxes (Pack of 12)
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