Schokinag European Drinking Chocolate

We found the best reviews of Schokinag at StarChefs.com, whose nine tasters try 13 gourmet hot chocolate brands and provide comments on each. 'Real Simple's taste test of "more than 40" hot chocolates doesn't identify which hot chocolates lost the test, and the San Francisco Chronicle review has good rankings but few comments. Consumer Reports does not include Schokinag in its latest hot-chocolate roundup.

Schokinag European Drinking Chocolate is a German hot chocolate that comes in several varieties, including Extreme Dark and Triple Chocolate. Because it contains cocoa butter, it has a richness not found in supermarket brands, according to reviewers. However, Schokinag is also less sweet than lower-priced hot chocolates, which will not be to everyone's taste. One nine-person tasting panel at StarChefs.com gives Schokinag European Drinking Chocolate its unanimous approval, and a panel at Real Simple magazine says it's like drinking a "melted chocolate bar." Schokinag hot chocolate is expensive, however, and is hard to find outside the Web and in some gourmet shops. Less expensive choices include Swiss Miss (*est. $2 for 10 servings), and Lake Champlain Traditional (*est. $8 for 21 servings), but both of these are hot cocoas, which means they don't contain cocoa butter and aren't nearly as rich as Schokinag.