As the winter chill sets in across the UK, the quest for the perfect instant hot chocolate intensifies. We conducted a thorough taste test, pitting a luxurious £150 homemade cup against offerings from high-street giants Costa and Starbucks, alongside popular supermarket brands, to crown an ultimate winner.
The Contenders: From Costa to Cadbury
Our tasting panel assessed seven different hot chocolates, evaluating them on flavour, texture, and value for money. The brands under scrutiny were Costa, Sainsbury's Taste the Difference, Cadbury, Starbucks, Milo, Maltesers, and the premium Hotel Chocolat system.
The Rankings: Who Finished Where?
In seventh and last place was Costa's instant hot chocolate. Despite the brand's coffee shop popularity, its £3.85 at-home offering was a disappointment. Described as having a consistency akin to "wallpaper paste," the powder struggled to dissolve and delivered an overly bitter, dense flavour that failed to impress.
Landing in sixth position was Sainsbury's Taste the Difference hot chocolate, priced at £4.25. While it offered a smoother, silkier texture than Costa, it retained bitter undertones that divided our testers, despite holding a five-star rating on the supermarket's own website.
In a surprising turn, the household favourite Cadbury secured only fifth place. Costing £4.50 for a 500g tub, its main drawback was a lack of flavour, requiring a doubling of the recommended serving size to make it palatable. Testers found it excessively sweet, a sentiment echoed by some online reviewers.
Starbucks claimed the fourth spot with its Signature Chocolate 42% Cocoa Powder. Priced around £4.70, this offering was a marked improvement, delivering a pleasant, rich chocolate taste that was "velvety and smooth" when prepared correctly, living up to its inspiration from the coffee chain's in-store beverage.
The Podium Finishers
The bronze medal went to Milo, a childhood favourite for many. This chocolate malt beverage, distinct for being best made with hot water, was praised for its perfectly balanced sweetness and creamy, frothy texture. Its main drawback was its hefty price tag of £5.75 and a flavour that was perhaps too gentle for some.
Snagging a solid second place was Maltesers Hot Chocolate. A crowd-pleaser that delivered an ideal balance of sweetness, creaminess, and authentic malt honeycomb notes, it was also one of the most affordable options at just £3.60. It was polished off rapidly in our tester's household, though some calorie-conscious consumers have voiced concerns.
The Undisputed Champion
The top spot, despite its premium cost, was seized by the Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser system. The £149.95 price tag includes the machine itself, two premium cups, and 10 single-serve chocolate sachets. The device uses a unique "vortex-effect" to create what our tester described as "the finest hot chocolate I've ever tasted."
It produced a luxuriously silky, perfectly mixed, and piping hot drink in just two minutes, eliminating the common problem of undissolved powder. While the initial outlay is significant, the cost per cup using Hotel Chocolat's refill sachets works out to roughly £1.50, offering an unparalleled at-home hot chocolate experience that beat even professional coffee shops and cafés.
