It’s super easy to make-just mix the packet into hot milk or water (though we recommend milk you’ll get a more substantial taste) and you’re good to go. The flavor is more sweet than chocolatey, with no hint of the dark chocolate bitterness that you’ll find in the Guittard or La Monarca. Swiss Miss is distinctive it tastes somewhat like melted Hershey’s Kisses. I was actually startled by how vividly and clearly that taste of Swiss Miss revealed memories that I’d forgotten. When I first took a sip of this, I was transported directly back to childhood, standing in my parents’ kitchen before the crowded pantry to fish out a packet of Swiss Miss. Price: $3.29 for eight packs (total 11.04 ounces) I adore cinnamon, so while the Guittard hot chocolate performed best with our evaluators, this is the hot chocolate I’ll reach for this winter. My husband liked it as well, calling it “interesting” (in a good way). However, her fiancé, who assisted her with her evaluations, likes La Monarca the best. “I’ll admit-the cinnamon throws me off a bit,” says Tanya Christian, a reporter at Consumer Reports and a hot chocolate evaluator. Though this hot chocolate isn’t overwhelmingly spiced, it obviously won’t appeal to those who don’t like, or are unprepared for, cinnamon in their drink. Joanne says that La Monarca “has a brightness, but with a cinnamon twist.” Althea calls it “best of the bunch,” though notes that a heaping tablespoon of chocolate in the milk will make for a richer, more chocolatey drink than a tablespoon that’s been leveled off. Rather, the cinnamon in this mix mingles beautifully with the chocolate, allowing both flavors to come through in harmony. The mix, from a Southern California bakery started by two Stanford grads who grew up in Monterrey, Mexico, makes a full-bodied, complex Mexican-style hot chocolate that won’t overload the taste buds with spice. I was delighted when I took a sip of this. You could probably get away with making this the easy way, but it wouldn’t be quite as silky and you may end up with some chunks of chocolate wasted at the bottom of the cup. Instructions require that users continually whisk the chocolate in milk in a pan over the stove, which makes for a super smooth drink, but might surprise some who are used to popping a cup in the microwave and dumping in a packet of mix. With three, I can taste the chocolate better, and it’s pretty clearly good quality.” Althea Chang-Cook, an associate director of content at Consumer Reports and another evaluator, wrote, brutally, that with 1 tablespoon, “I’m not sure how anyone could find it worth it to drink a hot chocolate so bland.” But with 3 tablespoons, she said, it was “excellent. “It was rich, bodacious, and just sweet enough.” Prepare to be disappointed with 1 tablespoon. ![]() But then I added two more and it really hit the spot,” says Joanne Chen, a deputy content editor at Consumer Reports and a hot chocolate evaluator. “After 1 tablespoon (as suggested) it felt a bit light. ![]() I was unimpressed with just 1 tablespoon, but 3 tablespoons made for a rich, flavorful drink that was sweet enough for kids, but not so sweet that it causes the mouth to pucker. It’s super adaptable the instructions specify between 1 and 4 tablespoons of chocolate for a cup of milk, so you can adjust to taste. This hot chocolate, a modern adaptation of the original introduced in 1900 and served at San Francisco’s famous seaside restaurant Cliff House, according to Guittard, is a classic for a reason. Let our pain be your gain, and read on for our favorite hot chocolates that we think you and your family will love-and which ones your children will cherish reminding you that you inflicted upon them for decades to come. The unfortunate truth is that not all hot chocolate (or hot cocoa, depending on the recipe) is created equal, and while my fellow evaluators and I were going from one hot chocolatey drink to another in the service of our readers, we discovered this somewhat painfully. Particularly because hot chocolate is a precious treat, and one that’s not super healthy in excess, we set out to discover which hot chocolates deserve a spot in front of your fireplace and which you can toss to the curb. The lightly sweet, creamy beverage was a mainstay of the mild California winters of my childhood, and I’m particularly grateful for it now that I’m shivering for five months a year on the Eastern Seaboard. But hands-down, my favorite way to make the cold season more bearable is with an occasional mug of hot chocolate.
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