Three Chocolate Drinks

I thought today would be a great day for a cup of hot chocolate.  Being lazy, I decided I would drink one of my “canned” chocolate drinks instead of making it from scratch.  So, opening the cupboard, I found I had, not one, but three different hot chocolate drink mixes.  I may be lazy, but I can never pass up an opportunity to taste test comparable items.

In my cupboard are: Godiva’s Hot Cocoa (dark chocolate), TCHO’s Hot and Cold Drinking Chocolate, and Ghirardelli’s Drinking Chocolate.  Because I love THCO’s professional melting chocolate so much, I figured it would probably be my favorite.  As such, I decided to make it the last one, so I would enjoy it staying on my tongue after the tasting was completed.

For this tasting, I heated three ounces of non-fat milk in a glass mug and added four tablespoons of chocolate after the milk was heated.  I whisked the chocolate with my Aerolatte milk frother for thirty seconds.

First up: Ghirardelli.  This comes in very miniature kisses.  When I poured the chocolate into the cup, the kisses fell straight to the bottom of the mug.  In when the Aerolatte and moments later, the milk turned a dark chocolaty brown.  The drink has a nice rich chocolaty flavor which lingers nicely in the mouth after swallowing.  The expected sugary spike never appeared.  I find Ghirardelli chocolate, in general, to have a telltale sweet spike moments after biting into their chocolate bars.  All in all, it seems to be a decent drink.  The one noticeable downside was the whisking.  Even after thirty seconds of frothing with an Aerolatte, all the chocolate did not dissolve.  There was some stuck to the sides near the bottom of the mug.

Godiva was next on the tasting list.  This powdered drink mix incorporated easily and quickly.  Unlike Ghirardelli, there was nothing stuck to the glass.  As for taste, yet another deliciously dark chocolate drink.  Godiva’s flavor lingered even longer than the Ghirardelli.  The texture has a noticeable dusty texture to it: a feature I do not particularly like.

Finally, my favorite chocolate company: TCHO.  While it is the smallest can, my expectations were large.  The chocolate mix is a collection of coarse granules, and unlike the other two brands in this taste test, listed chocolate as its main ingredient.  The other brands listed sugar as their number one ingredient.  TCHO is the only one to suggest it would mix well as a cold drink.  When mixed, the chocolate dissolved completely.  The taste was on par with the other two, if not slightly better.  Unlike Godiva, there was no dusty mouth feel.  Unlike both Ghirardelli and Godiva, TCHO’s chocolate flavor did not linger anywhere near as long.  I found this disappointing.  I also noticed the intensity of the chocolate was less than I am used to.  Normally, I mix this chocolate with hot water instead of milk. With a water preparation, the chocolate flavor is markedly intense.

In conclusion, none of the three are bad.  Aside from the fact that no chocolate is bad chocolate, each of these provides a very pleasant experience.  I will probably stick to TCHO or Ghirardelli since I don’t care for the dusty mouth feel.  Should I run out of either of them, I will not turn down the Godiva.