4 New Hot Chocolates Reflect Different Consumer Tastes and Values
In 2004 Starbucks introduced a super indulgent hot chocolate called Chantico, which flopped. Starbucks’ customers were not yet ready for small cups of rich drinking chocolate, but in 2008 the company launched a line of gourmet flavors for their signature hot chocolate and never looked back. Since then, flavors like salted caramel, pumpkin spice, peppermint, and even white chocolate have become more common. Every year since then we’ve seen new flavors of hot chocolate, new styles, and other creative twists, not just from Starbucks, but from chocolatiers, chocolate makers, and more.
Recent Hot Chocolate Innovations
Some of the more recent hot chocolates mirror trends in the confectionery category, including a move towards less sugar, more healthful ingredients, single-origin cacao, and ingredient lists that are free of artificial flavors and preservatives. But how do they taste?
Short ingredient list—free of preservatives and artificial flavors
Cocoa bombs rose to fame in 2019 and 2020 on TikTok, and are continuing to enter the mainstream. The product line includes 4 different flavors, Classic Hot Chocolate, Chocolate & Raspberry Duet, Peppermint, and Pumpkin Spice. Individually packages shells are made from chocolate dusted in cocoa and filled with milk chocolate, and kosher marshmallows.
A private label confectioner, Debbas Gourmet launched their own brand, A’Cappella in 2020. The A’Cappella brand gained shelf space at Costco last year as a holiday specialty. Some packages come with a mixture of Cookies and Cream, Salted Caramel, Peppermint and Classic Hot Chocolate.
Tasting notes: Sweet and creamy, good chocolate flavor.
Single origin
Short ingredient list—free of preservatives and artificial flavors
According to research from IdeaBox, in value terms, the Netherlands remains the largest cocoa powder supplier worldwide, comprising 30% of global exports. Dutch manufacturer deZaan is part of Olam Cocoa, which is one of the world’s largest producers of cocoa products for industrial manufacturing. They make a range of 6 different cocoa powders for professionals and recently introduced a single origin hot chocolate.
deZaan’s new hot chocolate available for food service, labeled as 55% cocoa combines cocoa powder, cocoa mass, vanilla, and sugar. Made from Forastero beans from Ghana, it is sold in 2kg / 4.4lb bags of mix which makes 3.2gal of hot chocolate.
Tasting notes: Mixed with milk the product is very rice and indulgent with deep chocolate flavor, complex notes, an attractive dark color, and creamy texture.
Nostalgic
Convenient
Emanuel Schmerling, founder of Milkboy Swiss Chocolate shares that his company wanted to bring an authentic Swiss hot chocolate drink to the US market. The product can be mixed with water or milk, hot or cold. It’s a comforting product, likely to trigger feelings of nostalgia for Swiss expats who grew up drinking the Swiss brand Caotina. It contains many of the same ingredients and even the cannister looks similar.
The product is labeled gluten—free and GMO-free. The ingredients are sugar, fat-reduced cocoa powder 19% (fat-reduced cocoa powder, emulsifier (sunflower lecithin)), glucose, chocolate 7% (sugar, cocoa mass, fat-reduced cocoa powder, flavoring (vanillin), anti-caking agent (dicalcium phosphate), flavoring (vanillin), salt. It’s Rainforest Alliance certified and Kosher. Made with 2 heaping tablespoons of mix, each serving has a whopping 22 grams of sugar.
Tasting notes: Very sweet, notes of caramel and mild chocolate flavor.
Healthful ingredients
Convenient
This innovative drink mix comes from Donny Makower, an advocate of a plant-based diet, and Zak Zaidman, a food and beverage industry veteran with the same passion for veganism and sustainability. Touted for its super food ingredient list, it does contain a preservative and “natural flavors” and there is not much information about the cocoa.
Touted as “an easy way to get kids to consume more fruits and veggies” the nutrition label doesn’t indicate that the product offers much in the way of vitamins or minerals. It does have 6 grams of protein and only 1 gram of sugar. The instructions indicate that it can be combined with hot or cold water or non-dairy milk.
It contains organic pea powder, RDCL organic vegetable, fruit and ancient grain and seed blend (organic oat, organic banana, organic cauliflower, organic carrot, organic kale, organic spinach, organic beet, organic amaranth, organic millet, organic organic quinoa, organic buckwheat, organic broccoli, organic strawberry, silica, organic raspberry, organic blueberry, organic tart cherry, organic elderberry, organic chia, organic cranberry) coconut creamer (coconut oil, gum acacia, organic cocoa powder, alkalized cocoa powder, Himalayan pink salt, natural flavors, organic guar gum, xanthan gum, organic stevia leaf extract, and citric acid.
Tasting notes: Prepared with milk it is very creamy, but the strong taste of stevia mutes the chocolate and there are some unfamiliar not altogether pleasant vegetal flavors.
If you’re interested in making hot chocolate from scratch, check out a recipe and tips from Alice Medrich.