Time for another hot chocolate drink review from your Chocolate Priestess. You may recall, Sisters and Brothers, that I have reviewed two wonderful products from Intentional Chocolate in the past and loved them both. Sadly not everything a company makes can meet the standards of The Chocolate Cult.
They sent me this 7oz bag of their "Dark Hot Chocolate" and reading the instructions I could see this would have the consistency of a sipping chocolate rather than a hot cocoa drink. That means it would be thicker and richer but the bag said you could add more water or even milk to change it it you wanted so I added an extra amount of water which seemed to create a more hot cocoa like link that still looked thick and rich. The smell was amazing when I opened the bag and when it was mixed. Clearly there was cinnamon in the spices added to the products, spices that are not specified for so if that is an allergy concern you are forewarned. The solid chocolate pieces were much lighter in color than I expected 68% cocoa content as the label listed but they melted and blended with the hot water very well as you can see in the photo below.
I shared it with three others and got their perspectives on the drink as well. Unfortunately they all concurred with the opinion I'm about to share. This was a very disappointing chocolate drink. The smell continued to be enticing but the cinnamon and spice nature of it should have been our hint that the cocoa was to to fade on this drink. It didn't fade however, it was simply overpowered by the spices. When it was hot, on the verge of almost too hot to sip, it tasted the best. The chocolate remained smooth, the cocoa was still there through not the principal essence.
Then it started to cool off and it cooled off quickly and this created several problems. First, the spices completely overwhelmed the cocoa flavors and it was like we were drinking cinnamon -- not what we want here on The Chocolate Cult. Second, the flavor intensified and become too powerful even for the cinnamon lover in the group. Finally the chocolate started to separate from the water and formed a grainy texture that was unpleasant. Add to all this that this one bag made 7 servings (very small servings I might add) with 99 calories, 7g saturated fat, 9g sugars, and 1g protein, and there really aren't health benefits here either at 68% cacao to make it worth your drinking.
While I can still recommend the solid chocolates from Intentional Chocolate, I can't recommend this product especially when this is a not a dollar purchase from Kroger as a previously bad hot cocoa we revealed here was.
Then it started to cool off and it cooled off quickly and this created several problems. First, the spices completely overwhelmed the cocoa flavors and it was like we were drinking cinnamon -- not what we want here on The Chocolate Cult. Second, the flavor intensified and become too powerful even for the cinnamon lover in the group. Finally the chocolate started to separate from the water and formed a grainy texture that was unpleasant. Add to all this that this one bag made 7 servings (very small servings I might add) with 99 calories, 7g saturated fat, 9g sugars, and 1g protein, and there really aren't health benefits here either at 68% cacao to make it worth your drinking.
While I can still recommend the solid chocolates from Intentional Chocolate, I can't recommend this product especially when this is a not a dollar purchase from Kroger as a previously bad hot cocoa we revealed here was.
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