Geels & Co Cacao

 

Very old bag of chocolate brought back from Amsterdam last century! Bought in the famous Geels & Co coffee shop. Been hidden away at the back of the cupboard. My gosh, we've moved house twice since we bought this!  I made it with milk at boiling point in the microwave, stirring and reheating, and then adding sugar to taste. Great stuff. Proper chocolate taste. Just the right sweetness (of course - by adding in your own sugar you can adjust the amount to your own taste). This was very satisfying. Good body. Good texture. Great taste. Worth the minimal extra effort. 

Date: Jan 2021   Score: 8  

Twinings Options After Dinner Mint

 

This is an instant hot chocolate to wish you add hot milk. It already contains dried milk as with other instant hot chocolates, but it suggests only two spoonfuls of powder as opposed to the four which the regular instants ask for.  We've had this in the cupboard for a while now, and I'm not sure it's sold anymore - I think it may have a new name - Belgian Choc Mint. 

Using milk gives the drink a fuller and more silky mouthfeel. I sometimes use milk instead of water on other instant choc drinks, and it does work. I tried adding some creme fraiche the other day to a Lidl hot chocolate, and while it did add creamy body, it also brought in a sour note which didn't quite work. I think cream would work, but not creme fraiche. 

This is an attractive and appealing hot choc - a little sweet for my taste, and not quite enough chocolate, but it is pleasant and drinkable with an attractive mint flavour to freshen it up. 

Date: Jan 2021   Score: 6

***

Twinings

Tesco Finest Indulgent Drinking Chocolate Santo Domingo Single Origin

 

Not an instant hot chocolate. This one you add hot milk to it rather than hot water, but other than that it's the same thing. You don't need to cook it, just pour on the hot milk and stir. 

Info and instructions

There's not a lot of difference between this and regular instant hot chocolates. That it is single estate chocolate appears to be fairly meaningless as the cocoa powder is half sugar anyway, and will then be swamped in the milk. The character of the chocolate bean is likely to get lost under all that. We like it, but it is perhaps less silky and indulgent than the instants - perhaps due to the lack of dried milk in the ingredients. 

We tried it with some creme fraiche, and while that added body and silk, it was the wrong sort of cream, because it also added a sour note which didn't sit well with us. 

Date: Jan 2021    Score: 6

This is a pleasant hot chocolate. Easy drinking with a pleasant milky chocolate taste. We like it a little more than last time.  And it's in a new recyclable/reusable tin. 

 

The chocolate is named Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic.  The Dominican Republic is one of the top ten producers and exporters of cocoa beans, and the Ciboa Valley, from where these beans come from, is a major grower of cocoa beans.  Columbus searched for gold in the valley. 

Date: Nov 2022  Score: 7