Bought from Tesco where it is normally £3 for 300g, but is reduced to £2 if you have a Clubcard (which I do). There are little lumps of powder floating on the surface which I couldn't stir away, so points deducted for that - probably due to the bulking agents they add to give the "Rich & Creamy" texture. Yes, it is smooth, but it's also surprisingly bland. There is some chocolate flavour in here, but it is a characterless chocolate which is rather dwarfed by the sugar and the "creaminess".
This sort of sits between cocoa/hot chocolate and instant hot chocolate/drinking chocolate - it's not pure cocoa because it has sugar and thickeners and junk in it, but it's not instant hot chocolate because it doesn't have milk powder in it. If you're going to make your hot chocolate drink with milk, then use a cocoa powder, and add your own sugar. It's not brain science, and you end up with a drink that is tailored to your own taste, and way, way cheaper, and doesn't contain garbage chemicals.
Though it has the Costa brand name on it, the chocolate is made by AllAboutFood Ltd, who do similar things for other brand names. Well, looking at their website, it appears they don't make the chocolate - they just do the branding. It appears that they commission the products from other companies, as their team are creatives rather than manufacturers. They are sort of middle men. Ho hum. So, I wonder who does make this? Possibly Aimia Foods, who specialise in this sort of thing.
In short: drinkable, but bland and full of chemicals. And too expensive due to paying too many companies who are not actually involved in making the chocolate.
Date: Sept 2021 Score: 4
