Classic French chocolate with the brand image of the dancing foal (the company name, Poulain, is French for foal). The company was founded by Victor-Auguste Poulain in 1893, who had been making chocolate products since 1848. Poulain drinking chocolate has been a favourite breakfast drink in France since the 1940s.
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It's a milky sweet chocolate drink. Not hugely chocolatey, but certainly sweet and easy drinking. We like it.
Date: May 2021 Score: 7
I made this with 2/3rds hot water and 1/3rd cold milk. Perfect. A smooth chocolatey drink which does taste of Galaxy. Nice one. I'd go for this again.
Date: April 2021 Score: 6
The creamy froth, chocolate sprinkles, and Nice biscuit do not come with the packet! The mug on the right is what the product looks like when made up as directed.
This is a cheap, convenient, and tasty little instant chocolate drink. The little sachets are good to take when staying a night or two in hotels which give you a kettle, but only tea or coffee sachets. You can also use them at home, though I prefer the flexibility, the economy, and the more environmentally friendly larger containers. Not sure, though, if Mokate do the standard containers - all Mokate products I've had in the past have been in sachet form.
This is not a top quality product, but it is tasty and quite drinkable.
Date: April 2021 Score: 4
Horlicks is awesome. Sweet, malty, milky goodness.
Horlicks is a malted milk drink. Malted milk was devised by James Horlicks in the 1860s in England as an infant food supplement, but had no success marketing, so moved to America to join his brother where they developed the idea, and in 1873 formed the Horlicks company. Though intended as infant formula, it found success as a nutritional food for explorers, and was taken to the South Pole, where a range of mountains is called Horlicks Mountains. The formula was used to create Malted Milk biscuits, launched malt (or soda) shops, and became hugely popular in the UK as an evening drink at home and in hospital.
Date: April 2021 Score: 9
Ovaltine is a milky barley malt drink that is traditionally drunk in the evening. It looks good, tastes good, and by golly it does you good (to borrow a Mackeson advertising slogan). It was promoted with images of health and goodness. I worked for a while at the Ovaltine factory in Kings Langley opposite the Ovaltine dairy farm. These days it's a housing estate, though they have retained the art deco frontage.
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| The Ovaltine factory and farms in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire |
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| As it is today, converted into flats, with just the facade remaining. |
Though I had always assumed it was a a British product (and indeed it has been owned by a British firm Associated British Foods (ABF) since 2002) it was developed and owned by a Swiss firm, and since the closure of the Kings Langley factory in 2002 when it was taken over by ABF production of European Ovaltine has returned to Switzerland. There are different versions of Ovaltine (or Ovomaltine as it was originally named, and is still called in many parts of the world); originally it contained egg, and it still does in many parts of the world, but not in the UK. Some versions contain cocoa, some don't, and some contain extra cocoa. This is a UK version which contains more cocoa than the standard British Ovaltine. ABF also own Primark and Twinning's.
This can be made hot or cold. It can be made with water or milk, or a mix of both. And, of course, it can be blended with other cocoa or hot chocolate products (we like to play around and experiment!).
We like this. A lot. Not a huge chocolate flavour, so not really for hot chocolate enthusiasts. It has a wonderful malt flavour. I like malt. The balance between the malt and the cocoa, for me, is nicely judged so the flavours complement each other, with no one dominating.
Make with milk or part milk for an extra smooth creamy indulgent experience.
Nice one!
Date: Lockdown Feb 2021 Score: 8
The Cadbury's hot chocolate is flexible and stands up well. It is milky and easy drinking. The Sainsbury's Cocoa, even with a spoon of sugar, tasted a little bitter, and a little powdery. We liked it the least. I was impressed by the Tesco Drinking Chocolate, and that, for me, was the clear winner. Good chocolate flavour. Good body. It tasted smooth, chocolatey and indulgent. Not too sweet - you can add your own sugar to personal taste. I like that.
In order:
1st - Tesco Indulgent Drinking Chocolate
2nd - Cadbury
3rd - Sainsbury's Cocoa
Date: Feb 2021
All three of these are cocoa powders. Van Houten's is the original Dutch process cocoa. Sainsbury's Cocoa is made in Amsterdam. It could well be made by Van Houten, though it looks darker. Cadbury's is the only one to have added ingredients, and is around 50% sugar.
Cadbury's tastes like milk chocolate. Which is odd because there is no milk powder in the ingredients. All three were made the same way, with the same amount of fresh milk. Yet, it does taste like liquid milk chocolate. It is the least complicated of the three. The one that is most familiar and comforting. It suprised me how well it stands up to the others. You can spot the difference straight away, but though it is different, that's not in itself a weakness - just a difference. Like the difference between Paul McCartney and John Lennon. Lennon is without a doubt the more interesting, but also the more demanding and challenging. On the whole Lennon is more rewarding, worthwhile, and significant. But sometimes a McCartney song will have the greater appeal. The Dutch cocoa powders are John Lennon, while Cadbury's is Paul McCartney. Van Houten's has extra flavours and complexities which make it the more interesting. Sainsbury's cocoa is more robust. It's more straightforwardly chocolatey, edging to the dark chocolate, but not too dark. It perhaps lacks some of the subtle complexities and flavours of the Van Houten.
They each have their appeals, and I have learned a new respect for the Cadbury, which does taste quite smooth and velvety next to the rougher Dutch powders (and what I found worked really well, was a blend of Van Houten and Cadbury to combine the smoothness of the Cadbury's with the more interesting flavours of the Van Houten).
In order:
1st: Van Houten
2nd; Sansbury's
3rd: Cadbury's
