Hot Chocolate - Tried and Tasted

When the weather's cold, we all fancy something nice to warm us through. Why deprive yourself of the luxury of mug of hot chocolate before bed, when there are so many low calorie instant drinks available. Find out what our panel think…  

Remember, the Tried and Tasted Team don’t know which product is which, so there’s no bias involved!

Table 1: Low Calorie Hot Chocolate Compared

Product	Pleasure, Instant Hot Chocolate Drink, Options*	Caffe Latte, High Lights, Cadbury*	Chocolatey Ovaltine Light, Hi-Malt Instant Drink, Ovaltine*
Ranking	1	2	3
Taste/Texture	The panel's favourite. This was a rich chocolate drink with a velvety brown colour. It looks good and tastes good - the best by far! .	If you like coffee - you'll like this caffe latte from Cadbury's. A smooth, creamy and rich chocolate/coffee drink - and only 40 kcals a mug.	If you're more of a malt addict you'll like this chocolate malted drink from Ovaltine. It has a nice appearance and flavoursome taste.
Calorie Content per Bowl	68 (per 36g sachet)	40 (per 22g sachet)	72 (per 20g serving)

Table 2: More Low Calorie Hot Chocolate Compared

Product	Instant Hot Chocolate Drink, Be Good to Yourself, Sainsbury's*	Instant Hot Chocolate Drink, Good for You, Asda*
Ranking	4	5
Taste/Texture	A watery appearance and a watery consistency. There wasn't much chocolate in this one - and it had a artificial sweet after taste. Not recommended.	This one had a pleasing chocolatey colour, but again was watery in consistency. Not favoured.
Calorie Content per Bowl	101 (per 28g sachet)	101 (per 105g serving)

Option's Pleasure was the outstanding hot chocolate drink. Notably the chocolate/coffee and chocolate/malt drinks were also greatly favoured - depending on taste. The panel were surprised that Sainsbury's and Asda's - which were watery and lacking in chocolate taste - were the highest in calories!

"I would like to add Clipper Organic Double Chocolate ... high in kcal at 98 for the sachet, but very chocolatey in flavour and not too sweet. It has no aftertaste as there is no artificial sweetener, just sugar. It's more expensive than the twin sachets, but I feel it's nicer and therefore justifies the cost!" MINDY, WLR Member