18 Hot Cocoa Mixes, Ranked From Worst To Best

A satisfying mug of hot chocolate is the rare beverage that children and adults can agree on — but not all hot chocolates are the same. The quality of the cocoa used, the inclusion of thickeners and additives, and even the instructions mean flavor and texture vary wildly from brand to brand.

I tasted 19 hot chocolates ranging from budget-friendly grocery store-brand packets to high-end canisters from chocolatiers. I spit some out after (unpleasant) tastings and there were a few that some other tasters snuck off with.

To keep things fair, I carefully followed each package's microwave instructions and leveled the tablespoon. If a label called for water, that's what I used. For brands calling for milk, I used the same 2% dairy milk. If a brand suggested milk or water, I defaulted to milk.

I awarded each hot chocolate points based on creaminess, chocolatey-ness, sweetness level, and overall balance, with detractions for powderiness and off notes. My top five hot chocolates include a few pricey-but-worth-it options, a delicious mid-range choice, and a value cocoa that strikes a balance between cost and quality.

This entry from Equal Exchange, one of the best Fair Trade coffee companies, was the worst hot chocolate in this tasting. It had us running to spit it out rather than swallowing this chocolate dishwater-flavored mess. Equal Exchange makes two of the mixes I tasted and this one called for water (the other called for milk) as well as a smaller amount of mix, coming around 57 cents per serving.

Despite included thickeners, there was absolutely no creaminess at all with a vague amount of sweetness and a slight chocolate flavor with a medley of off notes that I couldn't identify. I appreciate the company making Equal Exchange Organic Hot Cocoa an organic and Fair Trade product but this cocoa needs major retooling to approach even the cheapest, lowest-ranked mixes on the list.

Silly Cow was a disappointment. It comes in heavy-duty, reusable glass milk bottle packaging that feels expensive with an easy-open plastic snap-on cap. The issue was their directions, which tell you to use a measly two "heaping" teaspoons per 6 to 8 ounces of milk. This keeps the cost per serving down, but in this case, less isn't more.

This mix is natural cane sugar and Dutch processed cocoa powder, and it's gluten-free, non-GMO, and allergen-free. If prepared as directed, this has no aroma and was not creamy with a flat slight chocolate flavor and mild level of sweetness. It's the La Croix of hot cocoa ... it has the suggestion of hot chocolate but doesn't actually taste like it. Using more mix than suggested makes Silly Cow hot chocolate feel like a sweet and kid-friendly hot cocoa without depth.

McSteven's makes dozens of hot cocoas with different character labels like Peanuts and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, though the ingredients on many of them read the same despite having different names. This packet called for hot water. Strangely, it was one of the most expensive at $2.39 per serving on the official site and it was tooth-achingly, sickeningly sweet with no balance at all.

The chocolate flavor was flat and artificial-tasting, like a cheap chocolate bar, which can't come as that much of a surprise, since it contains artificial flavorings and thickeners. It was on the thin side, but not terrible considering it was made with water instead of milk. The latter might upgrade McSteven's double chocolate cocoa slightly in my eyes.

Numi makes organic and Fair Trade teas that landed in the middle of the rankings for the best tea brands. It called for a high one-to-one ratio of mix to liquid, which had us hopeful. The mix was mostly finely-ground pieces of chocolate which took effort to dissolve. A paleo, organic, and Fair Trade option, this was the only brand that used coconut sugar for sweetness. It around $1.44 per serving.

While the packaging says "a dash of salt," it tasted like someone at the factory confused the salt and sugar — it was overwhelmingly salty, which was unfortunate because the dark chocolate that followed was rich and enjoyable. There was a slight powderiness and dryness on the palate from the darkness of the chocolate. Ultimately, Numi Drinking Chocolate tasted like a melted high-cacao chocolate bar that had been mixed with seawater.

Swiss Miss has easy-to-use packets and calls for water or milk, which can be handy. This classic tasted strangely salty on the front end of the first sip, leading to a too-sweet finish. The level of chocolate was lacking and tasted artificial. This mix did dissolve extremely well and it was creamy enough to be enjoyable but it wasn't rich or decadent.

The ingredient list starts with sugar and corn syrup and doesn't improve from there. Cocoa is the fourth ingredient down and the taste bore that out. This was the least expensive cocoa in the test as well. If you grew up drinking Swiss Miss milk chocolate flavored hot cocoa, nostalgia may make it more enjoyable, but there are much better options available.

The 365 Organic Hot Cocoa called for hot water and took a little more mixing than most to dissolve. Despite containing only natural flavors, it had a strong artificial chocolate smell that reminded me of the scratch-and-sniff stickers of my childhoods.

This hot chocolate had a thinner texture than most but was also creamier than I expected, given it was one of the few mixes that called for being made with water. It was overly sweet with absolutely no depth. For an organic Whole Foods offering, it tasted cheap (it was around 40 cents per serving, so it's budget-friendly) and it reminded us of the kind of hot cocoa you might buy from kids at a stand — without the cute smiles, of course.

The Starbucks Double Chocolate Hot Cocoa is a passable but not great hot chocolate. It contains both Dutched and natural cocoa powders, which may be why I thought the chocolate flavor tasted full and round. Detracting from that flavor was an odd off-note that tasted plasticky. One of the tasters detected an almost medicinal note.

It had a slight powderiness and there were a few stubborn lumps of mix that never dissolved despite best efforts. The body was fairly creamy, especially considering the clean ingredients list that didn't include any artificial thickeners. The label says it includes little bits of real chocolate, but it just looked like a coarser regular cocoa mix to us. If it weren't for that strange off-note, Starbucks double chocolate hot cocoa would've ranked higher.

This was a pleasant surprise. One of the tasters said this was "pretty good" and they were shocked to find out it was a Target store-brand packet that cost less than three quarters per serving. This cocoa had one of the darkest colors in the test, a simple ingredient list that included sugar, Dutched cocoa powder, and natural flavoring, and a warm, inviting aroma.

I found Good & Gather double chocolate cocoa mix to be a little bit too sweet but with an enjoyable dark chocolate flavor that still fell a little flat. I wished it had a tiny bit of salt to balance the sweetness and dark chocolate. It was a creamy mug of hot chocolate but had a little lingering powderiness. It's a solid hot cocoa for the price and ease of availability.

Chamberlain Coffee Cocoa Grizzly Hot Chocolate is an organic mix made by a popular coffee company. I found this one on Amazon and it shipped and arrived quickly.

The ingredients are kept simple: organic sugar, cocoa, and milk. The packaging claims it can also be used to make frozen hot chocolate, but I had some difficulty dissolving this in hot milk, so I are curious how true that is.

The level of sweetness in this hot chocolate felt just right, but it wasn't quite chocolatey enough. I noted it wasn't at all powdery but that it smelled better than it tasted. This wasn't bad hot cocoa by any means, but for the price, there are better options.

I was not looking forward to trying this organic hot cocoa after tasting Equal Exchange's regular hot cocoa. I was surprised to see that this one called for milk, not water, and that it used more powder per cup compared to their other variety, which upped the cost per serving.

Thankfully, this tasted like a completely different brand. It had a deep, dark chocolate flavor that wouldn't be enjoyed by children and reminded us more of "drinking chocolate" than traditional hot cocoa. The dark chocolate left a bitter aftertaste that's enjoyable if you prefer higher-percentage cacao chocolate. Equal Exchange's dark hot chocolate was on the creamy side with a little powderiness on the finish. I found myself wishing this had a little more sweetness to balance the bitterness.

Hailing from Duluth, Minnesota — which the brand claims is the hot cocoa capital of the world — this hot cocoa dissolves ultra-fast. The instructions call for hot water and I was impressed with the level of creaminess and the flavor of the cocoa, although I would use milk next time.

This family-owned brand of cocoa is readily available on Amazon and it's kosher, gluten-free, and made in a nut-free facility (which is rare for hot cocoa). While it can be on the pricier end, the ingredients of this cocoa mix are clean; it contains only five ingredients, no corn syrup solids, and no artificial thickeners.

Mike & Jen's cocoa was kid-friendly but not too sweet with a slightly nutty roasted cacao note on the back end. The balance of flavor of this hot chocolate was well done and I would happily try this one again using milk.

Vermont Nut Free is a chocolatier in Vermont that makes one of my favorite nut-free snacks and high-quality chocolates that are safe for those with nut allergies. This mix dissolved well in hot milk, although the instructions were less clear than I'd have liked. (Measuring exactly 2½ tablespoons wasn't easy.)

The hot cocoa wasn't at all powdery and it was well-balanced with a nice level of sweetness that would appeal to children, but isn't so sweet that it would put off adults. It tasted like high-quality milk chocolate and the ingredient list was only three items long: sugar, Dutched cocoa, and vanilla. I noticed the vanilla in this one, adding to its appeal. While well-priced at a dollar an ounce, I wished I had used a little more Vermont Nut Free Chocolates hot cocoa mix for extra chocolatey-ness and a little more body.

Dean's Sweet is a family-owned chocolate shop in Maine. The company's Double Dark Hot Chocolate, which runs around $11 for 9-ounces, is made with 70% Belgian chocolate, organic Dutched cocoa powder, natural demerara sugar, and organic vanilla.

This had the most unique texture of any mix, featuring a blend of full-size chocolate chips and powder. It never dissolved completely, and had a hint of powderiness texture-wise as well as a passable level of creaminess, although not as much as I expected given the chunks of chocolate.

This is another nut-free brand and it was one of the most adult-tasting hot cocoas I tasted. The sweetness level is restrained if slightly lacking and it has a deep, dark chocolate flavor. Is this a general all-purpose cocoa mix? Not really. Did I relish finishing this cup? Absolutely.

If you're looking for the best possible hot cocoa for a crowd, this is it. Ghirardelli, the oldest continuously run chocolate factory in the U.S., makes this Double Chocolate Hot Cocoa Mix that dissolved into hot milk with ease and had a welcoming chocolatey smell.

It had a deeper chocolate flavor with roasty notes I didn't detect in many of the other samples and a sweetness level the tasters unanimously agreed was just right. One of the only detractions was a slight powderiness towards the tail end of the sips. Otherwise, Ghirardelli hot cocoa mix was creamy and well-balanced.

The ingredients on this one included both cocoa and unsweetened chocolate, which was unusual at this price point of $13 and made the difference in the depth of flavor. I enjoyed this one and think it's by far the best value — it was just barely more expensive per serving than Swiss Miss, which was the cheapest hot cocoa I tested.

This hot chocolate from French Broad Chocolates in Asheville, North Carolina, one of the best bean-to-bar chocolatiers, was the only sample I tested that was just straight chocolate chips. The chips melted well after letting them stand in near-boiling milk. There was a creamy but not overly thick body to this hot chocolate and of course no powderiness due to the nature of the mix, although it had a slight dryness from the dark chocolate.

This hot cocoa had a deep, dark chocolate flavor with a slight and enjoyable level of bitterness and some delicate fruity notes on the back end. Some of my tasters wished this one was slightly sweeter, but we all agreed this was the best dark chocolate hot cocoa we tasted.

French Broad Chocolate's Milk Chocolate Sipping Chocolate melted equally well, if not even better than their dark chocolate version. French Broad Chocolates explains this one is made using their brown butter milk chocolate, which had a fruity aroma and a similarly creaminess to their dark chocolate version.

I was surprised by the complex bouquet of berry notes and light nutty notes (likely the brown butter). It was an interesting flavor that one of the tasters was obsessed with and another said tasted too fruity. The sweetness level on this one was absolutely perfect. The instructions on this label and the dark chocolate version also included a "liquid truffle" recipe that reduces the liquid and replaces the milk with half and half. 

Lake Champlain's Traditional Organic Hot Chocolate dissolved well but not quite as fast as some of the other brands, and it had no powdery aftertaste. This dairy-free hot chocolate was velvety and creamy with a lingering aftertaste of high-end chocolate that bordered on dark. The sweetness level was perfect and the overall flavor balance was flawless. 

The organic and Fair Trade-Certified ingredients are the fewest of any I ranked: just sugar and Dutched cocoa. This mug was shockingly creamy given the lack of thickeners and a moderate proportion of mix to milk. Given how highly this one ranked and its moderate price point of a dollar an ounce, this would be a delectable hot cocoa to keep in your pantry all winter.

Jacques Torres Hot Chocolate, Tasting Table's third-favorite hot chocolate in NYC, was the priciest hot cocoa I tasted at a whopping $25 for 14 ounces. It's worth every penny. The mix had small pebbles of chocolate mixed with powder and called for a high ratio of mix to milk, which is probably why it was so creamy and decadent. Despite the high amount of mix, there was zero powderiness. The ingredients include dark chocolate, dry whole milk, and several thickeners, which explains the silky, thick texture.

Jacques Torres hot chocolate mix is luscious, and on the restrained side of sweet without any bitterness. While no child would say no to a mug of this rich, chocolatey cocoa, this is a secret-stash luxury you won't want to share. I could see skimping on the mix a little to stretch this beyond the seven servings one canister makes. I plan to make this my special-occasion hot cocoa around here.

To prepare for this article, I researched consumer reports and opinions to collect a list of hot chocolate brands that would span the economic spectrum. The goal of this list was to bring together and compare high end brands with hot chocolates that are budgeted-conscious.

Once I had made my list and purchased each company's basic options, I approached the trial process with science. I followed each package's microwave instructions and used a level tablespoon. The only place I deviated was in the directions of the chocolate brands — I used the water for those that called for it. For hot cocoa packets that instructed for milk, I used the same type of two percent dairy milk. If no liquid was specified, I defaulted to milk. I ranked these hot cocoa brands with points awarded for creaminess, chocolate profile, sweetness, and how well it was all balanced together. Each cocoa was marked off if it failed to blend or felt powdery.