# Best Hot Chocolate Mixes Tested

> Starbucks Classic, Guittard, and Dandelion Chocolate win taste tests for hot cocoa.
- Title: Best Hot Chocolate Mixes Tested · Bon Appétit | Shortify
- Summary: Starbucks Classic, Guittard, and Dandelion Chocolate win taste tests for hot cocoa. Starbucks Classic Hot Cocoa, Guittard Grand Cacao, and Dandelion House…
- Keywords: starbucks, guittard, dandelion chocolate, hot chocolate mix, bon appetit, taste test, cocoa flavor, sweetness, texture, food, lifestyle, Best
- Source: Bon Appétit — https://bonappetit.com/story/best-hot-chocolate-mix
- Author: Sam Stone
- Published: 2022-12-07T21:00:00+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: starbucks, guittard, dandelion chocolate, hot chocolate mix, bon appetit, taste test, cocoa flavor, sweetness, texture, food, lifestyle
## What makes a good hot chocolate mix
A good instant hot chocolate mix should deliver deep chocolate flavor and creamy consistency without melting or chopping.
## We tested 15 hot chocolate mixes
We sampled 15 supermarket and specialty varieties including Swiss Miss, Starbucks, Ghirardelli, Guittard, Dandelion Chocolate, Jacques Torres, and Valrhona.
## Starbucks Classic won for classic cocoa
Starbucks Classic Hot Cocoa tasted like childhood hot chocolate with satisfying milk-chocolate flavor and silky texture.

> Tasters immediately recognized this as "classic cocoa," as senior cooking editor Kelsey Jane Youngman put it.
## Guittard for richer chocolate
Guittard Grand Cacao Drinking Chocolate offers deep chocolate flavor and smooth texture with a bittersweet balance.

> Guittard makes some of our favorite chocolate chips and the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen’s go-to cocoa powder, so we had high hopes for its hot cocoa.
## Dandelion Chocolate for complex flavor
Dandelion House Hot Chocolate Mix delivers fruity, intensely chocolaty flavor with a velvety consistency.

> Tasters picked up notes of red berries buried in the deep chocolate flavor, a reminder, per senior Test Kitchen editor Jesse Szewczyk, that cacao is indeed a fruit.
## Why these mixes won
Starbucks Classic balanced sweetness and chocolate flavor, Guittard struck a bittersweet balance, and Dandelion offered complex, fruity notes.

> Guittard struck an ideal bittersweet balance with "just enough sweetness to get away with it," according to food director Chris Morocco.
## Other mixes we tried
Abuelita Mexican-Style, Cadbury, Ghirardelli, Great Value, Jacques Torres, Lake Champlain, Nestlé, Raaka, Sillycow Farms, Swiss Miss, Trader Joe’s, Valrhona, and Vosges La Parisienne were tested.

> Cadbury Hot Chocolate: An overpowering sweetness muddied any true chocolate flavor.
## How we tested
We prepared each mix according to package instructions using hot water or milk, then served it warm in individual cups.
## Key takeaway

Starbucks Classic Hot Cocoa, Guittard Grand Cacao, and Dandelion House Hot Chocolate Mix were the top three hot chocolate mixes tested by Bon Appétit.