The Good: Tastes good
The Bad: Not the most environmentally impressive packaging, Not best chocolate flavor.
The Basics: A simple box of Swiss Miss Milk Chocolate Hot Cocoa is worth looking into for anyone who wants to drink good hot cocoa.
In the world of food and drink, there are some baselines, some obvious standards and it seems like I seldom encounter them because in years of consuming various food and drinks, I have refined my palate more than simply just accepting the basics. This is, at least, my hope, for I have no other real excuse for avoiding such things as plain milk chocolate hot cocoa. In one of my reviews - and later in one of my novels - I refer to black coffee as the missionary position of the coffee drinker's world. To extend the metaphor, milk chocolate flavored hot cocoa would be the missionary position of the hot cocoa world. Still, even within that baseline, there are better and worse experiences.
For my money, the only milk chocolate flavor hot cocoa I still buy is Swiss Miss Milk Chocolate flavored hot cocoa, which might seem odd given my panning of Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate With Marshmallows (reviewed here!). There are better flavors, both by Swiss Miss and other companies, like Swiss Miss’s Dark Chocolate Sensation (reviewed here!) but for a good basic cup of milk chocolate hot cocoa, it is hard to go wrong with Swiss Miss Milk Chocolate hot cocoa.
Basics
Swiss Miss Milk Chocolate Hot Cocoa mix is a hot chocolate mix put out by Swiss Miss. The box of hot cocoa packets is a pretty standard ten oz. box, containing ten one-ounce packets of hot chocolate. Trading on the general flavor of milk chocolate, Swiss Miss establishes a decent - if average - baseline for hot cocoa drinkers. Anyone looking for a basic dessert beverage will find a lot to enjoy with this.
Ease Of Preparation
Swiss Miss Milk Chocolate Hot Cocoa mix is very easy to prepare, as most hot chocolate products are. Because each packet in the box is a single serving, one need only have a mug large enough to accommodate the powdered mix and some water with a little room for mixing it around. Because the powder has some mass to it before it is dissolved, I recommend using an 8 oz. mug.
Preparation is simple; empty the contents of a single packet from the box of eight into an eight ounce mug. Bring a pot of water to a near-boil - the Milk Chocolate hot cocoa does not require boiling water, just very hot water. Boiling the water does not cook the powder, so if one does boil the water, there is no adverse consequence to the beverage. Once the water is hot, simply pour six to eight fluid ounces of water over the powder and stir it up. It is that easy to make!
Taste
Swiss Miss Milk Chocolate hot cocoa has a very good aroma to it, instantly preparing the consumer for a beverage that tastes like chocolate. The scent is mildly cocoa flavor and is scented recognizably like chocolate. Anyone who has ever had a milk chocolate candy bar will recognize the scent from chocolate on a warm day.
This milk chocolate flavored hot cocoa is very smooth. Hot, it tastes very milky with a bitter cocoa aftertaste. Interestingly enough, cooler drops licked off one's lips have a more sugary taste, which does not come across when the beverage is hot. This tastes like warmed chocolate milk and it is quite good. It also leaves for very little to be written about it; Swiss Miss lives up to its promise by providing a drink - with water or milk - that tastes like liquid milk chocolate.
As the beverage cools, the chocolate flavor comes out more, but the drink becomes far less of a satisfying thirst-quencher. This is a good comfort drink, though, and it is a close approximation of milk chocolate.
Nutrition
Swiss Miss Milk Chocolate Hot Cocoa is a chocolately drink, so any expectation that this is a beverage that is going to meet a lot of one's daily needs is fairly unrealistic. Still, there are worse beverages out on the market. One serving - a single packet - has 150 calories, twenty-five of which are from fat. With three grams of fat, this drink is not a dieter's beverage, but it could be worse. This Milk Chocolate flavored hot cocoa has no cholesterol or any vitamin or mineral nutrients, outside calcium (which it has an impressive 30% of the RDA!), but it does have 190 mg of sodium. This is not a food to try to live off of.
It is hardly a surprise that Swiss Miss Milk Chocolate Hot Cocoa is not a nutritious food product considering that the primary ingredients are sugar, corn syrup, and modified whey. For those with allergies, it is noted on the package that the powder contains milk and there is no notation that this is gluten-free.
Storage/Clean-up
Swiss Miss Milk Chocolate Hot Cocoa mix is ridiculously easy to store and clean up. Because the packets are individual servings and self-contained, as long as one does not store the packets underwater, they will last. My box of cocoa, purchased in June 2009, has an expiration date in January 2011, but it is hard to imagine this would not last past the expiration date so long as the packets inside are kept cool and dry.
Cleaning up Swiss Miss Milk Chocolate Hot Cocoa mix is easy, as it is a powder which may be easily brushed up. If one spills it after it is mixed with water, it is likely to stain lighter fabrics and one ought to consult one's fabric guide for cleaning if that happens. Mugs, though, clean right out with hot water as this fluid does not stain ceramics.
Overall
A very average, but delicious, beverage, Swiss Miss Milk Chocolate Hot Cocoa forms an excellent baseline for those who want to drink hot cocoa and enjoy the experience!
For other hot chocolate drink reviews, please check out my takes on:
Nestles Chocolate Mint Hot Cocoa
Land O’Lakes Chocolate Supreme
Bigelow White Chocolate Kisses Tea
5/10
For other food and drink reviews, please click here to visit my index page!
© 2011, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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