Friday, May 18, 2012

Sweeter Than It Is Dark, Nestle Dark Chocolate Hot Cocoa Is A Decent Basic Cocoa.


The Good: Good taste, Nothing terrible in the ingredients
The Bad: Not the most environmentally impressive packaging, Not the most rich, dark chocolate flavor.
The Basics: More mild than I would like for a Dark Chocolate cocoa, Nestle’s Dark Chocolate Hot Cocoa is good, but in no way exceptional.


I love hot chocolate, even in the summer. That is probably why when I was recently staying at the Homewood Suites (reviewed here!), I grabbed all of the hot cocoa I could during my stay! It was only after the fact that I realized that I had never before reviewed the Nestle Dark Chocolate hot cocoa flavor. By the end of this, Nestle may wish I had overlooked it!

Dark Chocolate is an oft-neglected flavor, so it is nice that Nestle makes at least a passing attempt at a dark chocolate hot cocoa. Sadly, it does not live up to the Land O'Lakes Classic Dark Hot Cocoa (reviewed here!), which I absolutely love. With Dark Chocolate Hot Cocoa, Nestle created what is pretty much just a basic hot cocoa, without truly living up to the flavor potential of its name.

Basics

Nestle Dark Chocolate Hot Cocoa mix is a hot chocolate mix put out by Nestle. The box of hot cocoa packets is a pretty standard package of a dozen packets in each box. Each packet contains .71 ounces packets of hot chocolate mix. Trading on the flavor of Dark Chocolate and chocolate, which is very popular as anyone who has ever had a chocolate sampler knows, Nestle establishes a very drinkable hot cocoa is a mainstay cocoa, if not an overly impressive one. This hot cocoa is very easy to find in the marketplace.

Ease Of Preparation

Nestle Dark 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 into an eight ounce mug. Bring a pot of water to a near-boil - the Dark 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 fluid ounces of water over the powder and stir it up. It is that easy to make!

Taste

Nestle Dark Chocolate Hot Cocoa has a surprisingly rich, thick chocolate scent to it that hints well at the idea of dark chocolate. In fact, the most precise way I could think to describe the scent of Dark Chocolate Hot Cocoa from Nestle would be to say that it smells like fresh-baked brownies, mid-cooling.

Unfortunately, that insinuated flavor is not borne out the actual taste of the beverage. Instead, the Nestle Dark Chocolate Hot Cocoa is surprisingly sweet and not at all bitter or particularly chocolatey. The flavor is virtually identical to some of the basic milk chocolate hot cocoas I have tried and that was a huge letdown for me. As this cocoa cools, it retains its sweetness without taking on any greater depth of chocolate flavor.

This, ultimately, becomes the base, bottom flavor for a hot cocoa, as far as I am concerned and on the flavor front it is, at best, average.

Nutrition

Nestle Dark Chocolate Hot Cocoa is a sugary 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 80 calories, only ten of which are from fat. With a single gram of fat, this drink could be a lot worse. This Dark Chocolate flavored hot cocoa has no cholesterol or any vitamin or mineral nutrients, outside calcium (which it has an anemic 2% of the RDA!), but it also only has 80 mg of sodium. This is not a food to try to live off of.

It is hardly a surprise that Nestle Dark Chocolate Hot Cocoa is not a nutritious food product considering that the primary ingredients are sugar, corn syrup solids, and dairy product solids (from milk). For those with allergies, it is noted on the package that the powder contains milk and the powder is processed on equipment that also process soy and wheat.

Storage/Clean-up

Nestle Dark 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. These keep for quite some time so long as the packets remain cool and dry.

Cleaning up Nestle Dark 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

Nestle Dark Chocolate Hot Cocoa is a very basic hot cocoa that is not at all bad, but not an especially good embodiment of dark chocolate flavor, either.

For other Nestles hot cocoas, please check out my reviews of:
Butterfinger Hot Cocoa
Nestles Chocolate Mint Hot Cocoa
Nestles Caramel Hot Cocoa

5/10

For other food and drink reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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