10 February 2011

73% Cocoa Dark Drinking Chocolate [The Chocolate Alchemist] [by @NLi10]


As it's a bit chilly at the moment I thought I'd catch up on a few things that I've been snacking on in the colder months. This hot chocolate was bought for me as a gift a while back and I saved it for the winter. It's similar to the Hotel Chocolat style hot chocolates in that this is shavings of real, dark chocolate instead of a powder. The packaging also unusually encourages you to make the drink up 'short' (1 part choc to 2 parts milk) as shots of very strong dark chocolate.

I've drunk it like this and it really does satisfy the chocolate cravings and warm you up quite quickly. I would advise sipping though, as like an espresso it's better to savour the intense flavours. I tend to make this up with double the milk and drink it 'long' like a standard hot chocolate, making it up on the hob for maximum creamy effect. This means that while the flavour isn't as intense the packet goes a lot further, and the flavour is still much stronger than your typical hot chocolate. You do have to heat the milk up quite high to get all the flakes to melt as some of them will stubbornly hide at the bottom unless heated and stirred vigorously.

Where as the Gingerbread hot choc I reviewed last by Hotel Chocolat was more about the spice and the smell this is all about the dark chocolaty hit which makes this my favourite hot chocolate at the moment. There are also recipe suggestions on the box such as using the flakes in other puddings & drinks, but they are too nice to blend in with other flavours and I think I'll keep them for when I really need heating up with a hot chocolate from my earthenware Hamburg Christmas market mug.
by NLi10

2 comments:

Mandy B said...

I loved The Chocolate Alchemist's dark drinking chocolate. BUT the factory was taken over and closed in April 2010. If you can tell me who makes similar, I'd be VERY grateful! Others all seem that much sweeter than theirs was.

cinabar said...

From a bit of internet research it seem to be trading again - BUT not with any of the original staff...