Most grocery-store hot chocolate is built to dissolve in a mug of hot water with a spoon. To get there, many mixes lean on milk solids, corn syrup, and added oils to do the work real chocolate would do.
Ours doesn't. Every tin starts with Guittard chocolate, and every ingredient list is short enough to read in one breath. There's no milk powder and nothing standing in for chocolate.
That choice changes how it behaves. Real cocoa and ground chocolate need heat, a whisk, and warm milk to come together. Water won't do it.
It also changes how it tastes. This is dark drinking chocolate, closer to what you'd order at a café that takes chocolate seriously than to anything from a packet. If you grew up on the sweet stuff, the first sip may surprise you. We left room for that on purpose, and further down we'll show you how to make it as sweet or as rich as you like.
Why Guittard
Étienne Guittard left Tournus, France, for San Francisco in the mid-1800s to find gold. He didn't. Instead, he brought chocolate from his uncle's factory to trade for mining supplies, and the miners were willing to pay a premium for it.
So he sailed back to France, learned the craft properly, and in 1868 opened Guittard Chocolate on Sansome Street. In this shop he sold more than chocolate; he sold coffee, tea, and spices there too!
A chocolate maker with a spice shelf. We like him already.
The company he started is still family-owned, with the fifth generation of Guittards now in the business, and it's the oldest continuously family-owned chocolate company in the United States. We buy from them directly, as a wholesale customer, for one reason: we think it's the best-tasting drinking chocolate we've found.
Here's why we love it.
Plain cocoa powder is what remains after most of the cocoa butter has been pressed out of ground cacao. It tastes intensely of chocolate but feels thin in a mug. Guittard's drinking chocolate grinds real chocolate, cacao beans and cocoa butter included, back into the cocoa. That returned fat gives the cup body, the kind you can taste and feel with each sip.
The cocoa is also Dutch-processed. That means it's treated with an alkali to bring the acidity down, which darkens it to a deep red-brown and rounds out the flavour. You taste chocolate instead of sharpness. Cane sugar and real vanilla beans finish the base, and that's the whole list.
We didn't land on Guittard by default. Our culinary team tested drinking chocolates rigorously before launching this line and chose Guittard. A year after launch, they ran the test again to see whether anything had caught up. Nothing had.
Made With No Dairy Ingredients
Every one of our hot chocolates is made with no dairy ingredients. That was deliberate.
That starts with the chocolate itself. Guittard makes the drinking chocolate we use on a segregated line without milk protein. Milk ingredients are present elsewhere in its facility, though, so if you have a severe milk allergy, check the label and their website before you make the call that’s right for you.
The grocery store mix with milk powder already inside makes a decision for you. Ours leaves that decision with you. Whole milk, oat milk, almond milk, a splash of cream: the tin works with whatever is in your fridge.
The milk you pick does change the cup. Whole milk gives the fullest body. Among plant milks, oat comes closest, since it's naturally creamy and froths well. Almond and other thinner milks make a lighter cup, so add an extra spoonful of chocolate if you want it richer.
How to Make the Perfect Cup
The ratio on every tin is 2 tablespoons of blend to 1 cup of milk. Getting it smooth comes down to the order you do things in.
- Warm the milk first. Heat 1 cup of milk, dairy or plant, over medium-low heat until it steams and small bubbles form at the edge. Don't let it boil. Hot liquid dissolves cocoa and sugar far more readily than cold.
- Pro Tip: Make a paste. Put 2 tablespoons of blend in your mug, add a splash of the hot milk, and stir until it turns smooth and glossy with no dry pockets. This step is what prevents lumps.
- Whisk in the rest. Pour in the remaining milk while whisking. A small whisk or a handheld frother beats a spoon every time.
- Sip, then adjust. See below.
The base is dark on purpose. You decide where it lands:
- Sweeter: Stir in sugar, maple syrup, or honey to taste.
- Richer: Add a splash of heavy whipping cream, or swap a quarter of the milk for half-and-half.
- More chocolatey: Add another tablespoon of blend.
- Less heat: For Chai Spiced & Mexican, start with 1 tablespoon and add more after the first sip.
See a fine layer at the bottom of the mug? That's spice. And it's totally normal.
Ground cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom don't dissolve the way sugar does, so some settling can happen. A quick stir halfway through brings it back up!
Find Your Flavour
The line runs from Classic, our base with salt and a little cinnamon, to Chai Spiced, built on our chai masala. Mexican brings real cayenne heat, Cinnamon Roll leans toward the bakery case, and Peppermint finishes cool.
Can't pick? The 6 Pack Hot Chocolate Tasting Collection has one tin of each, plus the return of the fan-favorite, Gingerbread Hot Chocolate!
We wrote a full guide to every flavour in the box, with recipes for whatever you don't drink. Or browse the full hot chocolate collection for a 3 pack or deluxe tins of your favorite!
