Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate buttons

I bought these from a National Trust gift shop at the John Constable "Hay Wain" location in Flatford - and was completely disappointed with them.  They're chocolate buttons that, when melted into a hot milk, allegedly produce a mug of salted caramel flavour hot chocolate.

They don't.

You get a mug of hot milk with some chocolate melted into it.

Much better off just eating the chocolate buttons straight out of the tin!!!!!!  (which is what I ended up doing!)

Neuhaus A L'ancienne hot chocolate

This is an unflavoured hot chocolate made by Belgian company Neuhaus and comes in a 230g brown and silver tin.  It's made with 2 teaspoons of powder to a mugful of milk and is VERY luxurious!!!  It's better than Fortnums and Whittards hot chocolate but not quite as good as the original Harrods hot chocolate - but I'd say equivalent to the new Harrods hot chocolate in the copper coloured tins.  I have only seen this for sale in the Harrods store on the Brompton Road in London for £7.50 and does not seem to be available online.  Anywhere....!!   (But if you ever come across this stuff, though, it's worth getting!)

Twinings Swiss hot chocolate drink

This chocolate is at the lower price range of the hot chocolate market - it's a tad on the watery side and rather sugary too, but pleasant enough otherwise.  It's available in most UK supermarkets (got mine at Tesco's) and also online here Twinings chocolate priced at £3.99 for a 350g tub

Harrods Praline hot chocolate

Harrods have now rebranded their hot chocolate range (as of early 2017) and at the time of writing have two flavours - this one being the Praline.  It comes in 300g bags within a copper coloured container, priced at £12 a tin.  The Praline makes a good flavour, although not as nice as their previous range of flavours (salted caramel, hazelnut, mocha).  But it's still a VERY good chocolate - made with hot milk, not the instant type, with either one or two heaped teaspoons of the chocolate mix.

This is available in their Brompton Road store in London and online HERE and presumably through their airport duty free shops at some point.

Monbana Christmas hot chocolate powder, gingerbread flavour

This is a very pleasant hot chocolate drink - it's gingerbread "flavoured" but it's not an over-the-top strong flavour.  Quite subtle but you can tell that it's there..... starts warming the mouth up nicely!  Goes very well with ginger biscuits too....!!  Made with one heaped teaspoon is good, two is better.  Wouldn't want more than that though.

This was given to me as a present so I've no idea where to buy it or how much it costs.... but I would not say no to another tin!

Whittard salted caramel hot chocolate

Now this stuff is yummy!!!  I'd put this second place to the Harrods salted caramel chocolate, as it's not QUITE as luxurious.  Again you can use a heaped teaspoon of the chocolate powder with a mug's worth of hot milk and still get a yummy mug of hot chocolate although two teaspoons makes it more chocolatey.  This one was a small tub that we got in a Christmas gift box with a mug and marshamallows, but it can be bought in a standard tub of 350g for £6 online here Salted Caramel chocolate

Whittard luxury hot chocolate

We got a small tub of this last Christmas - the full sized 350g tub costs £6 - and used one heaped teaspoon in hot milk.  Although not as spiffy as the Harrods hot chocolate, the Whittards version does make a decent tasting chocolate.  It's certainly the better of the lower cost hot chocolate drinks - I prefer the Whittards luxury choc to some of their flavoured chocs.
It can be bought online here Whittards Luxury hot chocolate

Harrods Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate drink.

This is, so far, my favourite hot chocolate drink.  This comes in a very smart metallic blue tin and contains 200g of hot chocolate powder.  The instructions on the back say to use 4 heaped teaspoons, but you can get away with using one heaped teaspoon of powder and still have a very flavoursome hot chocolate drink.  As with the other Harrods hot chocolates, this is priced at £9.95 per tin and is no longer available online or in store due to rebranding (As of March 2017)

However, they do have a Sea salted Caramel hot chocolate, 300g, in a copper tin priced at £12 available online HERE and also in store

Harrods Hazelnut Hot Chocolate drink

This is another of the Harrods powdered hot chocolate drink, presented in a metallic brown tin and priced at £9.95.  Again, despite instructions on the tin, only one heaped teaspoon of the powder is enough to make a really yummy mug-ful of hot chocolate drink - and this has a very nutty taste to it, too, reminding me some of the Ferrero Rocher chocolates in the gold wrapper!  This is well worth trying out and is available by mail order from the Harrods online shop HERE
This item is no longer available at Harrods due to rebranding (as of March 2017)

Fortnum and Masons Orange hot chocolate drink

This is another of the Fortnum & Masons hot chocolate drink range and I'm not convinced I like this.  First time I tried it, I didn't like it at all.  Second time I tried it, it tasted slightly better but not much.  It's flaked chocolate (like the caramel one of their I like) and instructions say to use 2 tablespoons of the chocolate, heat up the milk in a pan and when hot, pour a little of the milk onto the chocolate and then mix into the paste, and then pour the rest of the milk in.  It has a strong taste in my opinion but I didn't like it at all.  A friend tried it and says that it tastes like a dark chocolate rather than a milk chocolate which may explain why I don't like it.   (But then the Harrods Mocha hot choc reminds me of a 70% chocolate and I like that one)

I'm not convinced.....!!

This can be purchased from Fortnums HERE and costs £15 a tin.

Harrods Mocha Hot Chocolate drink

This is a powdered chocolate drink in a very snazzy metallic purple tin - 200g of chocolate powder for £9.99.  Despite instructions on the back of the tin, one heaped teaspoon makes a mugful of seriously yummy chocolate drink.  (Heat up the milk in a pan, using a little milk in the mug mix up with the teaspoon of chocolate powder into a paste, and then pour on the hot milk).  This has a very obvious mocha coffee flavour, and the drink reminds me of the 70% (and over) chocolate bars - not sweet but not overly bitter either.

VERY tasty and worth the price!

This can be purchased online here Harrods Mocha Chocolate 
This item is no longer available due to rebranding (as of March 2017)

Fortnum & Masons Caramel hot chocolate drink

 This is a rather luxurious hot chocolate drink, states 300g on the back of the tin but 200g on the website for £15 which seems rather extorntiate.... but.....!!!

 (top of lid)

(contents - grated chocolate rather than powder)

As this is grated chocolate, it has a slightly different mixing instruction than powder - starting with 2 level measuring tablespoons of the chocolate (and yes, it works best with that amount - you get the full taste with it).  Heat up a mug's worth of milk and then when hot, pour a little into the mug with the chocolate and stir to melt.  Then pour the rest of the milk in, stir and drink.

This has a slightly different texture to the Harrods chocolate which is more full-flavoured.  The Fortnum & Masons has a more subtle flavouring but is more creamy and chocolatey smooth.

The full range can be seen here Fortnum's hot chocolate range

Note: the tin I have says 300g weight on the back of it but the website says 200g weight.  I can only guess the difference is the weight of the snazzy tin....?