Just a Teacup of Sugar

With the last day of summer upon us, we thought it would be a good time to post a hot chocolate review.

Hot Chocolate Review

ABSTRACT:

In this experiment, we set out to determine which hot chocolate variety was the tastiest and best-suited to hiking. To conduct the experiment, we gathered 5 varieties of hot chocolate and tasted them all. We then rated them using a rigorous measure. After rating, it was discovered that the Camino chocolate was the best.

INTRODUCTION:

Cup with powder

We both have a deep, intense, and rich (sometime bordering on religious) love of hot chocolate. As hikers, hot chocolate can be a great way to fortify oneself with quick calories and energy on a break or at the end of a long day of hiking. Multiple packages of this instant gold were consumed each day during Adrienne’s WCT trip. It not only briefly quenches the hunger just long enough to make a Mountain House dinner, but it soaks right into your bones and soothes those tired worn out muscles. Everyone loves hot cocoa by the fire on a camping trip; it gets you all warmed up for when you have to crawl into your cold, slightly damp sleeping bag. Kids love it and adults love it; in part to feel like kids again. There’s nothing more delicious or more satisfying than drinking a hot, frothy, creamy, steaming mug of liquid chocolate.

Pouring

We noticed pretty early on in our hikes together that the subject of hot chocolate came up regularly. We decided it was time we reviewed a selection of instant hot chocolates, those that are easy to bring in a lunch bag or even to keep in your emergency kit. Our goal was to determine the top choice for us to bring on those long fall and winter hikes that are coming up in the next few months. We choose five different brands/types, Carnation, Tim Horton’s, Chili, Camino, and President’s Choice, and blind sampled each one in fine China cups.

METHOD:

Since we’re geeks, we went through great pains to ensure that our process controlled for as many variables as possible. There are several things we missed, and those issues will be brought up in our Discussion section, so stay tuned. We rated our hot chocolates in 5 areas:

Hot Chocolate tasting is stressful

Mixability: How well the instant crystals dissolved in the recommended liquid
Appearance: Did it look like a welcoming cuppa, or like a watery mess?
Deliciousness (aka: taste): How much it sparkled on our tongues
Chocolateyness: Was it very chocolatey or just overly sweet?
Richness: Was it rich in both taste and texture, or did it taste like grainy sugar water?

The chocolates could receive a score between 1 (lowest) and 5 (highest) for each area, for a total possible score of 25.

As an extra bonus round, we added a drop of peppermint extract to our favourite and least favourite cups and made a qualitative note of whether it improved the chocolate or not.

Bonus Round with Peppermint

RESULTS:

We decided to keep our scores separate in order to reflect differing tastes. In the charts below you can see our results:

Results

DISCUSSION:

Recording the results

The aim of this experiment was to find which hot chocolate was the tastiest and most suited to hiking. Our experiment took 3 hours and involved a rigorous rating system for each hot chocolate. Inter-rater reliability was high, with significant differences only on the Chilli and Tim Horton’s variety hot chocolates. The survey indicates that the Camino hot chocolate was found to be the best overall for hiking, with Tim Horton’s following closely behind (mostly due to Adrienne’s addictive (err, high) scoring of it. Then comes the Carnation brand, then President’s Choice, and Chilli at the very bottom.

With peppermint extract added, our worst choices (President’s Choice and Chilli) were rated even lower, and our best choice was rated higher.

Sip

Our experiment did not come across any problems and proceeded as expected. The results of this experiment may be less reliable, as we used different shapes and sizes of cups for each chocolate (but they looked cute, so there). Possible variables that may have impacted our results include the use of chips as palate-clearers (other palate clearers may yield different results), and the fact that the chocolates were mixed with inconsistent amounts of water (due to the mismatched teacups). We also mixed all of the chocolate at the same time, so the chocolates tasted later in the experiment had cooled, possibly impacting their flavours. Future replications of this experiment should account for these issues.

It is highly recommended that this survey be reproduced as many times as possible. Other recommended future research projects may include a survey of which chocolate pairs best with Bailey’s and Amaretto…or, you know, just any experiment involving chocolate, really. 🙂