A spice of heaven, but what a price! (James Chocolates Winter Spice Hot Chocolate)

Member Name: kevin121

Product:	James Chocolates Winter Spice Hot Chocolate
Date:	16/01/09 (179 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A delicious treat; made with real chocolate

Disadvantages: Too many spices maybe? The price!

I discovered this by chance in the RHS shop at Wisley the last time I was there. It was on sale at half price, and caught my eye. I like a mug of hot chocolate when the evenings start drawing in, and I knew that my current jar was nearing the end, so I decided to give this one a try.

It's made by a company called James Chocolates. Having checked the makers website, the company was founded by James Hutchins who started hand making chocolates in 1995. All their chocolates are now made in a village called Evercreech in Somerset.

~ The packaging ~

What first grabbed my attention was the attractive packaging. It's sold in a cardboard tube rather than the standard glass jar, and has mauve, red and orange stripes on a cream background which makes it look rather inviting. The description on the rear label states:

"This wintery blend is a mixture of real dark and milk chocolate infused with warming spices to make a rich creamy chocolate drink. Just like a chocolate version of mulled wine!". The weight is given as 250g. All in all, it has a very attractive appearance.

~ The product ~

I had some difficulty opening it once I got it home, because it's not too obvious where to open it! The lid separates from the rest of the tube at the bottom of the purple stripe, but to get this open you have to peel back both the front and back labels at this point first, which took me some time to do. It then twists open, which was more fiddly than your average screw top jar because there's nothing to really grip hold of. Once opened, you then find the contents are in a sealed plastic packet inside. That's just as well, because otherwise I would easily have spilled it! On inspection, the chocolate itself is comprised of large shavings of milk and dark chocolate. It does indeed look very appealing, more so than the standard chocolate powder I'm used to which is generally a bland milk chocolate colour of no real texture.

When you open the plastic bag, you're met with a definite aroma of cinnamon. Although this is wonderfully seasonal and accurately called the warming winter spice blend, it does overpower any hint of the other spices which may be included. I've never found any of my usual hot chocolates to have a particular smell of the chocolate itself and this is no different in that respect.

Needless to say, this isn't suitable for people with allergies of either milk or soya, and the tube warns you it may contain nut traces too.

~ So how do you get the best results? ~

The instructions inform you that you should place 3 heaped tablespoons of the flakes into your cup or mug. You should then add 3 tablespoons of very hot milk to the flakes and stir well until it's all melted. You're then advised to top up with more hot milk and continue stirring until it's smooth and fully blended.

Now ordinarily, I make my hot chocolate drinks the same way I make coffees and teas, that is by adding boiling water and then adding some milk. The first few times that I've been making this though, I followed the instructions and heated some milk in the microwave. The result was delicious, but even for someone like me who loves all things chocolaty, this was too sweet and I could barely finish my cup. I then cut back on the amount of flakes I was using to 2 level tablespoons with the same amount of heated milk and I've found this far more enjoyable. Once, I did try adding boiling water to the flakes and just topping it up with some milk, but when I did this, although I didn't notice any real difference in the taste of the drink, some of the chocolate pooled into lumps on the surface and spoiled the overall effect.

A further suggestion from the makers is to round the drink off with a dollop of whipped cream, a dusting of cinnamon and more chocolate flakes. This I haven't tried as again I think I would find it too sweet with the cream or more chocolate, and I really don't think it needs any more cinnamon.

~ Overall ~

As I said earlier, I bought this when it was on offer at £4.50 from the shop in the grounds at RHS Wisley. When I looked underneath the tube, the original price was an astonishing £9.25. Apparently it's also for sale at John Lewis, Selfridges, Fortnum & Mason and Harvey Nichols stores, although as it's a seasonal product, maybe not for much longer. The price on the James Chocolates website for this is £7, which is still too expensive in my opinion.

The drawback of this hot chocolate for me was the very strong taste of cinnamon. I still enjoy drinking it in the evening, but I would probably like it better if the taste wasn't quite so spicey! There are other hot chocolates made by this company which are all slightly cheaper, and I'm tempted to try them next.

Summary: A real hot chocolate for when you want to treat yourself.