I've always loved hot chocolate drinks ever since I was a little girl. In the past I have found it a bit hit and miss with instant drinks as they have either been too sweet or watery for my liking. I have also been fond of Aero bars, and they remind me of my Grandmother as it was at her house where I had my first bar.

A few years ago while looking at the Viking Direct 'sale' catalogue I spotted the Aero hot chocolate drink and impressed with the description that it was creamy and bubbly so I ordered a 1kg tub. When it arrived as fast as it could be delivered, I made my first cup and I fell in love with this drink.

The drink now comes in three flavours, chocolate, mint, and orange which is the newest addition to the range.

PACKAGING

Aero Hot chocolate comes in a plastic screw top jar. It's easy to spot on the shelf as it looks like the jar is slightly squashed in the middle. The name Aero shows on a background consisting of bubbles as I would expect and a mug showing the bubbly hot drink in all its glory.

The chocolate flavour is on a brown background, mint is on a green background while the orange is, yes you guessed it, on an orange background. The lid on all three varieties is brown.

As you would expect the packaging lists the ingredients, the instructions, contact details, that it is made by Nestle and nutritional details. A typical serving contains 99 calories.

SIZES AND AVAILABILTY

My jar cost £2.17 from the The Co-operative Food, but it sometimes appears on special offer. This jar contains approximately 12 servings, but it's not something that I drink every day. I also believe that it comes in packs of four sachets as well though I haven't seen those for a while now, it might be that my local supermarket has stopped selling them.

You can also buy the 1kg tub from office supplies companies such as Viking Direct , which I understand is the Foodservice version which only comes in the chocolate variety. Viking Direct (Personal) currently sells the 1kg tub for £8.49. This will give you around 30 servings using the scoop provided.

I have only seen the mint and orange flavours in the 288 gram jars.

SUITABILITY AND ALLERGIES

This product contains milk so not suitable for anyone avoiding dairy products.

The packaging states it is suitable for vegetarians.

MY OPINION

Being an instant drink, you just place four heaped teaspoons of the powder into your mug, and add hot (not boiling) water stirring all the time as you pour it in. Sometimes I add squirty cream and/or marshmallows on the top for added indulgence.

As I said earlier, I absolutely love this drink it is my favourite instant hot chocolate. My personal favourites are the chocolate and orange flavours. The chocolate version has a rich chocolatey flavour that is not too sweet. It is thick, creamy and very bubbly. It stays smooth right down to the bottom of the cup as well. When I am bad with monthly pains I sometimes go to bed with a mug of this as it is very comforting to drink, my wheatbag and put some soothing music on my iPod and it all helps.

The orange one tastes like a hot and bubbly version of Terrys Chocolate Orange. I have also tried the mint one, and yes I do like it - reminds me of Viscount biscuits - but I do find it a bit sickly if I drink too much of it, so I don't drink that one very often.

I highly recommend this as I think this is the best instant hot chocolate money can buy. Even if you've been put off in the past by watery drinks this is well worth a try.

Also on Ciao under member Munchkin2009