Aldi Choceur Instant Hot Chocolate Drink Review

It’s almost getting to that time of year where the sun sets a little earlier, the nights get a little longer, and things definitely get a lot chillier. That’s right; we’re almost in hot chocolate season. I’ve already gotten the party the started with this chocolatey beverage, but what did I really think of cheapie bargain? Let’s find out in this Aldi Choceur Instant Hot Chocolate Drink review.

Aldi Choceur Instant Hot Chocolate Drink Review

So, let’s get started with the basic details, shall we? This is an instant hot chocolate powder drink (as the name suggests), made with “real Belgian chocolate,” requiring just hot water. I picked it up from Aldi, tried it, and now I’m here reviewing it.

Spoiler alert: It’s flipping lush.

Price

£1.55 for 400g.

£0.39 per 100g.

I picked this hot chocolate up on a whim. I saw how cheap it was and added it to my trolley, think it was a much more expensive brand. Cough cough. It was only after I got it home and popped it into the appropriate cupboard that I realised it was a dupe. A pretty good dupe at that.

The tub is 400g. According to the instructions, this is enough to make 14 servings at four heaped teaspoons (28g) of the powder per 200ml hot water. In the value-for-money department, this one definitely ticks all the boxes.

Packaging

I’m genuinely surprised that Aldi doesn’t get sued more often than it does, considering half the packaging is directly ripping off the costly brands. At first glance, this hot chocolate looks like Cadbury’s hot chocolate. The purple shade is slightly different, I think. But, at first glance, anyone would think this is the expensive stuff.

Both the cap and jar (plastic tub) are recyclable, but the plastic sleeve is not. Just in case you were wondering.

Instructions

I quite often find that the recommended amounts of hot chocolate powder are a little less than what is actually necessary, for most brands. Including the one that Aldi is sort-of ripping off. If it says, “three heaped teaspoons,” it usually means four or five, in my opinion. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case with Aldi’s Choceur Hot Chocolate.

It says to use four heaped teaspoons, and that was enough for the average cup or mug. I use an extra-large mug, which isn’t quite as big as a Sports Direct mug but is still bigger than the average. For that reason, I used five-and-a-half heaped teaspoons. The drink was fine. Better than fine. But I’ll get to that in a moment.

The packaging states “Just add hot water,” but I didn’t like the drink with just hot water. To be honest, I never do. Even with Galaxy and other premium brands, I always add a teeny bit of milk. If you don’t do this all the time too, I’m assuming you won’t need to do it with this hot chocolate drink. That is just an assumption, though.

How I Make Aldi Choceur Instant Hot Chocolate Drink

In my extra-large mug, I add five heaped teaspoons of hot chocolate along with just under half a teaspoon of sugar. The sugar is optional, obviously.

I then add a splash of semi-skimmed milk and whisk everything up with a teeny-tiny whisk that I never thought I’d use but here we are. Only when I have a slightly lumpy paste do I then add hot water from the kettle, whisking the whole time so all lumps are dissolved.

You can use whatever milk you like, obviously. I’ve made it with unsweetened soy milk for a quest, but it didn’t froth up as much as semi-skimmed milk did. That’s just a little observation I made, making milk and soy hot chocolate at the same time.

And yes, my cup is dirty. What you are seeing is the bubbly, frothy remnants of hot chocolate number one. I made a second hot chocolate for the sole purpose of this review. It had absolutely nothing to do with how good it tastes and wanting a second cup. Nope, not at all.

Flavour

I really, really like the flavour of this Aldi hot chocolate. So much so, in fact, that I’m going to buy a couple of tubs and stock up for the winter months… if they ever come. (It’s currently 28C at 17:15 on the 6^th of September – and I am melting!)

It tastes very chocolatey, with a deep and bold flavour that makes it seem more expensive if that makes sense. The Belgian chocolate really comes through, making it much richer and more chocolatey than Cadburys, especially with the little bit of milk thrown in. I personally think it’s nicer than the Costa/Starbucks/etc. hot chocolates, too. It tastes like REAL chocolate, not just a cheap milky imitation.

I’m not sure if you can tell, but I’m a BIG fan of it.

In the flavour department, I’d give Aldi Choceur Instant Hot Chocolate Drink 10/10. No doubt whatsoever.

Consistency

I’m going to be honest, if I could change one thing about this hot chocolate drink, it would be the ‘thickness,’ To get the slightly thicker, creamier consistency I enjoy, I need to add one more not-so-heaped teaspoon (4.5/5 tsps. for regular cups, 6/6.5 tsps. for my massive cup).

It’s not unpleasant without the extra spoonful; it just doesn’t feel as thick as it should/I want. I’d happily drink it with or without.

Appearance

I’m going to start with appearance of the Aldi Choceur Instant Hot Chocolate Drink powder. It’s quite pale and you can see the sugary crystals, so I expected the finished drink to be very pale in colour, super sweet, and a bit watery. That expectation was wrong. The drink itself is a dark, deep brown colour, which usually indicates a decent chocolate drink, in my opinion.

As you can see, the top of my hot chocolate was frothy, light, and lovely-looking. I’m guessing this is down to the whisking because I don’t get the same frothiness when I just use a spoon to mix everything up. I also didn’t get the same frothiness using just water, with no milk.

All in all, the drink looks exactly as I would expect and want it to. Every now and then, for a little treat, I add squirty cream and chocolate powder to the top and call it “The Full Works.” It’s definitely worthy of a try, I promise you.

Value for Money

I’m going to get fewer cups of hot chocolate out of this tub because of my massive mug, but that’s okay. It’s still excellent value for money. With five heaped teaspoons, I’ll get around 11 big mugs of chocolatey goodness, or nine mugs with six heaped teaspoons.

Nine mugs of good hot chocolate for £1.55? I’ll take that. Damn straight. That’s about 13p per mug. (Milk and sugar excluded.)

Other Mentionable Features

A few things I liked and wanted to mention about this drink include:

• It’s Rainforest Alliance certified.
• Two-thirds of the packaging can be recycled.
• It’s £1.55 compared to Cadbury’s £1.55 (Tesco) for the same amount: 400g.

Is Aldi Choceur Instant Hot Chocolate Drink Vegan?

No, this hot chocolate drink is not vegan-friendly.

It’s made with real Belgian chocolate, which is, sadly, not typically vegan. The powder also contains whey powder (milk product), whole milk powder, skimmed milk powder, and milk proteins.

Sorry, vegans. This hot chocolate drink is not for you, but I can recommend the following:

• Indulgence Collection – Dark Hot Chocolate Fairtrade and Vegan Chocolate Drink
• Vegan Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate by Divine Chocolates
• Maya Drinks Dark Hot Chocolate – Vegan, Gluten Free 2KG

Is Aldi Choceur Instant Hot Chocolate Drink Vegetarian?

Yes, Aldi’s Choceur hot chocolate is vegetarian-friendly.

There are no meat-based products in Aldi Choceur Instant Hot Chocolate Drink, so it’s completely safe for vegetarians to consume – and it even says so, on the packaging. I love this! As a vegetarian, I’m more inclined to buy a product that clearly states “vegetarian-friendly,” so I don’t have to squint to read the tiny ingredients.  

Aldi Choceur Instant Hot Chocolate Drink: Ingredients

If you have dietary restrictions or preferences, I’m guessing you’ll want to see the list of ingredients. Here they are:

Sugar, Whey Powder (𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐤), Fat Reduced Cocoa Powder (13%), Dried Glucose Syrup, Coconut Oil, Skimmed 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐤 Powder, 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐤 Chocolate (4%) (Sugar, Cocoa Mass, Whole 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐤 Powder, Cocoa Butter, Skimmed 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐤 Powder), Flavouring, Anticaking Agent: Silicon Dioxide; Thickeners: Carboxymethyl Cellulose, Guar Gum; 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐤 Proteins, Acidity Regulator: Potassium Phosphates; Stabilisers: Polyphosphates, Sodium Phosphates; Emulsifier: Mono- And Diglycerides Of Fatty Acids.

Source: Aldi website + drink packaging.

Aldi Choceur Instant Hot Chocolate Drink Review: Conclusion

This Aldi drink is a great, top-notch dupe for Cadbury’s Hot Chocolate and many others. I’d even go as far as to say, I much prefer this one over the more expensive or barista-created drinks.

Yes, I’d definitely buy it again. In bulk.

Yes, I’d recommend it to you. All of you. Everyone.

Great job, Aldi!

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