It’s hot chocolate season! Temperatures are dropping nationwide so it’s time to ditch that iced coffee for some warm, rich, and delicious hot chocolate. Or you know, regular coffee, but for the purposes of this article, let’s just say hot chocolate! With all the stress that comes along with the holidays, hot chocolate may be the only good thing about the slow crawl until the end of the year, it’s delicious, comforting, indulgent, and unlike coffee, delicious to drink at any time of the day.
Woke up feeling cold? Sip a cup of hot chocolate and feel that chill melt away. Looking for a late night snack? Drink some hot chocolate, it’ll taste objectively better than coffee and won’t keep you up late. Sure, you could make your own hot chocolate but who wants to do that when you can have someone make it for you?
That’s why we ordered all the fast food/drive-thru hot chocolate we could find in search of the very best. Shockingly, there aren’t nearly as many places offering hot chocolate as we had hoped, but what is out there is… mostly pretty damn good.
Here is where to find the best hot chocolate, from worst to most delicious.
7. McDonald’s — McCafe Hot Chocolate
Tasting Notes:
This is without a doubt the worst hot chocolate I’ve ever had. It tastes more like boiled water than anything else, which is really strange considering McDonald’s hot chocolate recipe doesn’t contain water. Just whole milk, chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and a chocolate drizzle. Those are all the makings of a good hot chocolate, and yet it’s incredibly hard to taste any chocolate whatsoever in this.
That boiled water taste is followed by a milky aftertaste and if you really strain I suppose you can taste some chocolate but not nearly enough to actually call this “hot chocolate.” The flavorless quality of this hot chocolate is especially bizarre considering all of the other McCafe drinks are dangerously sweet. This is a major swing and a miss.
The Bottom Line:
It’s hard to imagine someone messing up hot chocolate but McDonald’s managed to do it! We’re not sure this is legally allowed to be called hot chocolate.
Find your nearest McDonald’s here.
6. Dunkin’ — Hot Chocolate
Tasting Notes:
It tastes just like homemade hot chocolate! Which is to say it tastes just like Swiss Miss. Topped with a small dollop of whipped cream, Dunkin is doing the bare minimum to make a palatable hot chocolate and while that sounds like a bad thing, it works. While this isn’t mind-blowingly good or anything you can’t top at home with some marshmallows and thick whipped cream, it still gets the job done.
We expect more out of a hot chocolate above $2, but it’s hard to complain about the way this tastes. It’s good, not great.
The Bottom Line:
It’s a satisfying cup but not one worthy of a trip to Dunkin’.
Find your nearest Dunkin’ here.
5. Starbucks — Hot Chocolate
Tasting Notes:
Even with three pumps of Starbucks’ mocha sauce, this hot chocolate still fails to deliver on the chocolate. The flavors just aren’t well mixed, I’m not sure if it’s because they use sauce instead of a powder, but the chocolate never felt fully incorporated into the drink.
I chalked that up to the possibility of a bad barista but even after a few self-stirs, it kept tasting this one in waves: hot milk, a tinge of chocolate, a creamy finish.
Once again, it’s not bad by any means, but it definitely leaves something to be desired.
The Bottom Line:
A slight step up from Dunkin’, but this is Starbucks we’re talking about, it should be a giant leap.
Find your nearest Starbucks here.
4. In N Out — Hot Cocoa
Tasting Notes:
In-N-Out has a long tradition of giving away free hot chocolate to children but a few years back they actually went ahead and officially added Hot Cocoa to the menu. This is a little frustrating considering In-N-Out hardly ever adds anything new to the menu (we’re still waiting for bacon, c’mon In-N-Out, it would be a game changer) but hey, it’s a little hard to get mad at hot chocolate.
In-N-Out’s hot chocolate is poured from a Hot Cocoa machine which is a bit disappointing considering made-to-order hot chocolate is always better. The mix includes Ghirardelli chocolate and hot water with a layer of freeze-dried marshmallows that melt into a nice top layer of cream.
Flavorwise it’s just a slight step up from your usual Swiss Miss-style hot chocolate. The Ghiradelli is a bit richer than what you’ll find at Dunkin’ but the use of hot water instead of milk takes away the creamy and luxurious mouthfeel we’re looking for. It’s not nearly as good as In-N-Out’s chocolate milkshake and that’s a real shame because… we sorta expect it to be.
The Bottom Line:
It’s a fine hot chocolate, but from In-N-Out, we expect a little more.
Find your nearest In-N-Out here.
3. Corner Bakery — Truffle Hot Chocolate
Tasting Notes:
The name ‘Truffle Hot Chocolate,’ conjures up images of luscious, decadent, and complex coffee flavors and this isn’t quite that, but it is damn delicious.
The chocolate is noticeably richer here than all the cups proceeding it in this ranking, you can hardly taste any milk as a rush of decadent chocolate bathes your tastebuds, introducing subtle earthy notes like coffee bean, almond, and oak. The milk serves as a strong creamy and sweet base for the cocoa notes to play off of.
The Bottom Line:
Not as savory and complex as its name would suggest, but clearly in another league than everything ranked before it. This hot chocolate does not disappoint.
Find your nearest Corner Bakery here.
2. Coffee Bean — Hot Chocolate
Tasting Notes:
This is so close to being perfect. The chocolate flavor is very well distributed here, each sip starts with a rush of earthy, almost woodsy, cocoa notes with a very mellow and smooth aftertaste. It doesn’t have any bitterness or spice to it, which lends itself well to a hot chocolate, but for some reason, Coffee Bean tops this hot chocolate with non-fat milk.
Why non-fat milk? It totally ruins the finish, giving it this weird sort of thin quality when it should be luxurious. Yes, you can sub the non-fat for whole milk and have a way better experience, but Coffee Bean doesn’t do that without being asked, and ultimately that’s why it’s getting the number two spot. That non-fat is really killing a beautiful thing.
The Bottom Line:
So close to perfect. Pro tip: ask for whole milk instead of non-fat and you’ll get an experience that matches the quality of their delicious chocolate powder.
Find your nearest Coffee Bean here.
1. Panera — Hot Chocolate
Tasting Notes:
Panera makes its hot chocolate with chocolate syrup yet somehow this cup tastes wonderfully chalky. The chocolate flavor here is really well balanced, I’m getting a lot of natural earthy notes with cinnamon, clove, and coffee bean lingering in there with this slightest hint of vanilla at the finish. It tastes almost exactly like melted-down semi-sweet chocolate chips. It’s sweet but with the best balance of natural cocoa flavors.
I’m not sure what sort of milk Panera uses but it didn’t result in that same thin unsatisfying finish that Coffee Bean gave me. On top of the whipped cream Panera adds a swirl of caramel which introduces some nutty buttery qualities to the final product once it melts into your drink.
Maybe the inclusion of caramel is disqualifying but who cares, ultimately it makes for a better cup of hot chocolate whether you like caramel or not. It adds that extra layer of complexity that truly feels worth the money and the trip out of your own kitchen.
The Bottom Line:
The best tasting, most complex hot chocolate you’re going to find from a drive-thru establishment.
Find your nearest Panera here.