Hot cocoa mixes & cocoa powders, rated

Velvety and deeply chocolatey without being too sweet: the mix that tastes closest to melted dark chocolate. It’s pricey and often sells out in winter.

Tastes like a melted milk chocolate bar: sweet but balanced, with a hint of vanilla. A reliable premium supermarket pick.

Semisweet and refined rather than sugary, with a slight mocha character and a smooth mouthfeel.

Sweet, nostalgic and cheap, with a generous layer of mini marshmallows. Not rich, but it’s what many people grew up on, and kids love it.

A cleaner-label version of the classic with no artificial preservatives. Silky flavor, though a bit thin.

Light and milky, and the cheapest per cup in a big canister. Fine for a crowd, but thin and very sweet.

Made from real chocolate, so it’s thick and intensely rich. Some find it almost too thick; it’s best as a small, dessert-style cup.

The mix behind the New York café’s signature frozen drink. Intense dark chocolate with a light espresso-like finish.

Sweet, cinnamon-spiced chocolate tablets made for whisking into hot milk. The classic base for Mexican hot chocolate.

A top pick in America’s Test Kitchen’s cocoa tasting for complex, layered chocolate flavor. Comes in natural and Dutch-process versions.

A higher-fat Dutch-process cocoa that gives hot chocolate a dark color, smooth flavor and fuller body.

The supermarket standard. Milder and lower in fat than premium cocoas, but perfectly good for everyday scratch hot cocoa with a little extra chocolate.