I Tried 7 Hot Chocolate K-Cups and One Stood Out as the Creamiest Winner

The winter season is in full force, meaning many of us are buried under a pile of blankets with the slow cooker whipping up a tasty stew. When the temperatures drop and those winter winds howl, few food and beverage items warm your body and soul in winter like a delicious cup of hot cocoa. While most people associate hot chocolate with those small pouches of powder mix, you can also find a limited selection of K-Cup pods on store shelves.

K-Cup pods revolutionized the way coffee drinkers start their morning thanks to the convenience of single-serving cups of joe. That quick and easy process has extended to hot cocoa, with several brands offering pods in grocery stores nationwide and online. Gone are the days when you slowly had to heat your water in a kettle; with K-Cups, your hot cocoa is ready in less than a minute.

That begs the question: are hot chocolate K-Cups any good? My natural fear was that they would come out watered down and lack that quintessential creamy consistency you hope for when sipping on a cup of hot cocoa. So, I did what any chocolate aficionado would do: I plugged in my Keurig and did a little experiment to try some of the most widely available hot cocoa K-Cups.

For this taste test, I acquired milk chocolate varieties of seven different brands. Using my Keurig, I combined each K-Cup pod with 12 ounces of water. As a general observation, you want to have a spoon nearby, as much of the product settles at the bottom of your mug. Here is how the hot cocoa K-Cup pods ranked, from my least favorite to my number one best:

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Great Value Milk Chocolate Hot Cocoa

Walmart's Great Value Breakfast Blend took home the top prize in a recent K-Cup coffee taste test, so I had high hopes for the store-brand hot cocoa. At $4.47 for a 12-pack, the Great Value Milk Chocolate Hot Cocoa offered the best monetary value out of all of the other options in this lineup, coming out to $0.37 per K-Cup pod.

The look: I first noticed that Walmart's Great Value Hot Cocoa had significantly less froth than other hot cocoas in this lineup. Its coloring was consistent, giving off that quintessential "milk chocolate" shade of brown. But what truly stood out to me was the aroma. It had a toasty, nutty quality that was distinct from any other hot chocolate I tried in this taste test.

The taste: I was cautiously optimistic when I took my first sip, and I noticed immediately that the toasty and nutty aroma translated into the flavor of this hot chocolate. Unfortunately, it didn't translate in a good way. Of all the hot chocolates I tried, this was the only one I actively did not want to return and take more sips of. The longer it sat, the stronger that toasted flavor–at this point, tasting more burnt than toasted–stood out. I suppose you could give Great Value points for having a distinct flavor aside from just chocolate, but it wasn't a flavor I particularly enjoyed.

Good & Gather

You can shop for just about any grocery item under Target's Good & Gather brand, including hot chocolate. So when you're out on your weekly Target run, adding some throw pillows, a new pair of shoes, and color-coordinated storage bins to your shopping cart, you can also add the Good & Gather Milk Chocolate Hot Cocoa to the mix. A 24-count box of Good & Gather costs $9.99, which equals roughly $0.41 cents per pod, making Good & Gather a solid value compared to many of the other hot cocoa K-Cups tested.

The look: I noticed a difference right away as the product poured out of my Keurig. The consistency appeared thicker, and the coloring appeared darker than that of other hot cocoas in this taste test, which gave me some optimism. However, It quickly switched to just water coming out of the K-Cup, which led me to believe that the taste wouldn't rank high. There was a moderate amount of frothing and a typical light brown coloring.

The taste: Good & Gather's Hot Cocoa K-Cup pod offered the clearest example of "watered down" flavor to me. I would rather drink a watered-down hot chocolate than the unique-in-a-bad-way flavor Great Value offered, but I was still disappointed nonetheless. This is one of those K-Cups you would need to double up on to get less of that watered-down taste or use less water per K-Cup for a less diluted flavor.

Cafe Escapes Milk Chocolate Hot Cocoa

You can find Cafe Escapes online, offering hot chocolate enthusiasts even more options when searching for K-Cup pod versions of their favorite cozy drink. A 24-pack will run you $17.99, which comes out to just under $0.75 per K-Cup pod.

The look: The Cafe Escapes Hot Cocoa K-Cup switched to just water coming out of the Keurig much quicker than most of the other K-Cups, indicating that I was in for a more watered-down flavor. I also noticed minimal frothing around the edges that dissipated quickly once the hot chocolate settled in my mug. The coloring was consistent with most of the other hot chocolates in this lineup.

The taste: This is the first point in the lineup where there was a noticeable shift in the quality of flavor. I found the Cafe Escapes Hot Cocoa K-Cup to offer a consistent chocolate flavor with a smooth yet slightly thinner texture. It was slightly more watery than the other hot cocoas that ultimately ranked higher, but I found it to be a big step up from Good & Gather.

Starbucks Hot Cocoa

I will admit that Starbucks has not been my preferred coffee chain when it comes to hot cocoa. I prefer Dunkin if I'm going out to order a cup of hot chocolate, but I was hopeful that the at-home K-Cups taste test would surprise me with an experience that could challenge those biases. A 10-pack of pods costs $9.58, equaling just under $0.96 per K-Cup pod.

The look: The Starbucks Hot Cocoa mixture came out of the Keurig in a consistent matter, lasting longer than most of the other hot cocoas before switching over to just water coming out. Once my mug was full, I noticed much more frothing than other hot cocoas. The coloring was similar to most other K-Cups included in this lineup, appearing as that recognizable light brown "milk chocolate" hue.

The taste: If you're familiar with the hot cocoa from Starbucks, then you'll immediately recognize the flavor when sipping on the hot cocoa from the K-Cup pod. That's great news if you're a fan of Starbucks' hot chocolate, as the K-Cup pods offer a far better value than going out to your nearest cafe and buying a cup. I found its flavor rich and consistent, with a creamy and smooth texture that was a step up from the more watery consistency I noticed in the other hot cocoas. I also found the Starbucks hot cocoa to be noticeably sweeter than any of the other hot cocoa I tried.

Dunkin' Milk Chocolate Hot Cocoa

Dunkin' offers K-Cup pods for multiple drinks it provides in its cafes, including hot cocoa. I personally love Dunkin's hot cocoa when I'm swinging through the drive-thru, so I had high hopes that the K-Cup pods would match flavor-wise. You can score a 10-pack for $8.99, which means each K-Cup will run you just under $0.90 each.

The look: Watching Dunkin's hot chocolate come out of my Keurig, I noticed the hot cocoa mixture switched over to water, the quickest out of the seven varieties I tried. I also saw minimal frothing around the edge of my mug once it was done pouring. The coloring was consistent with most of the other hot chocolate varieties I tried. I also detected a fainter chocolate aroma, which had me worried that this particular hot cocoa wouldn't rank high.

The taste: Despite the watered-down appearance and smell, I found the taste of Dunkin's hot cocoa to be quite pleasant. The texture was smooth and creamy, and the chocolate flavor was noticeably richer than the other ones I had tried thus far, with the one possible exception of Starbucks. However, I found the flavor of the Dunkin hot chocolate to more closely match what I believe consumers are looking for when they want that instant hot cocoa taste.

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Happy Belly Milk Chocolate Hot Cocoa

Amazon's brand, Happy Belly, includes a pack of hot cocoa K-Cup pods in its lineup of products. That's good news when you're in the mood for hot chocolate, but don't feel like making the trek out to the nearest grocery store and hope they're in stock. A 24-pack retails for $12.50, equalling $0.52 per K-Cup pod, making Happy Belly one of the lower-priced per-serving options in this roundup.

The look: While pouring out of the Keurig, I noticed the shift from hot chocolate mixture to straight water pretty quickly, giving the appearance more of a thin consistency. On top of that, there was minimal frothing. The color was that typical milk chocolate shade of brown, much like the majority of hot chocolates included in this roundup.

The taste: I was pleasantly surprised by the Happy Belly Milk Chocolate Hot Cocoa, especially considering it came from a K-Cup Pod and appeared like it would have a more watery taste and texture. On the contrary, I found the flavor to be quite rich and have that quintessential milk chocolate taste you would expect to find in a cup of hot cocoa. I also picked up on its creamy and smooth texture, one key element missing from the lower-ranking hot cocoas in this taste test. Overall, I found this to be just the right balance of flavor and texture without being overly sweet or thick.

Swiss Miss

Swiss Miss is likely the first brand that pops into people's minds when they think about hot chocolate. The iconic blue packaging with the snow-capped mountains in the background instantly reminds me of childhood, which led to preconceived opinions of how this hot chocolate should taste. Needless to say, expectations were high. A 22-pack costs $13.78, which comes out to roughly $0.62 per pod.6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

The look: The prominent feature of the Swiss Miss hot cocoa mixture was the coloring. Among all seven varieties I tried, Swiss Miss was by far the darkest. Swiss Miss also took the longest to switch over to just water coming out of the Keurig, which made me hopeful that I wasn't going to experience a less watery flavor. I also noticed a moderate amount of frothing around the edge of my mug once the mixture was done pouring.

The taste: I had high expectations for Swiss Miss, as they seem to be the ubiquitous hot cocoa brand when at the grocery store. Thankfully, the hot cocoa exceeded those expectations. I was met with a bold, rich chocolate flavor that was only matched by its smooth, creamy texture. Is it the best cup of hot cocoa I've ever had? Not necessarily. But out of the K-Cup pods I tried in this taste test, Swiss Miss was leaps and bounds ahead of the competition.

Thankfully, Swiss Miss' prominence in grocery stores is warranted by its rich flavor, smooth texture, and thicker consistency that doesn't make you feel like you're just drinking chocolate-flavored hot water. That said, if given the opportunity, I would reach for any other method of preparing hot chocolate before I resorted to K-Cups. The convenience of K-Cup pods is hard to deny, but your best bet to finding a rich and smooth cup of hot cocoa would be to double up on K-Cup pods, which, at that point, you might as well switch to the envelopes or other powder mixes so you have more control over the chocolate to liquid ratio without running through your K-Cup pods too quickly.