The days are getting darker faster and the temperatures are dropping, so treating yourself to a warm and yummy hot chocolate just makes sense at this time of year.
While there are a bunch of delicious store brand hot chocolates and brand name powders you can pick up in Canada's grocery stores, sometimes you just want someone else to make it for you, am I right?
Not all fast food restaurants offer the delicious beverage, so after doing a bit of research, I decided to compare hot chocolates from Starbucks, Tim Hortons and Second Cup to find which chain offers the best one.
For each order, I grabbed a small and didn't make any customizations so I could enjoy the drink the way each brand intends for you to drink it.
I've had all of these hot chocolates in the past at various points, but I've never tried them all at once and when you taste test them side by side there's a very large difference in flavour to the point that I found one of them to be not worth repurchasing in the future.
Here's how the hot chocolate taste test went down.
Starbucks
A tall Starbucks hot chocolate that costs $4.80. Right: Starbucks hot chocolate.
First of all, can we just admire how cute Starbucks' holiday cups are?
Okay, now that that's out of the way, on to the hot chocolate. According to Starbucks, their drink is made with steamed hot 2% milk and three mocha sauce pumps for a tall.
I found it to be quite milk-forward and have a somewhat bitter flavour and very little sweetness, which I found to be quite surprising. If there had been more sweetness, it may have balanced out the strong cocoa flavour, but without it, it was a bit unpleasant.
So while I love Starbucks' cold brew (and their new seasonal Iced Gingerbread Oat Chai is a delight), I'll be passing on their hot chocolate in the future.
Rating: 1.5/5
Price: $4.80 (for a tall)
Tim Hortons
A small Tim Hortons hot chocolate that costs $2.30. Right: Tim Hortons hot chocolate.
Tim Hortons' hot chocolate was my go-to treat in the mornings before high school so I have very fond memories of it, and while I did enjoy this drink when I tasted it as an adult, it's overall a little much.
The hot chocolate is quite tasty but it's overwhelmingly sweet to the point that I didn't actually want to finish the small that I bought.
I also believe that, unlike the others on the list, this hot chocolate is made with water instead of milk, so perhaps the absence of the fattiness of the dairy doesn't cut the sweetness.
While this wasn't my favourite of the day, if I was craving something super sugary, I could see this being the thing I'd want to satisfy it (maybe with a few chocolate Timbits, which are my go-to when I'm having cramps), so for that reason, it's getting a passing grade.
As well, it's also the cheapest hot chocolate out of all the ones I picked up, so if cost is a concern, this is a pretty good option.
Rating: 3/5
Price: $2.30
Second Cup
A small Second Cup hot chocolate that costs $4.28. Right: An open Second Cup hot chocolate.
And in first place, we have Second Cup's hot chocolate.
This hot chocolate is perfectly balanced; it has the pleasant bitterness of cocoa that's matched with sugary sweetness and it has a delightfully velveteen texture that coats the mouth nicely.
At no point did I feel like I needed to put the drink down because it was too plain, sweet or bitter — I just enjoyed it til the last sip and felt good and satisfied after drinking it.
I will say that paying almost $5 for a hot chocolate feels a little wild, but to be fair, the cost of pretty much everything seems a little outrageous these days. In my mind, anything under $5 doesn't count (#GirlMath), so if you need to treat yourself to a little ho cho, you go ahead and do it (if it's financially feasible, of course).
Rating: 5/5
Price: $4.78
So, there you have it: Tim Hortons and Second Cup hot chocolates for the win, which means two Canadian brands beat out the American one (an unexpected outcome I truly didn't foresee).
I adore Starbucks (their new holiday gingerbread loaf is so, so yummy and I've been obsessed with both their Iced Gingerbread Oat Chai and Peppermint Mocha) and I thoroughly expected them to come in first place for this taste test, which is why I was so surprised at the outcome of this experiment.
If you're looking to add any more chocolate into your life, I recently tested out some of the store brand bars of milk chocolate that you can find in Canada's grocery stores, and one of them is so good that I find it comparable to Dairy Milk, which is my favourite brand.
Or, if you're looking to enjoy a hot chocolate at home without actually heading out to Tim Hortons or Second Cup, I also recently experimented with a bunch of the Canadian house brands to see if anyone does a really good ho cho that's at least comparable to Timmies. To be honest, quite a few of them were a letdown, but one product surprised me with how delicious and creamy it turned out to be: the President's Choice chocolate milk powder.
While it might not be a conventional hot chocolate choice, it tasted just like a cafe-level beverage when mixed with boiling water and it had the right amount of cocoa to sweetness that I crave in a drink, so it's earned a permanent spot in my pantry for the days I want a warm little treat.
Stay warm this winter folks, and do it with a hot chocolate — you deserve it!
These prices are confirmed at the time of publishing, but they can change at any time. Taxes and fees may not be included.