Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser

[historysock]

Does anyone have one of these?
My girls drink a lot of hot chocolate-at least a cup a day each.We currently have a Tassimo machine which is on its last legs and threatens to scald us every time we use it as it spits the hot liquid all over the show.
I'm considering buying the Hotel Chocolat velvetiser but I don't know if it's worth it, as the chocolate sachets are double the price of the tassimo pods (but potentially taste much better-the tassimo ones taste like vaguely chocolatey water to me....
Trying to decide if the extra cost will
Be worth it for taste and ease of use.... or will it just be wasted on my two who are used to Tassimo rubbish by now...

[readit]

We have one. The chocolate is very good and you can buy tubs rather than sachets but still not cheap. The caramel chocolate is my favourite.
Sometimes I use it to just heat the milk and then use powdered chocolate, it makes the milk nice and frothy.

My only complaint is the milk temperature isn’t very hot, you need to drink it straight away. I don’t regret buying it but probably wouldn’t replace it if it broke. Probably not very helpful!

[Calmisthemantra]

I just bought one at the weekend after thinking about it for ages. No regrets. The hot chocolates are delicious and dare I say too good to be wasted on kids! Dh and I drink the posh stuff and I use cheaper flaked chocolate for the kids.

I like my drinks really hot so I warm my cup with hot water first and that really helps.

It's totally frivolous and by no means essential but bloody hell its good

[historysock]

Encouraging where do you get the cheaper flaked chocolate from it do you mean you grate it yourself.
The only nice thing about the Tassimo is that it needs zero input from me bar cleaning up after it.
I wonder if I could get one but only bring it out at weekends or something to keep the DD's away from the posh chocolate 😂

[Kaz2200]

I noticed they had these on qvc, you can buy abd use for 30 days and still return if you want to try it.

[historysock]

Oh Thankyou! Will take a look!

[tentative3]

I love ours and also use it to froth milk to make tea lattes. I would absolutely replace it if it broke. But, it's only me and OH, the hot chocolates are substantially cheaper than the equivalent from Costa etc but they're still not dirt cheap. We live near a Hotel Chocolat outlet so can get a discount on the tubs of hot chocolate, and have also used flaked hot chocolate from TK Maxx. You can get the same thing elsewhere, I think Aldi did one last year for a fraction of the price. Ours was a gift and one of the best things we got last year.

[historysock]

You are persuading me (I don't take much persuading)

[Ohthatsfabulousdarling]

I believe you can get one from Dualit (who makes the velvetiser anyway) for quite a bit cheaper,
But I think if you get the starter set which has 2 boxes of hot choc plus mugs it's a pretty good deal.

I warn you. It ruins most other hot chocolates!
I've tried to save money by grating my own chocolate, wasnt a fan. I've also used Cadbury and galaxy hot choc powder- not a fan in the velvetiser either!

But you can often get away with about half a sachet of hot chocolate in a cup, especially for kids as they can be quite strong tasting

It has meant that I no longer get a hot chocolate at Starbucks or Costa. I think they're both rubbish now I've got a velvetiser.

Must've saved more than it cost by now what with Starbucks and Costa losing my hot choc custom!

[CakeUpWall]

We grate our own chocolate and it's really economical and utterly delicious. I buy Green & Blacks whenever it's on offer (or Amazon is quite good value), but I'm guessing with a cheaper chocolate it might not be so nice. It also works well with good quality cocoa powder, which is fab if you like your hot chocolate less sweet. We're cutting down on dairy, and have found that coconut milk works well. It's worth experimenting a little to find what suits your taste best.
It's a luxury item, but after the initial outlay you can give yourself a treat each evening with not too much expense.
Go for it.

[historysock]

Thanks alll! I'm going for it...life's too short for bad hot chocolate!

[chocolatespiders]

I have been looking at this set for my girls Christmas present. Interesting it is no good with say Galaxy hot choc as I doubt we could afford the proper stuff every week.

[tentative3]

We've grated our own chocolate to use in it before too and had no probs. Hotel Chocolat say it needs to be theirs because of the size of the flakes or some such nonsense but ours worked perfectly well.

[historysock]

Hmm, I thought as much...I suppose it wouldn't be in it for them to say you can grate any old chocolate.

I've ordered it anyway so we shall see! I'm quite excited!

[MustardScreams]

Definitely grate your own! Works beautifully.

I was very sceptical before buying mine (surely I can just use a whisk and a pan?!) but it’s honestly my favourite purchase. Although I do primarily live off of hot chocolate now

[Doobydoo]

Oo..I have ordered one for ds2 for Christmas..fingers xd.