Hot chocolate ..don’t understand why it’s a “thing”

[MrsGrindah]

Often read threads on here that include talking about hot chocolate as a treat. For example, “ snuggling up with a hot chocolate”, posh hot chocolate as a present, a pick me up when feeling ill etc. I just didn’t realise it was a popular treat. Never crosses my mind! Not judging it has just amused me that I am so out of touch!

I'm a Horlicks gal myself

Schools in the mid 1970, and 80's didn't close because of snow, you'd trek there regardless turning up hours late then slowly turning blue throughout the day as it was fucking freezing. I can't believe schools close because of snow!

I started school in 1978 and remember school closing due to snow or the heating breaking. No mobile phones/internet so it used to be on the local radio what schools were closing!

Actually I recall my primary school closing more often than my kids ones do.

Hot chocolate is a treat for me, it's quite calorific or I'd happily drink it all day long! Not like tea and coffee which is much easier to have lower calorie versions of. An options sachet with hot water IS NOT hot chocolate.

Schools in the mid 1970, and 80's didn't close because of snow

My school closed twice in the winter of 90/91 for snow. Pretty close to being in the 80s.

I prefer Ovaltine if I'm honest.

It's chocolate, it's full of sugar, not something I would encourage anyone to drink regularly. For my kids it's a "treat" as in not a daily drink.

Some people have chocolate bars every day, other only as a treat. Same thing really.

I guess it's a treat in the same way cake or ice cream are. You don't have it everyday but it's not so special you only have it on occasions.
I think the fact that it's sort of seasonal makes it feel more like a treat too

It’s always been around but seems to have been given a starring role in all things Hygge. The whole cashmere-socked feet up on the sofa next to your beloved, snuggling under a furry blanket in cashmere socks in front of a roaring log fire with a cat in one hand a hot chocolate in the other whilst listening to trad jazz as the snow gently lands on the window ledge etc etc etc. You could swap the hot chocolate for pumpkin latte or something with cinnamon. It’s been elevated from a nice hot drink to part of a self-care option along with cupcakes, muffins and fairy lights and scented candles (I love fairy lights and candles but hot chocolate is soooo sickly).

Userxx - of course some schools closed for snow in the 70s and 80s. I remember it happening more than once. We also had them close for power cuts, support staff strikes and water issues. Just your average Yorkshire school and yes, sometimes it shut. Shut more often than the school I currently work at that's for sure.

Proper hot chocolate is indeed a treat here. It's not drank in the same way tea and coffee is, although dd does use her velvetiser at least every other day I reckon. We drink multiple cups of tea/coffee each day though. I can't drink the chocolate from that though as it affects my heart rate too much, and the packet stuff just isn't the same.

Cadburys drinking chocolate made with milk (milk warmed in microwave) and a toasted cinnamon and raisin bagel, buttered, is my favourite late night treat. Yummy.

Well I'm just glad I'm not going insane about snow days being a thing.

Snow days have always been a thing here on Yorkshire!

Cadburys hot chocolate made with milk plus large dash of Baileys.Used to be my breakfast after a winter night shift when I was a ward nurse.Sent me off to sleep beautifully.And I'm another one whose countryside 1970s school used to shut in the snow...the heating always broke.My mum made me hot chocolate then too.

@Ginnymweasley they clearly are a thing, just not in my world! Clearly a bit more hardcore where I live 😉

Bought out, it is awfully sweet, I don 't see why they can't serve it without sugar and you add your own.

I like it at home with a splash of madeira wine! or baileys....

I started school in 1978 and remember school closing due to snow or the heating breaking. No mobile phones/internet so it used to be on the local radio what schools were closing!

We had a telephone tree! If you were at the top you got a phone call from the form tutor, and then you called the person below until everyone had the message. There were really specific instructions about what to do if your person didn't pick up.

Stick a large Bailey's in it.

I think it depends on the hot chocolate. A sachet made with boiling water? Not a treat. Proper chocolate melted into hot milk, whisked with a little cinnamon, cream and marshmallows? Definitely a treat.

I see it as a treat as it's quite unhealthy, but delicious, so I wouldn't drink it all the time. It is quite comforting.

I know what you mean OP. I have had the crap stuff and it is like hot, sugary water. I have had the 'proper' stuff that people have assured me is completely, COMPLETELY different... and it is like hot sugary water.

Whenever I see adults drinking it I think ffs, grow up and have some alcohol

My dds drink a nice hot chocolate most days after coming home from school when it gets really cold, with squirty cream and marshmallows!
They do use small mugs before anyone comes in for me
We have all the flavours of the whittards ones in the cupboard along with some of the hotel chocolate chocolate flakes. Always made with proper milk.
Powdered hot chocolate in sachets, the ones you mix with hot water, are an abomination and I wouldn’t consider them a treat no matter how rarely they were drunk!
So many suggestions over Christmas about making up a ‘hamper’ (these give me the rage at the best of times) with a mug, sachet of hot chocolate and mini marshmallows - to me, that’s a crap present! I’m a 35 year old woman ffs.
Anyway, the worst thing about all those ‘hot choc’ posts is always that it must be accompanied by snuggling. Eurgh. Also, has anyone seen a 7 year old snuggle on a sofa with a blanket and a hot drink successfully? Perhaps it’s just my 7 year old...

I think it depends on how grand the hot chocolate is. If you've got cream and marshmallows and cinnamon sticks and a shot of Baileys, then it's definitely crossed over into treat territory!

Also making hot chocolate with water is gross. It has to be made with milk or it tastes like crap!

Have you tried a proper hot chocolate made from chocolate flakes rather than powder? Eg from Whittard, Hotel chocolate or Selfridges. It is fabulous. I can understand finding basic supermarket instant hot chocolate underwhelming, it’s shit.

Personally I don’t particularly like tea or coffee, shocking I know. I’ll drink coffee to power through a stressful workload at work; on the other hand I think a hot chocolate is more comforting, and would be my drink of choice out of the 3 to relax at home with.

Whittard have unique hot chocolate flavours - worth a try as they’re much nicer than you imagine!