The Velvetiser. Please explain if a hot drink can ever be worth this kind of money??!

[Alwaysthebridesmaidpassmethewine]

Just that really.
£100 for a machine which I need to buy the hot chocolate for.
Is it really that special?
My eldests birthday in a couple of weeks who likes hot chocolate and is hard to buy for, but would it be money well spent?
Views please 🤞🏻

It's expensive and for all the cleaning and washing up. You may as well heat a small pan of milk and add some real chocolate flakes.

You can buy really nice drinking chocolate at cocoa runners which is much better quality than hotel chocolat sachets which is just sugar, milk powder and cocoa.

I have one and I love it, use it most days. I don’t bother with the sachets - too expensive and about a million calories in each. I use normal Cadbury’s highlights powder and it’s lush!

I buy bags of hot chocolate flakes from cocoba instead cheaper and just as nice

We bought one for our son at uni. He loves it.

We have one similar but a cheaper make (Dualit one) It's great, hot chocolate is lovely plus it make really nice thick frothy milkshakes on the cold setting.

DH bought me one for my birthday and I absolutely love it. We use it often and they have a great range of flavours.

Hotel Chocolat recommend boiling water and putting it into the mug whilst the velvetiser is on. Then pour it out before putting the hot choc on - this warms up the mug and the hot choc. We do this and are happy with the temperature.

It's delicious and I like the fun of choosing all the flavours. I do go through phases of using it a lot and then months of not using it though. I love the way it looks too.

I got a Velvetiser for a gift and quickly realised that it's the same as the Dualit milk frother we already had. The bases are identical, the whisk part almost identical. The Velvetiser looks nicer sitting on the worktop but that's it. We've done blind taste tests with both to compar (yes, sad I know).

If you can get to a Hotel Chocolat with a cafe, you can try the velvetised hot choc without buying a velvetiser.

I agree with a pp that it is not so great that I would want to buy the machine.

I have a milk frother from amazon - two different attachments for different amounts of froth. Can also heat and froth or just froth for cold froth. Thank I paid about £30 (definitely no more than £40). Gets used most days for my coffee and makes perfect hot chocolate dd.

I wouldn't spend that much on one for a child. They may get bored of it in a few months. Or they may love it too much which wouldn't be very healthy with all the sugar! I'd get them an experience voucher or a knew outfit/ trainers.

I was considering getting a Velvetiser, but in the end went with a hot chocolate shaker and I’ve been really pleased with it. Very quick and easy to use, goes in the dishwasher and froths well. The hot chocolate is well mixed and very smooth.

It spoils any other hot chocolate for you! You also don't need to but their sachets. I have a bookers account and can buy a tub of gated Belgian chocolate for about £8 which lasts for ages, it tastes nicer too.

I have it and it makes amazing hot chocolate. Very easy to clean. I don’t use the sachets tho, just normal hot choc powder- my fave is cadburys

Love mine and on black Friday the outlet store sell certain flavours as box 10 of sachets for £4.50 which makes it a bargain at 45p per drink

There are absolutely cheaper alternatives, but it is a lovely gift. And depending on budget of course, there's nothing wrong with buying a more expensive version of something as a gift. DS uses his all the time and we stock up on sachets in his Christmas stocking etc. it's super easy to clean, you just add water and a little detergent and run the machine through again. And it looks pretty on the counter. Visiting children think it's fab.

Not tried one but i use pods in my tassimo coffee machine if i fancy a hot choc, they come out all frothy.

I use mine for my coffee - add some milk, coffee and zero cal syrup to the machine and run it. Put some boxing water in a cup, and then pour the warmed mixture to the cup. Absolutely luxurious and super easy.
For my DC I make hot chocolate, using supermarket powder and will grate down chocolate eg what was left over from Christmas or Halloween.

I got mine on Facebook marketplace though for £25 with two white mugs. Then sold the white mugs for £10 so very happy with what I paid.. Wouldnt have paid £100 but think I would replace it this one broke, if I could get a good deal...

I have a Swan machine and like that as it does both hot and cold but there is something nicer about using the velvetiser.

Yes it's really nice and you can use any hot choc in it. Whittards white choc is my fave.

He shouldn’t let them use it!

DS (13) got one for Christmas. He loves it and uses it multiple times a day. He rarely makes actual hot chocolate with it. Just drinks vast quantities of hot, frothy milk.

I panic-bought one for my teens for Christmas when I didn’t have any present ideas. They absolutely love it and use it often.

When the sachets that came with it ran out we started using cheaper hot choc powder and it’s still lovely. Really easy to clean and nice design, too.

He started with charging them £2 a hot chocolate, but once we started funding the hot chocolate (and milk and electricity....!), he dropped the charge.

My lot have an Aerolatte frother, unlimited supplies of squirty cream (ASda about £1) and marshmallows About £13 for the Aerolatte. They go through spells of liking hot chocolate and not, and I'm not averse to my own latte.
www.lakeland.co.uk/11733/aerolatte-to-go-handheld-milk-frother-with-storage-tube

I love mine for the ease of making. My only quibble is that it is not quite as hot as I would like so I have to drink it quickly (Ed: And that’s a hardship how?!) It works as well, Ive found with oat milk as with dairy milk