Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser

[Coffeewinecake]

Are they worth it?
It’s coming to that time of year (although it’s hot and sunny at the moment!) and was thinking of getting as a joint Xmas gift for DCs.
I spoke to someone at Hotel Chocolat but I still don’t really understand what they do (the velvetiser, not the shop assistant). Are they just a glorified milk frother that take up extra space and cost a lot more?
TIA

We use ours a lot (2 adults, 2 DC). We have never bought the sachets though (other than the ones that came in the box with it). I only like really dark chocolate and found them all a bit sweet- we just grate chocolate up and use that. It makes a lovely smooth hot chocolate. It comes out at drinking temperature, not hot like a cup of tea / coffee from the kettle. We’ve used dark / milk / white chocolate and cream / milk / oat milk and everything seems to work. I also put a small amount of milk in it or some of that Willpowers MCT powder mixed with water to make some froth for the top of my coffee. I would definitely replace it if it died.

We don't buy the HC sachets often, too expensive. We buy high quality chocolate blocks and grate them in directly, especially as my DH only really wants the really dark choc options.

Also, the Aldi small individual choc bars are the perfect size for a single serving, so we use those too.

It has to be grated quite finely to not disrupt the mechanism, and we just run it twice if it needs a bit longer to melt

This is an absolute game changer! Honestly could this machine get any better!!!

@Figment1982 its a shame! Me and my friend sometimes go halves on boxes. Have you tried the new pecan cinnamon danish hot choc? It’s unbelievable.

I love mine and use Green and Blacks hot chocolate powder which tastes delicious and way cheaper than Hotel Chocolat sachets. I have a cheap version of the Velvetiser at my work and it is sadly not the same at all. For me, the Velvietiser is worth the money if you love a proper hot chocolate.

Can I use baking cocoa in the velvetiser? I make hot chocolate like that. I dont like it made from actual chocolate.

I heard the drinks don't get properly hot, which put me off it.

This is true too, ours was £50 if we bought a minimum years subscription of boxes, which I did - thinking we would never get through 10 hot chocolates in a month. Little did I realise the box would be gone in a week 🤣

We have a Dualit milk frother which we use for frothing milk(!). However I think the hotel chocolat one is made by Dualit.
Those who use it daily, or many times a day, isn't it a huge number of calories? I'd be the size of a house if I had so much hot chocolate.

Re Velvetiser‘s temperature:

“My hot chocolate/latte isn’t hot enough for me

The Velvetiser has been calibrated to serve at the best temperature for flavour, which is up to 68 – 70 degrees Centigrade. A few degrees either way is perfectly acceptable, but if your hot chocolate is much hotter, its delicate flavours will be scalded (this is often the reason that hot chocolate served in some coffee shops doesn’t taste as good as ours). We worked hard on the design of our Velvetiser to ensure this never happens and a simple tip for a warmer drink is to fill your cup with hot water and empty it just before pouring in your hot chocolate or latte.”

https://www.hotelchocolat.com/uk/velvetiser-faq.html#:~:text=The%2520Velvetiser%2520has%2520been%2520calibrated,to%252068%2520%E2%80%93%252070%2520degrees%2520Centigrade.

I bought a milk frother from Amazon; I use it with very dark chocolate, cocoa or cacao - it's brilliant, really thick smooth chocolate, inexpensive, better for the planet - no capsules,
I think it cost about £5 - and I later saw similar in Ikea for £1.99
£5.49 now - I bought mine a couple of years ago.

milk frother mentioned above

"Are they just a glorified milk frother that take up extra space and cost a lot more?"

Yes. Get a Lavazzo Modo Mio frother.

It's not a frother it's a velvetiser

They are the same thing. A milk warmer with a stirrer in the bottom.

That is the same thing technically but you don’t have to stand there and do it. Therein lies the luxury 🤣

Calories wise yes, but I do my milk for our morning coffees to make it more special - so that’s what, less than 100ml?

Sister got one two years ago for Xmas and brought it round to us for a visit () - I thought it was nice but tbh DP makes much nicer just warming milk on the hob and putting chocolate in.

The only thing I wish is that they did a double size one so that you could fit two cups worth in.

And that it wasn't so calorific. It's delicious but I can't justify it on a regular basis because I am trying to lose weight.

If you have a Magimix/food processor with a grater function, you can make hot chocolate flakes out of any chocolate you like - event green and blacks or similar is cheaper than the hotel Chocolat stuff. I also concluded absolutely nothing happens to the HC stuff when it goes out of date, so I buy it if it's reduced as on its best before date.

Aldi and Lidl regularly do a milk frother in the middle aisle. About £15. I use mine daily and they last years. No way is the velvetiser worth the money.

We love ours

@Differentstarts Fucking hell, they've captured you 😆. I wasn't aware Velvetiser was in the Oxford English Dictionary, BECAUSE IT'S NOT. And if it were it'd be something to do with fabric, not a hot drink.

The Lavazzo machine is a frother. And it makes lovely, 'velvety' hot chocolate.

But it really is

Each time I think about going for the velvetiser, a poster says a frother is as good and with the price difference it is tempting.
So silly question- with the frother, do you heat the milk first, the add chocolate and froth it all up?

It is go and check

I use mine most days for either iced latte or hot chocolate. The hot chocolate is more expensive than buying a jar of Cadbury or whatever but isn't expensive if you're having them as a treat.

Oh now I have swung back the other way 🤦‍♀️

Get the velvetiser ignore all the poor people