To give Hotel Chocolate as a present

[Connected1]

Earlier there was a thread about a work raffle where people donated prizes. The OP mentioned Hotel Chocolate as being one of those "junk presents" that people would donate.

I'm feeling a bit sheepish as I would have bought it online to send as presents to friends in UK (I don't live there myself).

What do people think?
IABU - It's got a bit of a crap reputation
IANBU - It's a premium brand that you'd be glad to get as a present.

All and any chocolate is welcome here!

🤣

Furyy rochets, yes! Sorry, that's what our household calls em. They're my fav Xmas treat, there's something nice about nibbling the nutty shell off first 😀

But Cadbury’s today isn’t the same as what we were brought up on.

Would be perfectly happy to receive it as a present 💝

I thought they were quite posh but my favourite posh chocolate is guilian seashells.
I don't yhink there's any chocolate I'd turn my nose up at being gifted.

Yes as far as chocolate goes, for the majority of the country HC is a good brand. You sometimes have to take what MN says with a pinch of salt as there are some big spenders/snobbish attitudes but also people with their own agendas. So for chocolate, you might suddenly get a thread with two or three posters raving about a particular brand that no one else has ever heard of.

I’d be thrilled with hotel chocolat as a present, I love their chocolate!

I've brought hotel chocolate at a gift and they loved it.

I love Hotel Chocolat BUT

https://christmas-brochure.aldi.co.uk/christmas-2025/page/58-59
Specially Selected Chocolate Selection
(item c on the link above)
£6.49

These are VERY good.

I had a box of these last year as well as a box of Hotel Chocolat.

They compare favourably at £6.49 compared to £17.95 for a similar sized box.

They do a blue box and a green box of slightly different chocolates to pick from.

Given how much Hotel Chocolat have gone up in price in the last couple of years, I find it hard to justify getting the real deal

(a £45 box in 2020 is now £80).

Jeez, I had no idea Hotel Chocolat snobbery was a thing. Hedonic adaptation innit: cadburys then HC then prestat etc and whatever was previously a treat becomes sneered at.

OP I'd be delighted to receive it as a gift

I put £40 of HC chocolate in the post for family members in the week and I've been getting very nice "thank you"s by text since. If I was the recipient I'd be pleased as well.

Weird as it's nice. I like their chocolates.

It's the top box here. There was a white insert but no "nice" box. The £23 was for 20 sachets looking at it.

Not to worry I will find a nice box and add marshmallows and chocolate flakes

I saw that post as well, I was quite surprised! Seemed very snobby. I've been very happy in the past to get HC, though admittedly I haven't had any recently. I hope they haven't gone too far downhill.

It's mostly awful low cocoa low quality overly sugary chocolate. The chocolate covered cherries were very nice , but then the last one I had was all dry. So I don't buy that anymore. Aldi Moser Roth chocolate is better.

HC is far superior to anything available in a UK supermarket imho

Me too. At £30 a 335g box I consider it a treat!!

I’ve never tried it, I thought it had a good reputation?

Not keen myself but they seem to do more hot chocolate than chocolate and I don't like hot chocolate. But hey, I love Thorntons and Black Magic and Lindor chocolates and nobody here seems to like those much. I miss the Thorntons shops and their great marzipan bars and coffee creams.
Everyone's different, I suppose

I really dislike it now, tastes oily and I think the ingredients are very cheap

when it first started it was lovely. Mind, so was dairy milk 30 years ago

☝️ Ain't that the truth.

The Hotel Chocolat hot chocolate sachets are now available in Tesco.

Just in case it's useful to anyone.

@Connected1 that poster was making a joke on several levels

I didn't get it either

But some people find that kind of thing hilarious

Anyway, chocolate has gone incredibly downhill in quality which is probably just as well for me as I think it might have helped me to lose weight!

But I still love Hotel Chocolat and would be delighted to get it as a present. They did a mini Christmas wreath last year and somebody gave me that as a present. Honestly, it was some of the best chocolate I've ever tasted. I was looking at the ingredients trying to figure out if they sell that specific one, but I suspect it was just a blend for the wreath design.

I used to work near one and we all used to go in after Christmas, Valentines and Easter, in order to stock up!