Guittard's grand cacao drinking chocolate, which can also be used for baking, is 53% cacao. It’s made with red Dutch-process cocoa powder and finely ground chocolate.

As you heat the powdered mixture with milk, you may notice a chocolate pudding-like smell. However, the end product is an incredibly bitter hot chocolate with a sour aftertaste.

Equal Exchange's hot cocoa mix already contains milk powder, so it only requires the addition of hot water. The powder is pale brown and a little clumpy.

The mix doesn't dissolve well in water, leaving a lot of powder clods floating on top. The drink is bitter, like it doesn’t even have enough sweetness to pass as dark chocolate.

Great Value is Walmart's store brand. Its hot chocolate, which only comes in a large, 27.7-ounce canister, is made with real cocoa and no artificial sweeteners.

The powder is a very pale brown and doesn't fully dissolve in the hot water. The resulting drink may taste fine at first, but the abrupt aftertaste is strange and almost chemical.

Starbucks’ hot cocoa comes in double chocolate or with marshmallows. The mix does dissolve well in hot milk, but the drink is a bit bitter and watery.

Contrary to what the box promises, the drink isn’t rich, smooth, or velvety. The box also includes a recipe for a homemade caffè mocha, so it probably tastes better with coffee.

Williams Sonoma's hot chocolate mix is made of bits of chocolate crafted by Guittard. It dissolves well in milk, but the cooking instructions are a bit complex.

The resulting beverage is definitely flavorful and quite creamy in texture, but the semi-sweet flavor and the somewhat stale aftertaste can be pretty hard to get over.