Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser - anybody got one?

[village]

As per the thread title.....does anybody have a Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser and if so what are their opinions on it? Do you find the ongoing chocolate costs for the drinks expensive and do you have any decent tips for alternatives?
cheers.

[RLE]

We got one last year for Xmas. Thought it would be a bit gimmicky but honestly we’ve loved it.

No issues with reliability either and that’s pretty much having one a week each for the last twelve months. Price wise the sachets can be deemed expensive but I’ve tried a number of the powder variants including high end suppliers and this is without doubt my favourite. All things considering I don’t think value is too bad compared with the extortionate price you would pay if you were out.

We got ours with the selection sachet set but note this seems to have been discontinued. Only flavour I didn’t gel with was the dark one (forget the exact name). Rest were fantastic. They have just released velvestiser specific Lattes too but yet to try them.

Only criticism would be the fact that you have to do one serving at a time and wait a few minutes in between to allow the thermostat to reset. That said it seems to be a guideline as I’m too impatient and usually just crack straight on with the second cup. Temp of the finished product can be cool......not cold by any means but apparently it is meant to be like this for the optimum taste of the chocolate. I tend to pour hot water in the cups to warm them up prior to pouring the chocolate and this has been a good workaround.

Add some mini marshmallows and you are ready to go......

[Strnglwhank]

We have one & it's fantastic - only use it for hot chocolate (70%) & that's lovely. I think the tubs of chocolate are a better bet than the sachets as you can get a better strength of chocolate drink.

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[Malcolm68]

The wife has got one. She loves it, as does the kids.

The one thing I would say that our original one went wrong and we had to return it. The amount of hoops we had to jump through to get it sent back was shocking. Uploading a video of what it did when we turned it on to show it wasn’t working and a full on set of questions asking how we’d used it before they’d even consider a return.

The replacement has been fine, but the customer service for the return was appalling

Malc


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[bigvic]

I bought one last month for her birthday, she loves it especially with a tiny dash of Cointreau!
I normally make her a cup, boil the kettle to heat the mug up first, add the (not very) hot chocolate then rinse the velvetiser with the rest of the hot water and top up the mug.
Smells delish but I can’t touch it as chocolate sets off a migraine for me!

[sv-steve]

My wife had one of these last Christmas and we love it. The machine has been faultless and the drinks taste great. The sachets aren’t cheap granted but we a’re saving a lot on coffees etc out at the moment! I would recommend.


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[TheGent]

Never seen one of these before. Just looking now, they have a 15% discount code offer at the moment (VEL15XMAS) tempting....


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[ernestrome]

It makes me wonder how many people have actually made hot chocolate on the stove, if they can be convinced it is so arduous a task that it is worth buying one of these. Is it correct that after the initial outlay of £100 the price is ~£1.20 for each drink!?

I make hot chocolate as an occasional treat for my sons. A handful of chocolate chips or buttons, a spoonful of cocoa powder, melted quickly with a splash of water before whisking in the milk and adding sugar to taste. Using a splash of water before adding the milk is important, the chocolate and cocoa mix/melt easily into water but not so easily into milk.

[ENES]

As an alternative - I own a Nespresso Barrista machine can do the hot chocolate like the Velvetiser & a whole lot more besides (doen't brew the coffee though).
Makes superb iced coffee recipes, great coffee & hot chocolate - download recipes to your phone app & sync to the Barista.
It's expensive, but very good.

https://www.nespresso.com/uk/en/orde...a-milk-frother

[ViperStripes]

Just bought one on the strength of this thread.

[Sean89]

Only flavour I didn’t gel with was the dark one (forget the exact name). Rest were fantastic. They have just released velvestiser specific Lattes too but yet to try them.
.

That would be the 100% dark Honduras. I also hated it but the boss likes it with a bit of brown sugar just to take the bitter edge off.

Orange supermilk, mint and even the white chocolate raspberry all very nice.

At a quid ago it’s quite expensive but the quality is very good. I experimented with grating my own decent quality chocolate with mixed success. Each HC style it’s grated differently to get an optimal melt from the machine which I think gets up to 50 or 60 degrees.

[Jeremy67]

There was a thread like this in ancient Rome just months before the Vandals and Visigoths turned up and trashed the place.

[R0bertb00th]

There’s a £20 off code STSMHCXMAS and as for cheaper drinks bulk buy from pendragon just as good as hotel chocolate and a third of the price https://pendragondrinks.co.uk/luxury...ghotchocolate/

[Sean89]

Cheers,

Shall give them a try. Looks like they’ve got some interesting flavours too.

[Captain Morgan]

I brought a Severin milk warmer / frother five years ago that does this and more and would replace it with the same in a heartbeat.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Severin-SM-...00ABXE9SA?th=1


This is the current version
https://www.severin.com/sm-3586-indu...umer-spuma-700

[village]

Thanks for the replies. At the end of the day it was more for my daughter than anyone else as she loves a good hot chocolate and is quite keen to have one. I had already found the £20 code below so thought what the hell and have ordered one. The tip for the Pendragon chocolate is a good one though!

There’s a £20 off code STSMHCXMAS and as for cheaper drinks bulk buy from pendragon just as good as hotel chocolate and a third of the price https://pendragondrinks.co.uk/luxury...ghotchocolate/

[village]

It arrived yesterday and has been given a big thumbs up by my daughter (extra pre-Christmas brownie points). I can see how it would get expensive using the Hotel Chocolat packs of drinking chocolate so the order will go in to Pendragon. Having now purchased one I would happily recommend it. I know there were comments regarding drink temperature but I think it comes out nice and hot & if you warm the cup first with some hot water from the tap (no need to boil a kettle) it’s fine.

[Alex L]

There’s a £20 off code STSMHCXMAS and as for cheaper drinks bulk buy from pendragon just as good as hotel chocolate and a third of the price https://pendragondrinks.co.uk/luxury...ghotchocolate/

Thanks, just ordered 2kg of hot chocolate from Pendragon to give it a go in my Velvetiser.