Cafe Escapes Milk Chocolate Hot Cocoa KCups, K-Cups for Keurig Brewers, 16 pack

As soon as I tasted this, I immediately noticed the odd taste. Of course the culprit was the added sucralose, which is a chemical derived from chlorine. Why they need to add this to a product that already contains sugar, I will never know. I noticed the kids also were leaving their cocoa almost untouched. It is just as easy to dump an envelope of Swiss Miss into a cup and add hot water from your Keurig Brewer, and you’ll have a much better (and cheaper) cup of cocoa!
Rating: 1 / 5
Cafe Escapes Milk Chocolate Hot Cocoa KCups, K-Cups for Keurig Brewers, 16 pack

I have a Keurig coffee maker, which brews a fresh cup of gourmet coffee, tea, or cocoa in less than a minute. If you are not familiar with this machine, it is wonderfully convenient, especially for me, as I only make 1 or two hot beverages at home per day. But I am not reviewing the Keurig coffee maker. I am here to write a glowing review for “Milk Chocolate Hot Cocoa K-Cups for Keurig Brewers.”

In the winter hot cocoa is my favorite coffee alternative, and I recently tried Cafe Escapes Milk Chocolate Hot Cocoa K-Cups. Café Escapes Cafe Mocha used to be my favorite brand/blend. However, I now find this Milk Chocolate Cocoa K-Cup absolutely delicious and, by far, the best K-Cup cocoa I have sampled to date. I have tasted 2-3 other brands and flavors, but nothing compares to the full, rich, creamy flavor of this product – much more so than the Cafe Mocha, which is also good but not as creamy.

I respectfully disagree with those reviewers who have given Cafe Escapes Milk Chocolate Hot Cocoa a poor rating, especially those who didn’t care for what they stated was the taste of sucralose, an artificial sweetener. I have a relatively sensitive palate and am usually aware of these artificial flavorings and sugar substitutes. I do not taste these here, nor does my daughter, who also loves hot chocolate….and she is REALLY picky! Of course, this does not taste like the hot chocolate made with whole milk and shaved chocolate – but it is an excellent substitute.

It is important to remember to shake the K-Cup before brewing any kind of hot beverage.

This product contains milk, soy and tree nuts (highly refined coconut oil). Product is trans-fat and gluten free. Caffeine content is estimated at less than 10 mg per serving (versus 100-150 mg in Arabica coffee). Contains a combination of natural and artificial sweeteners.

Jana Perskie
Rating: 4 / 5
Cafe Escapes Milk Chocolate Hot Cocoa KCups, K-Cups for Keurig Brewers, 16 pack

I’m a confirmed hot chocolate snob and yes, I admit I only really wanted a Keurig to make a really quick, banging cup of hot chocolate (and maybe not be on a first name basis with every employee at Dunkin Donuts). In fact, I don’t even drink coffee, so the quest for the perfect hot chocolate for the Keurig is not one I take lightly.

Of the brands of hot chocolate I’ve tried that are made specifically for the Keurig, this one is the best.

I tried a couple of brews before I reviewed this… So here’s the conclusion that I’ve come to:

I have a Keurig Special Edition B60 brewer, and the first brew I did as was suggested by the maker (shake the K-Cup before brewing, brew on 8oz setting). Of course my brewer doesn’t have 8oz, so I brewed at 7.25oz, the “middle button.” The result was a watery cup of hot chocolate with a fair amount of chocolate flavor, but still a little too watered down for me. The color was really good, rich, dark, and even had some of that nice foamy goodness on the top. I was *very* happy to see when I looked at the empty K-Cup after brewing that there was almost no powder or residue left in the K-Cup, a problem that the other hot chocolate K-Cups really suffer from no matter how hard you shake them and there was almost no thick chocolate gunk at the bottom of the mug when finished. Awesome. So overall, when brewed as suggested, it was the best hot chocolate I’ve tried for the K-Cup when prepared as-is, but not the best cup of homemade hot chocolate possible.

The next brew I did I shook the K-Cup and brewed on the small cup setting, the 5.25oz brew. The result was a hot chocolate that was a little thicker, beautiful color, lots of that spectacular white foam on top, something that looked like a REAL hot chocolate. The flavor was much more defined, a lot more chocolaty, and very smooth and tasty. Though I did notice that slightly Splenda-like aftertaste which kind of surprised me since I’m largely desensitized to that taste (thank you Fruit2O) and honestly it was ever-so-slightly just too sweet. But wow was it good. Still not the best hot chocolate to make at home, but really good.

Third brew I did I did again on the 5.25oz brew, put a splash of half-and-half in the cup, then brewed. Holy cow in a hat… That was awesome. Finally a substitute for my Dunkin Donuts trips. So, so, so good. No aftertaste, right amount of sweetness and creamy texture. Great, rich color that looks like a melted Hershey Bar. Right up there with the best hot chocolate one can make at home for sure. For sure a taste that competes with hot chocolate I’ve tried from Dunkin Donuts.

So rating this for me was hard… When made, straight up as suggested, it’s OK and even when it’s made with less water it’s pretty good. Since I think the Keurig is designed for speedy ease-of-use, I think a lot of people are looking for and expecting that great cup of hot chocolate right out of the box. In that way, it delivers an OK product, the best K-Cup hot chocolate available now, but not an overall great cup of hot chocolate. But if you’re willing to put two seconds worth of time into making it positively delicious, you will be very richly rewarded with fantastic hot chocolate.

I fluctuated between rating 3 stars because, out of the box, it’s only OK, and 4 stars because when adjusted it’s amazing… I ended up going 4 star with the assumption that there are a lot of people out there with a Keurig who do coffee or tea where they add creamer and/or sugar to adjust it to their taste, and I see doing this as much the same sort of thing.

Hopefully Keurig will put out a hot chocolate soon that’s amazing right out of the box. If we could get them to talk to the Land O Lakes folks (Cocoa Classics Hot Cocoa Drink Mix 7 Variety Pack), there would never be a reason to leave the house for hot chocolate again…
Rating: 4 / 5
Cafe Escapes Milk Chocolate Hot Cocoa KCups, K-Cups for Keurig Brewers, 16 pack