My sample of Green Mountain Hot Cocoa was provided to me as part of Green Mountain’s ongoing support for this little K-Cup Challenge project I’ve undertaken.  I was pretty amped up to try hot cocoa in my Keurig brewer, as was my wife, who’s a huge fan of hot cocoa in pretty much every sort of way.

Obviously we can’t do this review the way we’ve done the others.  Apart from marshmallows, I pretty much always drink my hot cocoa black (is there any other way).  With that in mind it’s fairly pointless to have a cream & sugar section since it doesn’t apply (although marshmallows to add to both the sweetness and the creaminess).  Yeah…how about I just get on with it.

As much as I hate to say it, the Green Mountain hot cocoa K-Cups just aren’t that good.  Other reviews have suggested that they’re watery or week.  While I suppose there could be some truth to that, my observation is that there just not chocolaty.  The don’t taste like hot water.  There’s a definitely creaminess to them (remember this point, it will come up again), but, as I’m sure you’re aware, chocolate is a pretty key ingredient in hot chocolate, and well, it’s pretty much missing.

I’m guessing it’s a bit of a challenge to get a machine designed to make coffee to spit out a piping cup of hot chocolate.  Apart from the hot water aspect, they’re fundamentally different processes, so it’s not a huge surprise Green Mountain appears to have missed the mark with this recipe.  The bottom line is you won’t see me fighting my wife for the last K-Cup.

As disappointing as the Green Mountain Hot Cocoa K-Cup is, perhaps all is not lost.  Several tasters have suggested that by punching a few extra holes in the bottom of the K-Cup, one can improve the final result.

My own experimentation has found that it tastes a bit better if you scoop the remaining cocoa powder out of the K-Cup and mix it in with your freshly brewed cup.  I’m guessing the problem lies with the contents of the K-Cup not dissolving quickly enough when the water is added.

Finally, not 3 paragraphs ago I mentioned that Green Mountain’s Hot Cocoa K-Cups do have a creaminess to them.  I would encourage you to take advantage of that by mixing them 50/50 with a cup of Green Mountain’s Espresso Blend (Review coming at a later date).  The result is a very tasty mocha drink not dissimilar from the other “green” coffee company from Seattle.

I get the sense that Green Mountain takes their K-Cups seriously so it wouldn’t shock me to see an improved version of the hot cocoa K-Cup down the road.  Here’s hoping it happens sooner than later.

In addition to their K-Cup Hot Cocoa, Green Mountain also offers Fair Trade Organic Better World Cocoa. This 5 star rated cocoa is sourced from the Dominican Republic, and produces gourmet hot chocolate that is incredibly rich and delicious. Admittedly I haven’t tried it for myself, but some of those who have call it the best they’ve ever tasted.

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