Consumer Reports preformed taste tests on 10-cocoas, including well-known ones like Hershey's Nestle, and Swiss Miss. All were prepared according to the manufacturer's recommendations. Various extra ingredients were sometimes required-such as milk, water, vanilla, and sugar.

"A high-quality hot chocolate should have full, complex chocolate flavor," said Consumer Reports Erin Gudeux. " There was a wide range in the cocoa drinks that we tested. They ranged from full and rich to kind of thin and weak."

One way to improve the taste of the lower-rated hot chocolate drinks: use mike instead of water to make the cocoa.

"Using milk instead of water masked some of the defects of the lower-rated cocoas, though it didn't change the quality of the higher-rated ones" said Gudeux.

Consumer Reports rates two cocoas as excellent:
Hershey's Cacao Reserve
Ghirardelli

But great taste can come with a nutritional cost. Ghirardelli had the highest amount of calories and sugar of all the cocoas tested.