Hot chocolate machines have become as popular as bottled water machines – is this a new trend?
There are two types of hot chocolate machines in general use:
- vending machines
- home kitchen equipment (such as the Tassimo).
In your own home you have the luxury of space and more equipment than the first men on the moon, so making a hot chocolate is easy right?
It depends how you do it.
The simplest way is to simply boil a kettle and use powdered hot chocolate. These can be pretty good, but you tend to get high levels of sugar and not everybody appreciates the taste of powdered milk. The best home hot chocolate comes from the capsules such as you find for the Nespresso machines.
The Joys Of Vending Machine Hot Chocolate
Vending machines can produce awesome hot chocolate. It isn’t so much that the drink is of the very highest quality, it’s more the location and timing.
The best hot chocolate I had last year was from the vending machine at the end of the second period while attending a local ice hockey match. We were all c0ld and miserable and the mood of the whole group picked up as we took turns to pull our hot plastic cups from the dispenser and sipped on our steaming hot chocolates (I think they were Suchard or Cadbury).
So yes, instant hot chocolate has its place and from my observations vending machines offering these hot sticky concoctions are more popular than the water bottle vending machines. More and more kids carry bottles of water routinely, but at the ice hockey I was faced with a bunch of teen girls looking to me for coins for the chocolate. You don’t expect much gratitude from a teen for anything, but hot chocolate speaks to them in a way I no longer can.
Such machines are more common in the office place now. The days of a kettle and instant coffee are long behind us as more and more businesses appreciate that staff enjoy a few gentle perks. A half-decent espresso or a gourmet hot chocolate can boost your day and make that difficult staff meeting a little bit more bearable. Some offices provide these machines for free (watch your waistline) – they also do not pay extra overtime, so it’s good value for the employer and a little easier for the staff to work an extra half hour at the end of the official day.
The cost to businesses is relatively low compared to the benefit of increased morale. If your company pushes the boat out and uses proper cups this can make the hot chocolate seem to taste even better.
Supplies for vending machines are good value and cheaper than the equivalent for machines in the home kitchen.
If you have ever visited a Belgian cafe and had a cup of true hot chocolate you will be cursed with regret every time you drink anything less (which is everything else), but for the rest of us, hot chocolate machines dispensing a heart-warming cup of joy are a cheap and quick tonic.