After hearing about this new addition to Costa's Christmas Menu for 2013 I just had to give it a try. As well as this variety Costa have also brought back their Black Forest Hot Chocolate, plus Honeycomb & Cream Hot Chocolate, Salted Caramel & Cream Latte, as well as a Gingerbread & Cream Latte complete with a mini gingerbread man! They're also doing festive cakes such as Gingerbread Muffins, Black Forest Fancy, Chocolate Orange Fancy, Mince Tarts, and a gluten-free Christmas cake slice. You can check out the full Christmas Menu HERE.
As much as I wanted to try the Black Forest Hot Chocolate, I went for the White Hot Chocolate instead as white hot chocolate is such a rarity - not many cafes seem to sell it! Unfortunately I was a bit disappointed as they hadn't put any cherry sauce or edible glitter over the cream as advertised. I would have mentioned it to the staff, but I was cold and the drink looked so nice I didn't want to wait any longer!
Despite the lack of cherry sauce and glitter I still thought the hot chocolate was nicely presented. The cream looked really tempting and the dusting of cocoa powder was a nice touch. I do find Costa's saucers a bit of an odd shape though - all the weight is concentrated onto one side, which makes it a bit tricky to balance when carrying it.
Taste-wise the hot chocolate was very creamy and milky, with a nice vanilla flavor. It had an almost "alcoholic" edge to it that I can't quite put my finger on...maybe from the white chocolate syrup? Anyway it was still very comforting and milky, and I really enjoyed digging into the cream on top - very indulgent. In hindsight though I do wish I'd asked for the cherry sauce as it would've quite literally been the cherry on top!
Overall, this made a nice change from Costa's regular hot chocolates and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys white chocolate or milky drinks in general. I'm definitely looking forward to trying the rest of Costa's Christmas Menu!
Price: £2.95.
RATING: 7 out of 10.
