When Hotel Chocolat announced its newly improved Velvetiser a month ago, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. Thankfully, the chocolate Gods heard my cry and sent me a sample to test for myself ahead of the August 28 launch date, complete with a box of sachets which I'm getting through at an alarming rate.
I've been a huge fan of the original Velvetiser for years, but the new version makes a heap of improvements that have me excited to use it every evening. If you're looking for a gift for the foodie in your life that has everything, I couldn't recommend it enough.
The most notable improvement in the new Velvetiser is its ability to brew both hot and cold chocolate drinks. Here's what happened when I put it to the test.
Brewing cold drinks
I got started with a cold drink. The Velvetiser came with two glases: one for hot drinks, and one for cold. I think they're beautiful, with ribbed exteriors that sit luxuriously in the hand and echo the design of the machine itself.
I opted for a 'Classic' cold chocolate with 70% cocoa. The instructions on the sachet say to fill up to the line on the Velvetiser, but I couldn't spot a line on the inside of my machine. Instead, I added some milk to my glass and then poured into my machine.
I topped the milk with the chocolate powder sachet, which is an incredibly finely-milled texture. After turning the dial to the cold setting (blue for cold, red for warm, like a faucet) I pressed the button to start and put the lid on my machine.
Right before the milk was ready, I recorded some footage of it circulating in a vortex inside the container. It's incredibly satisfying to watch.
The drink was refreshingly fridge-cold and the chocolate was well-integrated, with no graininess. With the hotter setting, you can probably get away with using non-Hotel Chocolat sachets as it will be melted inside the Velvetiser, but with the cold setting, I'd imagine this is the only chocolate powder you can find finely-milled enough to make a cold chocolate.
Brewing hot drinks
The next day, I made a hot chocolate drink using the Mandarin Chocolate flavor sachet. This has always been a favorite of mine with the original Velvetiser, with warming chocolate notes and a citrus tang that feels a bit more grown up than your classic hot cocoa.
It tasted amazing, with a fluffy consistency and evenly integrated chocolate flakes. The temperature was perfect for drinking right out of the machine.
Design
The Velvetiser comes in three colors. I opted for Pewter, which is a metallic shade, but there's also Pebble and Chalk. If I could go back, I'd probably have picked Chalk to fit in with my kitchen decor, but all shades are pretty and there's a color that will suit everyone, complete with a range of wooden handles that suit the hue of the specific machine you opt for.
Aside from the hot and cold functions, there are some other notable design changes included in the new Velvetiser. For a start, the machine features a custom-designed whisk. It's shaped with petal-like edges inspired by the cacao flower, and spins to generate a vortex that can integrate both hot and cold chocolate.
There are also sculptural contours around the base of the brewer, which look great. However, I did find it made cleaning after use a bit trickier. Reaching around these grooves required me to get hands-on with a sponge, scrubbing any chocolatey residue that I couldn't reach with a rinse. The whisk is also a little trickier to clean.
Verdict
The new Velvetiser is amazing. It deserves a spot on every wedding registry and Christmas wish list this year. But it's super expensive: $179.95 / £149.95 compared to the (still expensive) $149 / £100 you'd pay for the Original.
Is it worth opting for the newer, swankier version? I definitely think so. But if you already have the original, you'll have to really enjoy cold chocolate drinks to justify the added expense.
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