Chocolately goodness!

April 30, 2008 2:28 PM

Does anybody know of someplace online I can purchase hot chocolate with extra caffeine in it? Looking online all I can find are a bunch of posts on how much normal hot chocolate has (not much). I'd like a warm caffeinated pick me up without having to drink coffee or tea.
posted by gilsonal to food & drink (16 answers total)

How about Guarana Powder? (According to Wikipedia, it's chemically equivalent.)
posted by farishta at 2:42 PM on April 30, 2008

You could probably crush a NoDoze pill into a cup of hot chocolate without upsetting the flavour too much. Caffeine pills are usually pretty cheap - probably cheaper than food products with caffeine in them.
posted by GuyZero at 2:48 PM on April 30, 2008

I'd just make strong hot chocolate and then throw in something like this or some Guarana powder (as farishta suggests).
posted by Netzapper at 2:53 PM on April 30, 2008

Dear God, no, but if you market this I will buy it by the truckload.
posted by misha at 3:31 PM on April 30, 2008

Caffeine powder is readliy available and cheap (see, e.g., here - google "caffeine powder" for more options). Why not just buy some and add it to your favorite hot chocolate?
posted by dbolll at 4:01 PM on April 30, 2008

Swiss Miss makes a product called "Pick Me Up Hot Cocoa" which I've bought at the supermarket. It seems to be available here online. It tastes just like regular Swiss Miss, but with the caffeine of a cup of coffee.
posted by katie at 4:03 PM on April 30, 2008 [2 favorites]

Previously on AskMe, a question about caffeine in beer. While not strictly about chocolate, it does have a caffeine-heavy element. It's filled with caffeine-related advice which might be of tangential interest to the OP.

From what I understand caffeine powder has a bitter taste and may change the taste of your hot chocolate. YMMV, of course.

Me, I'm going to try out dbolll's suggestion. I love good coffee, but hate the cheap stuff; but I need to work nights some days.
posted by WalterMitty at 4:45 PM on April 30, 2008

Huh, actual caffeinated hot chocolate. Wow.

As for caffeine being bitter, it's true but so is cocoa and the bitterness should be masked by all the sugar for a normal amount of caffeine (say under 50mg). If you're going to blow it out for a two-day bender with a few hundred mg a cup yeah, you might need an extra spoonful of sugar to offset the bitterness.
posted by GuyZero at 5:04 PM on April 30, 2008

Please note: weigh your caffeine powder (if you go that route). Don't try to measure by volume. Get a scale.
posted by Netzapper at 7:06 PM on April 30, 2008

Seconding Netzapper on precise measurement... I doubt you're getting into DANGER - HEART ATTACK territory but nobody likes the over-caffeinated jitters.

And now I'm thinking about becoming a millionaire marketing caffeinated sugar cubes for precise dosing...
posted by nanojath at 8:19 PM on April 30, 2008

The taste of caffeine powder is very difficult to cover up, even in something rather sweet. I used to keep scads of crushed up NoDoz for adding to smoothies and such. Even the equivalent of one tablet managed to make things taste nasty. I'm not sure if guarana has the same flavour problem.

Nanojath, that is quite possibly the best thing I have ever heard of.
posted by thisjax at 10:13 PM on April 30, 2008

I really want this caffeinated hot chocolate. I wonder if the Swiss Miss could be modified by adding some higher end chocolate, maybe Ovaltine powder or Scharfenberger cocoa. Mmmmm ...
posted by ClaudiaCenter at 11:49 PM on April 30, 2008

Why not just drink a mocha coffee? DIY by mixing hot chocolate with a shot of coffee.
posted by JJ86 at 6:30 AM on May 1, 2008

i always achieved this by making my hot chocolate with coffee instead of hot water.
posted by lester at 7:16 AM on May 1, 2008 [1 favorite]

One thing you might consider is dissolving some caffeinated mints into the hot chocolate. Some mints I've tried are (in order of preference) Euromints, Penguin Mints, and Jolt Mints. Might change the flavor a bit, but who doesn't like mint chocolate?
posted by EKStickland at 10:57 AM on May 2, 2008

I know I'm late to the party, but what you're probably looking for is Chocamine powder: It's a sort of cocoa powder made with a focus on extracting antioxidants, caffeine, etc., rather than flavor. I often add in about a 1/4 tsp. per when making hot cocoa or a chocolate smoothie, and it adds a reasonable amount of caffeine.

Note that you'll also want to add regular cocoa powder.
posted by silentbicycle at 6:12 AM on November 1, 2008