Comments on: Chocolately goodness!

Question: Chocolately goodness!

gilsonal — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:28:10 -0800

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.

By: farishta

farishta — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:42:15 -0800

How about Guarana Powder? (According to Wikipedia, it's chemically equivalent.)

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:48:15 -0800

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.

By: Netzapper

Netzapper — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:53:01 -0800

I'd just make strong hot chocolate and then throw in something like this or some Guarana powder (as farishta suggests).

By: misha

misha — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 15:31:01 -0800

Dear God, no, but if you market this I will buy it by the truckload.

By: dbolll

dbolll — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:01:26 -0800

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?

By: katie

katie — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:03:20 -0800

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.

By: WalterMitty

WalterMitty — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:45:36 -0800

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.

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 17:04:35 -0800

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.

By: Netzapper

Netzapper — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 19:06:28 -0800

Please note: weigh your caffeine powder (if you go that route). Don't try to measure by volume. Get a scale.

By: nanojath

nanojath — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:19:24 -0800

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...

By: thisjax

thisjax — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 22:13:08 -0800

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.

By: ClaudiaCenter

ClaudiaCenter — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 23:49:26 -0800

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 ...

By: JJ86

JJ86 — Thu, 01 May 2008 06:30:12 -0800

Why not just drink a mocha coffee? DIY by mixing hot chocolate with a shot of coffee.

By: lester

lester — Thu, 01 May 2008 07:16:00 -0800

i always achieved this by making my hot chocolate with coffee instead of hot water.

By: EKStickland

EKStickland — Fri, 02 May 2008 10:57:27 -0800

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?

By: silentbicycle

silentbicycle — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 06:12:41 -0800

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.