Orange 44% Hot Chocolate

This one's all about the orange. We start with the same high quality, sustainably sourced chocolate, cocoa powder and Fairtrade British sugar behind every Harry's blend, then work in a natural orange flavouring until the two properly meet in the middle rather than one just sitting on top of the other. Everything's still hand produced in small batches in our barn in the Cheshire countryside, ground to a fine powder by Harry himself, and hand filled into tins you can recycle once the last mug's gone. The result is a chocolate orange hot chocolate you could happily drink in July, not just save for December.

How to make Harry's orange hot chocolate

Making a proper mug of orange hot chocolate at home doesn't need much. Warm 250ml of your milk of choice on the hob or in the microwave until it's steaming but not boiling (around 70C), then whisk in 2 - 3 heaped teaspoons (25g) of Harry's Orange 44% Hot Chocolate until it's completely dissolved. That's it. No orange to zest, no peel to fish back out of the pan.

If you've got a milk frother or a hot chocolate machine, this powder works well in those too. Just follow the same ratio and froth as you go for a slightly lighter, café-style finish.

One 300g tin makes roughly 12 mugs, and the 1kg and 1.6kg bags are there if you want to keep some on the side for the whole of winter.

How does it compare to a coffee shop orange hot chocolate?

If you're the sort of person who orders a chocolate orange hot chocolate every time you walk past a Costa, you'll know the drill: rich hot chocolate with that unmistakable Terry's Chocolate Orange flavour running through it. Harry's version is built on the same idea, dark 44% chocolate carrying a proper orange hit, just without the queue.

It's also considerably cheaper by the mug. A single coffee shop orange hot chocolate typically runs you somewhere around £5.15, and a tin of Harry's works out at roughly £1 per serving once you've made it at home. Buy the 1kg or 1.6kg bag and that gap widens further, since you're paying for chocolate rather than a cup and a seat.

We're not trying to be an exact copy of anyone else's recipe. We just think a properly made orange hot chocolate, using real Fairtrade dark chocolate rather than a sachet of flavoured powder, holds its own against anything you'd queue for.

Ways to enjoy it

Hot is the obvious way in, but it's worth trying this cold too: make it up as normal, let it cool, then pour over ice for a chocolate orange iced drink that works just as well in August as it does in December. A splash of double cream or oat cream on top turns either version into something closer to a dessert.

For baking, this powder does a good job standing in for cooking chocolate in brownies or a chocolate orange traybake, since the flavour is already balanced and there's no fresh orange juice to throw off your wet-to-dry ratios.

Garnish-wise, a little grated orange zest or a curl of fresh orange peel on top of the whipped cream does more work than you'd expect for very little effort. If you're buying for someone else, the tin travels well as a gift on its own, or paired with one of Harry's other flavours from the gift sets collection.

Where it comes from

Every batch of this starts with dark chocolate sourced through the Cacao Trace programme, alongside Fairtrade cocoa powder and sugar, ground down to a fine powder in our barn in the Cheshire countryside. We're a small operation. Harry grinds the chocolate himself, and every tin is hand filled rather than run through an automated line, which is part of why the tins are small-batch rather than mass produced.

The tins themselves are fully recyclable, and the powder is vegan by ingredient, dark chocolate, cocoa powder, sugar and natural orange flavouring, with no dairy in the mix (though as with all our products it's made in a kitchen that also handles milk, nuts and other allergens, so check the ingredients panel if that matters to you).

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this the same as Terry's Chocolate Orange hot chocolate?

No. It's our own dark chocolate and orange blend rather than a licensed Terry's product, but if you like that classic chocolate orange flavour, this is built in the same spirit: real cocoa butter and dark chocolate carrying a proper orange note, rather than an artificial orange extract sitting on top of a plain hot chocolate.

Can I make it dairy-free?

Yes. The powder itself is vegan, so oat milk, nut milk or any other plant milk works well in place of dairy. Oat milk in particular tends to give the smoothest, creamiest result if you're after something close to the dairy version.

Does it contain caffeine?

There's a small amount, since it comes from cocoa rather than coffee, but it's far less than you'd get from a coffee shop hot chocolate or a cup of tea, so most people find it fine as an evening drink.

How many mugs does one tin make?

The 300g tin makes roughly 12 mugs at our recommended serving size, with the 1kg and 1.6kg bags scaling up from there. Full serving guidance is on the tin and above in the how-to section.

What's actually in it?

Dark chocolate (cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, emulsifier: soy lecithin, natural vanilla flavouring), sugar, cocoa powder and natural orange flavouring. Made in a kitchen that also handles milk, peanuts, gluten, eggs, nuts, sesame and sulphur, so it may contain traces of these even though none are added ingredients.