Hotel Chocolat All-New Velvetiser Review

Introduction

Hotel Chocolat recently unveiled an All-New Velvetiser model that promises to improve on the old model in a variety of ways. The headline here is that this All-New Velvetiser will do cold and hot chocolates, plus it comes with a more stylish and redesigned chassis and more besides. 

At £149.95, it’s a fair bit more expensive than the original Hotel Chocolat The Velvetiser and pushes above feature-rich alternatives, including the Dreo Baristamaker.

I’ve been testing the All-New Velvetiser for the last few weeks, as the weather has turned colder, to see if it’s a top-notch frother.

Design

• Stylish redesigned chassis
• Can now do some cold and hot chocolate with ease
• The same capacity as its predecessor is a little disappointing

The All-New Velvetiser comes in some different colours to the original, with white, silver and a purple-type colour available to give it some added style points. The metallic copper finish that was available on the old one has disappeared, and I think this new machine is better for it.

The chassis has been redesigned against the plainer cylinder of the original, with its fluted design now resembling a cacao pod for an added ounce of style, and I think it looks fantastic. If you’ve got a modern-looking kitchen or home, this’ll fit right in.

It still takes the form of a jug-style milk frother, although the wooden handle sits parallel to the unit, rather than to the floor, making the pouring motion easier as it’s more like a kettle.

The controls for the All-New Velvetiser have also moved, as a dial now lives on the base of the unit where you can choose between hot and cold drinks with a flick of the dial and a push of its button. It illuminates the chosen colour when running, and goes off when it’s finished.

It’s inside where this new frother has experienced major changes to create even frothier and creamier results. There are now ridges inside the unit, plus a redesigned whisk (that looks like a cacao plant flower – a nice touch) that’s designed to create a vortex effect by cutting through the liquid to create ultra-fine passages of air – essentially microfoam.

As with its predecessor, the whisk attaches magnetically to the bottom of the Velvetiser for a secure fit. It also detaches easily to be washed up separately, and as with its predecessor, the inside of the new model is a metal, non-stick coating that is easy to wash out, in the same way a mug or saucepan is.

One area I am a little surprised to find both the old and the All-New Velvetiser to be identical is capacity. This new one still has a 220ml capacity, meaning it will only make one cup at a time. Depending on the mode you select, the Dreo BaristaMaker can do double, potentially cutting down the time to make hot chocolates if more than one person indulges.

Performance

• Rich, velvety chocolate drinks – hot or cold
• Potentially brews hot chocolate even quicker
• Seems quieter than the previous generation

Given the claims made in the All-New Velvetiser’s marketing bumf and considering the excellent experience I had with the original model, I had very high hopes for the new model.

I tested this new model over a few weeks, making both hot and cold chocolate with normal whole milk and oat milk to see how well it performed. I elected to use oat milk as an alternative because of how well it froths in rival products, and when using steam wands with more advanced coffee machines.

For a first test, I used one of the sachets with the All-New Velvetiser with a Black Forest Gateau hot chocolate with whole milk. The resulting hot chocolate came out rich and velvety, arguably even more so than the original model – it was a similar story using a Mince Pie flavour sachet with oat milk.

In brewing those two, plus a very frothy oat milk latte I tried the following day, I noticed the All-New Velvetiser seemed to finish them in closer to two minutes than the two and a half of the original, while maintaining even stronger results.

For making a ‘cold chocolate’ in the old machine, Hotel Chocolat recommended steeping half the milk you’d put into the Velvetiser in a glass with ice, and then warming up the rest in the unit itself with your chosen chocolate. 

With the new one, it’s much simpler in one respect. Now, you can dump all the milk and the chocolate into the unit, turn it to cold, and wait two and a half minutes for a ‘cold chocolate’. However, using the flaked chocolate on the cold setting won’t mix it through in the same way, as I found out when attempting a Coconut White one. 

That’s why Hotel Chocolat provides you with a few sachets of fine-milled chocolate that is melded at the start of the All-New Velvetiser’s cycle. I elected to make a Mint one using the sachet provided, and it resulted in a smooth and rich milkshake-type drink with a very strong mint flavour. It was almost like drinking an entire bar of Aero and an After Eight in one small sip.

On the whole, the All-New Velvetiser also seemed much quieter than the original model, with less of an intensive whirring sound as it spun up chocolatey goodness. The drinks it made were also instantly drinkable, arguably due to the setting reaching 68-70°C – Hotel Chocolat says this is the optimal temperature for bringing the chocolate flavour to the fore.

If you’re doing things the recommended way, the only point of contention here is the higher costs of Hotel Chocolat’s own sachets of chocolate, which cost £14.95 for 10 sachets of hot or cold chocolate. They’re the same price whether you opt for standard chocolate options such as Mint or Orange, or special ones such as Matcha, or the coffee sachets too. Third-party chocolate options can work well, however, and will be cheaper.

Should you buy it?

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