Apparently hot chocolate and hot cocoa are not the same thing… at all

Say what now?

It turns out after all these years, we've got it wrong. We were always led to believe that hot chocolate and hot cocoa were the same things, turns out they're not at all. For the longest time, we've been just switching in between the two as if it's nothing but now we're finding out there's a big difference. Letting you all in on this big secret we only found out existed, we'll give you the lowdown on exactly what makes them different. When it comes to hot cocoa, it's made from cocoa powder, milk, and sugar, while hot chocolate is usually thicker and is made simply by mixing melted chocolate into hot water or hot milk. So when you make it at home or get it in a cafe, it's usually hot cocoa you're drinking, but we've been convinced it's hot chocolate. According to the Huffington Post, cocoa powder, which comes from roasted cocoa beans, is usually mixed with some additional sugars or preservatives and tends to come in a tin or a packet, ready to mix with boiling water or hot milk. But real hot chocolate is more advanced than that, taking a chunk of real chocolate and letting it melt into a mug of really hot milk. Hot cocoa uses the added sugar to give it that sweet taste, whereas hot chocolate doesn't need it as it already has that from the chocolate itself. Either way, they both taste amazing and your chocolate craving will be treated after either. And if you ask us, we'll be here, probably still getting them both completely mixed up.