Whether it’s because Chocomel was the first to introduce long-life chocolate milk to the Dutch market ninety years ago, or because Chocomel markets itself as ‘the one and only’: the taste of chocolate milk in the Netherlands is defined by Chocomel. So strong that chocomel is written without a capital letter in Van Dale, chocomel has become a generic name for chocolate drink.
Of course, cocoa drink from a coffee machine, or made at home with cocoa powder or Nesquik can also be called chocolate milk, just like the thick hot chocolate in Spain, where you can put your churros upright. But for most Dutch consumers, the yellow suit with blue letters is the norm.
Great for market leader FrieslandCampina, but difficult to compete with for other companies that also make chocolate milk and will always be compared to Chocomel. It is even more difficult for makers of vegan chocolate milk, so without cow’s milk. Because without dairy, how do you get that ideal balance of creamy, fat, sweet and a pinch of salt, in which you can also taste the kernel of the cocoa?
It is probably the most difficult for Chocomel’s product development department, which puts the reputation of the brand at stake with every new variant. Perhaps that is why it took until this autumn before FrieslandCampina dared to introduce ‘plant-based’ Chocomel. Although it will also have played a role that FrieslandCampina is a dairy company and has only recently started exploring the vegetable market.
Cashew nuts
Chocomel is therefore certainly not the first. There have been other plant-based chocolate drinks on the shelves for some time now. It is the only one based on cashew nuts. No more sustainable than oats or soya – Chocomel’s cashews still mainly come from Vietnam – but potentially creamier.
Unlike, for example, Alpro, the largest supplier of plant-based drinks, Chocomel did not add vitamins B2, B12 and D (vegans often take this in order to avoid deficiencies). Incidentally, no vitamins may be added to organic chocolate drinks anyway.
Just as Unox did with the vegan smoked sausage, FrieslandCampina shows with the ‘plant-based’ Chocomel that they take the vegan trend seriously. In any case, there are now enough brands on the shelves to list them now that the chocolate milk season has opened.
We chose widely available brands and visited the large branches of Albert Heijn and Jumbo, Ekoplaza and Marqt. Wunda chocolate (only available in 230 ml) was not available in several AH stores. Aldi’s Soy Pro Choco only seems to be available in Belgium. That left ten.
NRC invited three chocolate (milk) lovers to blind taste the brands that are widely available in supermarkets and organic shops. Not vegans, but people who are open to plant-based products: that is the largest target group, vegans are only 1.4 percent of the market.
Heleen van den Driest, a primary school teacher, doesn’t drink coffee but loves chocolate milk. If she orders something warm, it’s chocolate milk, with whipped cream. Since she found out she has a lactose intolerance, she makes chocolate milk at home from Nestlé Hot Chocolate Mix with lactose-free milk. She calls herself brand loyal and of the pounded pot.
Kitty Smeeten is the founder of Hands Off My Chocolate, a brand that wants to make chocolate “that doesn’t melt the earth. The first step has been taken by mainly offering vegan chocolate.” As a food technologist and chocolate lover, she knows that it is not easy to extract the milk from chocolate. “The taste quickly becomes a bit flat and less creamy.” In her chocolate, this is solved with, among other things, hazelnut praline. Smeeten is curious about the creaminess of the chocolate drinks.
Hassnae Bouazza is a culinary journalist and lover of all things sweet. She is the third member of the panel to be served ten different vegan chocolate drinks at her home this afternoon. She put cookies and gingerbread cookies on the table.
The panel tastes blind, Smeeten cold, Bouazza and Van den Driest drink their hot chocolate. We spontaneously asked them to say whatever comes to mind.
Disclaimer: tastes differ, and the opinion of these three tasters is not representative of ‘the’ Dutch consumer. The question of which is the tastiest depends on your frame of reference. Anyone who grew up with chocolate milk will have different preferences than someone who has been drinking soy milk for years. In order not to make the judgment of these three chocolate (milk) lovers too absolute, it has been decided not to give figures.
Alpro chocolate
The first chocolate drink from the tasting session has the advantage that the tasters are not yet satiated. The disadvantage is that the former is still compared to ‘ordinary’ chocolate milk. Smeeten: “It is less heavy and less creamy.” She finds it beneficial that it has no ‘off flavour’, an unpleasant aftertaste. Bouazza tastes something. “Almost musty. Something you also have in almond milk, but it is not an almond.”
Alpro plant protein chocolate
This drink is also initially referred to as ‘flat and watery’. Smeeten misses the association she sees with cocoa and chocolate milk, something that remotely resembles caramelized butter. After tasting the other brands, this Alpro appears to be closest to number 1 in terms of taste. Not surprising: the same brand, only with more soy for extra protein.
Chocomel plant based
Bouazza also finds this one still a bit watery. Van den Driest: “I don’t taste cocoa as the main part.” Smeeten thinks the structure is quite decent, the most creamy yet. “Very sweet.” None of the three recognize this variant, the only one made on the basis of cashew nuts, blind as Chocomel.
Friendly Viking’s chocolate oat drink
In unison: “This one is really, really dirty.” Bouazza: “I taste something that doesn’t belong in chocolate milk. What is it?” She wonders if the base might be rice milk, it could be. It is the first oat milk variety they taste, is the explanation we can come up with afterwards.
Jumbo soy chocolate drink
A striking outsider. “If it was yellow, I would think it was a vanilla drink,” says Smeeten. This variant reminds Van den Driest of the Saroma pudding of the past, but then the vanilla pudding, not the chocolate flavored one. And then something else pops up: “That’s what my sister’s car smells like!” Interior perfume. Van den Driest likes the mouthfeel: “Not that greasy, sticky.” Bouazza, fan of real vanilla, is the only one who doesn’t taste vanilla. “Something musty.”
If it was yellow, I’d think it was vanilla drink
Lima oat drink chocolate
Bouazza: “I don’t taste or smell chocolate in anything.” Smeeten immediately tastes an enormous off-flavour, which is difficult to describe. But if you look into nutritional science, it turns out to be a well-known problem: that grassy, bitter, astringent taste of plant proteins is sometimes difficult to disguise.
Oatly oat drink cocoa
“This one is tastier than the previous one,” says Van den Driest, “less aftertaste.” It seems, says Smeeten, that there is less cocoa in it (true) and that is why it lacks some ‘pit’. But she thinks it is ‘funny’, because it is different from the others. Bouazza also says: “He is certainly not dirty.”
Alpro chocolate
“Smells and tastes like cocoa,” says Bouazza. “But the structure is a bit watery.”
Rude Health chocolate oat drink (new)
Bouazza says she can smell cocoa but not taste it. Van den Driest calls it ‘faded’ and Smeeten tastes something ‘soapy’ that she did not taste with any of the others. “A disillusionment,” says Bouazza.
Rude Health chocolate oat drink
White flakes float in it, despite shaking well beforehand. For Van den Driest, a watery bitterness dominates. Smeeten tastes more cocoa than with the previous one. That’s right again: this is the variant with the highest percentage of cocoa.
Now that all plant-based drinks are on the table, still anonymous, the panel tastes one more time. Most chocolate drinks are now starting to disappoint, although no full cups have been clocked away and there is water on the table to rinse the mouth.
It is clear that the taste of regular Chocomel cannot be matched. The question is whether that is necessary to get consumers on board. Whether you should compare vegan products with the animal variant or with other vegan products, you can differ in opinion.
Only a few brands survive a second taste. Alpro chocolate (the first) is a favorite of Van den Driest and Smeeten. Chocomel is a good second for Smeeten and is at the top for Bouazza. All this before they have seen the brands. Suddenly Bouazza says: “I know! That crazy taste of number 4! Old biscuits! It’s the taste of old biscuits!”