In a country where you can buy cheap drinks everywhere, expensive luxuries need to be worth the calories.

In Japan, you can get a good cup of freshly brewed coffee at 7-Eleven or McDonald’s for 100 yen (US$0.87). So if you’re going to charge any more than that for a standard hot beverage, and you’re not a fancy cafe, what you’re selling has got to be good — real good — to justify the price.

▼ Part of the reason why McDonald’s coffees are so popular is because they’re good value for money.

So when we heard that McDonald’s was teaming up with luxury Belgian chocolate brand Godiva for a new Godiva Hot Chocolate, we knew we’d have to try it out to see if it was worth the relatively high price.

▼ The new drink costs 350 yen for a small size and 440 yen for a medium.

Of course, Godiva is known for its high price point, with the brand’s Chocolixir drinks usually costing 630 yen, so from that point of view, this hot chocolate tie-up could be a bargain.

According to McDonald’s, the new Godiva Hot Chocolate is said to be a “rich and melty chocolate experience“, but would it live up to the hype in reality?

We handed over our hard-earned 350 yen for a small serving, and when we received it, we popped open the lid to look inside. The beverage appeared to be topped with shavings of Belgian chocolate, but it looked very different to the photo in the ad.

Still, we were more interested in the taste of the hot chocolate rather than the look of it, so we gave the drink a good stir with the muddler and took a sip.

The first thing we noticed was the liquid was a little lukewarm, but as for the flavour, it was undoubtedly delicious. Slightly sweet, but also slightly bitter, this was clearly made with good quality hot chocolate.

In terms of quality and flavour, it sat somewhere above a McDonald’s beverage and somewhere below a Godiva one, which is what you’d expect from a collaboration at this price point. However, as we sipped the drink, it reminded us of another hot chocolate — namely the Van Houten brand of cocoa that you can buy in supermarkets and make at home.

The similarities were so great that we couldn’t justify the price of the McDonald’s Godiva Hot Chocolate. Personally, we’d prefer to invest in a pack of Van Houten and enjoy greater value for money with multiple cups at home than splurge on a drink that’s not quite luxury and more akin to a poor man’s Godiva.

That’s just our humble opinion, though, so you might want to test the drink out for yourself to see if it suits your palate. We did fall in love with the 2020 McDonald’s x Godiva Chocolate Espresso Frappe, so hopefully they’ll bring that back to the menu in Japan next year!

Photos © SoraNews24
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