If you like hot chocolate, this is THE way to go.
Ghirardelli has made several runs at trying to convince coffee shop companies to use their 60% or higher cocoa content smaller chips to make hot chocolate. Tully's made theirs this way, but Michael Avenatti (yes that guy) deliberately destroyed that company. Starbucks has occasionally, such as sometimes around Valentines Day, offered a good hot chocolate made this way as well. But most of the time and at almost every coffee shop there is, they use that chocolate flavored corn syrup that hardly has any chocolate in it at all. So you have to make it yourself.
The Breville Milk Cafe is the best machine that I've found for doing that. Yes you can melt the chocolate chips on the stove in a pan, but that wastes a huge percentage of the chocolate - at least 5% and often more. This machine is the ticket. You can adjust the heat and timing together (one dial) to get the consistency you want. I have three of these machines, and each is a little different in terms of its optimal setting and which of the two agitators seems to work best. So some experimentation is required. And once you have had a good hot chocolate made with 60% or better chips - well there is just no going back to flavored corn syrup or thinly thinly disguised powered sugar excuses for hot chocolate.
The machine is deceptively simple. It is essentially the same thing as a laboratory hot plate with a stirring function.
Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned