The Battle of the Beverages: Coffee vs. Hot Chocolate

Coffee is known as the world’s most popular beverage to have in the morning. It fuels up your day with all the caffeine content and pushes you to perform better.

Whereas, Hot Chocolate has a high demand and can be considered richer nutritional-wise as compared to coffee.

Most people consume 3 to 4 cups of coffee in a day to maintain their energy this can lead to caffeine overdose which can result in some side effects.

However, hot chocolate is a winter drink but many consume it during the evening when they don’t wanna be too full for dinner or looking for a less caffeinated drink.

In this article, I am going to discuss how coffee is different from hot chocolate, so keep reading.

What Is In Coffee?

Coffee is a drink prepared by brewing roasted coffee beans, 100 g of coffee contains 40 mg of caffeine. The color of coffee depends upon the amount of water or milk added to it, due to this its color varies from black, dark brown, light brown to beige.

It also contains some antioxidants and its taste varies due to the variety of preparation methods. It is described as a mild drink with a bitter taste and a little aroma of sweetness.

The good thing is coffee alone is calorie-free but a cup of coffee with 1 tablespoon of skim milk has 7 calories. and with sugar, it has 32 calories. So if you’re someone with a weight loss journey you might want to cut out on sugar and milk.

What Are The Benefits Of Coffee?

According to a study, 64% of the US population consumes coffee. At this rate, you should always know how a product can benefit you.

Some of the benefits of coffee are following:

• It boosts your physical performance
• It can help you lose weight
• Coffee helps you keep focused and alert
• It can also help you burn fat
• It reduces potential risk of cancer
• It also lowers the risk of type 2 diabetes
• It also protects brain due to high levels of caffeine
• The caffeine in coffee helps brighten your mood and fight off depression

For a deeper explanation of these benefits, have a look at my other article.

According to the FDA, a healthy individual can have no more than 400mg of caffeine daily, this means you can have about 2 cups of coffee or a max 3 to not cross the given limit.

Overdosing can cause side effects which can lead to potential health effects. However, with no doubt coffee is considered a morning drink to give you a boost of energy and help you focus to get back on track.

Can You Drink Coffee Everyday?

Yes. You can drink coffee every day in moderation. It’s better not to overdose the given limit as it may cause side effects such as headaches, seizures, insomnia, fever, diarrhea, hallucinations.

If you drink coffee every day it can be beneficial to keep you alert and focused. It can also boost your physical and mental performance and help you perform better.

Coffee can be sugar-free or calorie-free, both depend on your needs. It can help you lose weight due to magnesium and potassium in it.

The good thing is it can decrease the risk for type 2 diabetes and it can also help you fight depression. So until you consume coffee in moderation you can look forward to it benefiting you every time.

What Is In Hot Chocolate?

Hot Chocolate is a delicious beverage made of cocoa powder, milk, and sugar.

It’s considered more to be a seasonal beverage, however, most people like consuming it throughout the year during the evening too.

However, hot chocolate has more sugar and calories due to its formulation.

In comparison to coffee, hot chocolate is richer nutritional-wise. It contains more Vitamin B12, Vitamin D, Vitamin D, Vitamin A, Zinc, Iron, phosphorus, and copper.

What Are The Benefits Of Hot Chocolate?

Hot chocolate leads its way by having more quantity of Vitamins in its formulation which helps the body to function properly.

Hot chocolate is a high antioxidant drink that can improve cholesterol, reduce blood pressure and inflammation throughout the body.

This yummy cocoa mix helps reduce blood pressure by increasing levels of nitric oxide. Moreover, hot chocolate is more of a sweeter beverage than coffee, so if you’re someone with a sweet tooth go get yours now.

It also boosts brain function and improves heart health. Another surprising thing is it can lower your mood swings as the polyphenols release happy hormones that help calm down your mood turbulence.

You can refer to the following table to learn more about the difference in the nutritional content of hot chocolate and coffee

Can Hot Chocolate Give Me Energy?

Definitely! You can consider Hot chocolate an energy drink too, it also contains about one-fifth of caffeine found in a cup of coffee and has more amount of Vitamins added in its formulation.

The caffeine in hot chocolate works as a stimulating agent and blocks off the adenosine receptors which helps you to concentrate better and keeps you focused.

The formulation includes sugar too. Sugar gives you a quick boost and helps with lifting your mood. Moreover, you can have a hot chocolate right after a gym session this will give you a feeling of accomplishment as well as soothing.

A small amount of caffeine is enough to give you a quick boost to get through the day and not get you overdosed or addicted to caffeine.

However, it’s better to know what you’re consuming and the disadvantages of overdosing so you can keep a tab on your intake.

Varieties Of Coffee

There are about 4 main varieties of coffee:

• The one popular in North America is called Arabica. It is less acidic, has a sweeter taste and more delicate flavor.
• Robusta is Europes Favroite, it is also highly prefered in the Middle East and The Asia. It has a mild flavor due to more caffeine.
• The Liberica coffee, also known as Liberian coffee, it has a metallic bitter and woddy taste generally.
• The Excelsa coffee has a dark fruity, mysterious, tart taste enhancing the middle and back palate.

You can also get creative and create different types of coffee drinks. You can find information about different types of coffees from around the world here.

Varieties Of Hot Chocolate

Some of the main popular main varieties of hot chocolate are:

• Mumbai Hot Chocolate contains spices such as ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, clove and pepercorn.
• The Mayan Hot Chocolate is not like its name and is served cold and brewed like a beer. The hot variety comes when they add chilli in the Mayan hot chocolate.
• The parisian chocolat chaud is famous hot chocolate of France. It is combined with whole milk and cream and has a bitter taste due to highest amount of cocoa (70%).
• Ciocoolata calda originates from Italy. It is similar from the french variety but has an addition of more cream and milk. It also involves an extra step of thickening the hot chocolate by adding cornstarch.

Is Hot Chocolate Healthier Than Coffee?

In my opinion, coffee is healthier than hot chocolate only if your diet is richer in nutrients and vitamins.

The evaluation of Hot Chocolate and Coffee can be subjective as coffee is a beverage consumed throughout the year, however Hot chocolate is a popular beverage for winter.

Hot chocolate has more vitamins and calories as compared to coffee and it has quite interesting choices of flavors too.

Whereas coffee can be beneficial for the ones going through a weight loss journey, as it has limited calories but a higher amount of caffeine compared to hot chocolate.

Coffee also helps in cardiovascular disease, lessens the chances of type 2 diabetes, cancer, and the good thing is it helps in weight loss.

Can You Gain Weight From Drinking Hot Chocolate?

Yes. You can gain weight from hot chocolate. This is due to the sugar, milk, and cream added to it. These extra calories can make you gain weight and disrupt your weight loss journey.

Although the cocoa in hot chocolate helps reduce the LDL cholesterol in the blood it prevents any pre-mature heart disease, coronary disease, and heart attacks.

A small cup of hot chocolate has about 20mg of sugar which if you consume every day can lead to weight gain gradually.

However, coffee on the other hand helps you lose weight due to potassium and magnesium in it. It also reduces your sweet cravings.

Summary

Overall coffee and hot chocolate have their fan base, one is used throughout the year while the other is considered seasonal.

Coffee can be a perfect combination for someone avoiding all the calories and sugar cravings as it can be taken in calorie-free and sugar-free form.

However, hot chocolate is more about a sweet tooth, it has a variety with all the spices to give you a hot taste and it may contribute to your weight gain due to its formulation.

In terms of caffeine content, coffee has about 40 times more caffeine than hot chocolate, this means if you’re someone with caffeine sensitivity you might want to reconsider your choices.

Other Articles

• Click here to see the visual story of this post
• Arabica VS Robusta (Compared)
• Is Coffee Caffeine? (Explained)
• How Many Coffees Can You Drink Per Day? (Limits)