The average hot chocolate you get in the UK is pretty uninspiring. I mean, sure, it has a chocolate taste and is warmly comforting, but its lacklustre nature is undeniable, and it doesn’t matter how much whipped cream or marshmallows are piled on top.

I’m always in search of pure, intense hot chocolate. The kind you get if you make it yourself at home with real chocolate and milk (or even, eep, cream).

I’ve had a killer one in the renowned Angelina in Paris*; an excellent shot in Chocolat Chocolat, Cambridge; a dark and delicious 70% courtesy of Mink, Vancouver; and what I swear was just a cup of melted chocolate down in Brighton’s Bar Du Chocolat. However a particularly fond memory comes from a brief visit to Barcelona and assorted stops for chocolate and churros.

The hot chocolate I had in Barcelona may not have had the chocolate content of some others I have enjoyed, but it was always beautifully thick (I assume courtesy of something like cornflour). I’ve always wondered if Spanish hot chocolate mix would generate this result, and that is where Paladin Minuto comes in. Obtained online via The Tapas Lunch Company, you whizz up a small quantity of milk in the microwave, then frantically stir heaping spoons of Paladin into it. You end up with a deliciously thick drink, somewhere between hot chocolate and chocolate custard. It is very sweet (I experimented with adding in cocoa powder to balance that out) but the texture is great and now all I’m missing are some churros.

* Angelina don’t want people to link to their site without permission so I haven’t.