Blech

Recently i received a $5 Starbucks card in the mail from the Red Cross; i don't know why, but who am i to question free gift cards? I don't like coffee, but i am a big fan of tea so i cruised into the local Starbucks on Sunday to drink free tea and work on a project. While waiting in line i saw that they had several seasonal hot chocolate specials and figured i'd try one : Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate. I am a big fan of salty and sweet together and when i ordered it the barista exclaimed that she really liked it because it tasted like eating a chocolate covered pretzel; that sounded just dandy. I can describe this drink in one word: BLECH! The salty to sweet ratio was good, but i couldn't really find the caramel note. And the worst part was that the hot chocolate tasted like dark chocolate - it had the most bitter aftertaste. Who uses dark chocolate to make hot chocolate?!? By definition it is chocolate and milk heated up so one would think you'd use milk chocolate. I have never had such terrible, terrible hot chocolate and i highly recommend against it, unless you like your chocolate bitter and then by all means order a cup of this nastiness. Blech. That'll teach me to order something besides my standard chai tea - at least it was free!