Do Chocolate Syrups Made From Scratch Really Taste Better?

I was reading an online coffee forum where there was an active discussion about the advantages of making ones’ own chocolate syrup from scratch in a store daily, as opposed to buying one that is ready-made. A lot of the comments were accurate, such as the ability to customize a particular taste profile by working with different cocoa powders, sugar ratios, and unique formulas.

The forum discussion reminded me of an event involving a highly successful chain of coffee shops that used to make its own chocolate syrup from scratch in their stores - daily. When we first approached this company, it took great pride in their unique chocolate syrup that incorporated cocoa powder, sugar, and water. They already had a number of stores and each of these stores created their syrups every day.

Mont Blanc presented the executive team - all of whom are well-respected for their coffee expertise - with several of our syrups and we invited them to do a blind tasting. In the blind tasting, all five of the tasters - including their coffee roaster and CEO (who at the time had been in the business for over 20 years) - all ranked the drinks made from their homemade syrup last.

The result was they switched to one of our syrups. But there was high-level concern that store managers would be upset they were “selling out” by purchasing a ready-made product. To the contrary, all of their store managers and many of their baristas were thrilled they no longer had to make a mess in their stores every day by mixing cocoa powder on the counter in full view of customers.

Their employees understood the tradeoffs and decided that although the idea of a store-made syrup was appealing, the reality was that a ready-made syrup gave them consistency, portion control, increased food safety and ease of use.

That blind tasting was nearly 10 years ago and we continue to supply their chocolate syrup. And every year they sell more mochas than the last.

Now I would never discourage shop owners from trying to create their own products to use in their stores. But before embarking upon the path of creating a unique syrup from scratch, it’s useful to keep five points in mind. I’ll talk about those in my next post.

I’m curious. Do any readers of this blog currently make their own chocolate syrup from scratch?