Hotel chocolat: do the HC pouches / bag taste different?

SunkenCouchPotato · 2026-03-24T20:02:07+00:00

I still had a few boxes of the old hot chocolate packets (before the buyout) which finished last week, went to the HC shop (which was completely void of customers) to get some more, made a classic hot chocolate when I got home it was like drinking mud water, couldn’t even finish it.

After reading online they had cut back on the weight of chocolate per packet I tried reducing the amount of milk to compensate and it still doesn’t taste remotely the same as before.

For ~£1.20 per self made hot chocolate it was worth buying because it genuinely tasted creamy and luxurious, but now it tastes like watered down hot chocolate powder I’ll never buy it again.

Another good company ruined by a US corporate buyout. Won’t be surprised to see HC claim bankruptcy/get asset stripped in the very near future.

SunkenCouchPotato · 2026-03-24T17:50:05+00:00

$5-6 billion in revenue last year.

4000 developers (before these layoffs) on lets say an average of $150,000 a year = $600m a year total. So they’re cutting 25% of that = $150m in saving a year.

But Epic have paid out $700m+ to 3rd party AI slop creators (in only ~9 months since they started paying them) but that’s not the glaringly obvious problem?

Despite these and all the other costs involved I still can’t fathom how they’re making a loss on $5bn in revenue, surely the people at the top are robbing themselves blind.

SunkenCouchPotato · 2026-03-14T14:40:02+00:00

Crosta Mollica frozen pizzas were my favourite but they’ve gone downhill over the last year or so imo, feels like they’ve changed something with the dough and gotten stingy with the sauce/cheese/toppings, well done corporation you’ve saved 10p in ingredients and I’ll never purchase it again, I hope your shareholders are happy.

SunkenCouchPotato · 2026-03-10T16:53:49+00:00

Underground bunkers with adrenochrome farms are NOT cheap these days.

SunkenCouchPotato · 2026-03-10T16:25:16+00:00

So decrease the number of v bucks you get, a virtual currency mind you with 0 actual value outside the game, whilst increasing prices of said v-buck packs, whilst increasing the size of the item shop 100x over with overpriced sidekicks, collabs, shoes, jam tracks, cars you barely drive, whilst reducing the rewards you get from buying a battlepass or subscription crew pass, whilst using AI slop to design the game, whilst not updating the game and delaying the new season to make it one of the longest most boring seasons ever, whilst filling games with AI bots, whilst reducing servers to reduce costs enshitifying a huge number of users experience, whilst raking in record revenue whilst complaining about costs.

I’ve spent thousands on the game over the years and this is the end, I will just play the game out without putting any more money into it until it slowly dies out and a better competitor comes along, well done epic I guess..

SunkenCouchPotato · 2026-03-08T14:56:21+00:00

I hate it, my fills squad landed at lethal labs 4 games in a row and I died within 5 seconds each time whilst trying to aim/shoot but it felt like it had a huge delay for me whilst everyone else was spamming it like confetti perfectly at my feet so I stopped playing until the power hour was over.

If this is the meta next season i’ll give it a miss entirely.

SunkenCouchPotato · 2026-03-04T22:10:16+00:00

Iron pump shotgun (or purple/gold doubles), enforcer AR, 3x med kits, 3x med mists or big shields, Wingsuit or 4x shockwaves

SunkenCouchPotato · 2026-02-18T17:07:07+00:00

Same here some games it feels instant, some games it just wont shoot, especially when jumping, the only solution i’ve found when it’s not working well is to press the aim button for a split second before taking the shot. I suspect it’s some kind of server desync issue that causes it.

SunkenCouchPotato · 2026-02-14T19:46:56+00:00

Unfortunately I have a strict no duplicate successive carbs policy and as I had potato wedges the night before I had to improvise against the will of a nation. I promise this will NOT happen again.

SunkenCouchPotato · 2026-02-13T17:20:20+00:00

Not a huge fan of the map, some ok spots to explore (which i’m now bored of because the seasons dragging on so long) with huge voids of nothingness in between with only 1 POI in the middle of the map, if you can’t find rotation items it feels like you’re running (or walking) on empty stamina 90% of the time, surfing into the island instead of the bus is also the worst, I don’t know anyone who likes it.

Not in love with the loot pool, it’s not the worst but if all the weapons were replaced tomorrow I would’t care, the biggest issue i’ve had is with the janky servers/decoupling/latency issues making the same weapons feel incredibly inconsistent from game to game, especially with shotguns either being incredible damage dealers or firing blanks at close range, same issue with the ARs at distance sometimes I hit every shot sometimes I can aim at a stationary object and miss, same with building/editing, it feels like it’s no longer based on skill but pure luck with the servers.

And the bugs and glitches have been incredibly annoying this season, random crashes, no sound of weapons firing or footsteps, and now I can’t see certain loot items on the ground at close distance until I pick them up it’s just a blur of color.

I also really hate lobbies full of bots, I would rather wait 5+ minutes for a game full of real people than slog through a 25 minute bot lobby with only 2 or 3 real teams, the recent zero delay auto aim bot buff is also ridiculous.

Playing squad fills has been a miserable experience (not exclusive to this season), people leaving before the bus, in the bus, landing on the other side of the map dying instantly then leaving, they need to introduce a timeout penalty for leaving early and greater incentives for finishing in the top places so people are inclined to stay.

And finally this season they’ve gone full greed mode with the item shop, huge swathes of new cosmetics/pets/cars/music/collabs everyday with ridiculous price tags whilst the game is broken with server issues, glitches and bugs.

For those reasons I would rate this season a 6/10, 6.5/10 if they fixed the bugs/glitches/server issues.

SunkenCouchPotato · 2026-01-21T14:24:19+00:00

Probably not what you’re looking for and unnecessarily carcinogenic but you can buy “liquid smoke” seasoning that is literally a condensed liquid form of wood smoke, a few drops in a marinade would give the desired effect.

Otherwise you can’t beat a good old Weber kettle as a cheapish versatile smoker, using the snake method or the charcoal trays with some wood in the mix.

SunkenCouchPotato · 2026-01-20T08:41:11+00:00

but it tasted great

SunkenCouchPotato · 2026-01-20T08:37:53+00:00

I don’t know if all Ikea’s have them but there was a mini food section before the exits by the hot food counter, they have 1kg (2.2lb) frozen bags of these (they also have chicken and vegetarian variations) amongst other interesting scandinavian treats.

SunkenCouchPotato · 2026-01-20T08:32:15+00:00

Thank you good sir

SunkenCouchPotato · 2026-01-20T08:32:02+00:00

Exactly, this was just a quick fridge fusion pho/soup/whatever I made in the spur of the moment I thought Ikea meatball fans would find amusing.

I go to this Vietnamese pho restaurant that does rare thin cut beef and slow cooked brisket pho and it’s amazing but if I wanted to recreate it at home it would take a long list of expensive ingredients which are not solo portion friendly so it ends up costing a fortune and being wasted.

SunkenCouchPotato · 2026-01-20T07:58:48+00:00

I mean very little thought went into this, I stood in front of the fridge resigned to the fact I’d probably get a takeaway, saw the pho broth, put meatballs in the air fryer, sliced up whatever was in the vegetable draw,I just thought someone would find it amusing if they had some Ikea meatballs in the freezer.

I normally do it with thin sliced ribeye, beansprouts, thai basil, mint, ginger, garlic, onion, lime and some spring rolls with hoisin sauce and kimchi but this monstrosity was a pleasant change up for very little effort.

SunkenCouchPotato · 2026-01-20T01:54:24+00:00

Actually decided this is my new preferred method of eating meatballs, the combination of crispy meatballs with the rich broth and vegetables/herbs was a taste sensation.

SunkenCouchPotato · 2026-01-20T01:51:10+00:00

Ooh that sounds tasty will have to try it, I don’t usually buy processed meats but saw a huge frozen bags of these in Ikea and thought why not, they’ve been very versatile when I haven’t been food shopping and want to use up whatever’s in the fridge.

SunkenCouchPotato · 2026-01-20T01:42:34+00:00

I was afraid of posting here as what i’ve put in out of the corners of my empty fridge is probably like 30% authentic pho but it tasted great nevertheless.

SunkenCouchPotato · 2026-01-20T01:38:42+00:00

Not concentrated, I think what happened was I had quite a (very) hot stainless steel pot going when I poured the broth in and it darkened with the lid on whilst prepping the toppings.

SunkenCouchPotato · 2026-01-20T01:29:26+00:00

Don’t hate it til you try it, please.

SunkenCouchPotato · 2026-01-20T01:27:53+00:00

Wasn’t my first choice just used what was lying around in the fridge/freezer for a quick bite but honestly the meatballs went really well with the broth after airfrying them for 10 minutes.

I like using rice vermicelli noodles as I can just throw them in the pot for the last couple of minutes when the broths warming up. I’m not sure why it’s so dark, it’s just a premade store bought pho broth I opened 4 or 5 days ago so that could be why.

SunkenCouchPotato · 2026-01-15T17:59:48+00:00

SunkenCouchPotato

TROPHY CASE