A warm cup of cocoa can make a winter afternoon whimsical and full of cheer. But a bad cup of hot chocolate can ruin your day. With the holiday season in full swing, a good hot beverage is essential. That’s why the Rambler staff has taken the responsibility to find which brand of power hot chocolate is the tastiest to make on a chilly winter day.

After four rounds of blind taste testing paired with lots of gingerbread cookies and holiday music, Nestlé took first place with an average score of 4.8 stars.

“I liked [Nestlé] because it reminded me of my childhood,” staff taste tester Janani Kaushik said. “When I was little, I would always drink that exact brand and flavor of hot chocolate, and I feel like it brought me back.”

Another strong contender was the Starbucks hot chocolate, with an average score of 3.2.

“I loved the Starbucks hot chocolate,” staff taste tester Zaynab Yousuf said. “[The] flavor was very rich and it captured the feeling of winter coziness in a cup.”

But not every flavor was met with the positivity that Nestlé and Starbucks saw. Capturing wrinkled noses instead of holiday magic, Swiss Miss was a disappointing pick.

“Right when I took a look at the hot chocolate, I was immediately skeptical,” staff taste tester Audrey Szeto said. “The color was more grey than brown, and I could see particles floating around. My suspicions were confirmed when I drank the hot chocolate and tasted a weak, bland flavor.”

A subpar mug of cocoa can turn smiles into disappointed frowns, leaving behind milk mustaches and the shadow of what could have been. But it’s not the flavor of the hot chocolate that matters. It’s the quality time spent with friends and family that can truly make a holiday magical.

“It was like a walk down memory lane,” Kaushik said. “I never knew how nostalgic I could be for hot chocolate.”