Although the names are often used interchangeably, technically there’s a difference between hot cocoa and hot chocolate. Hot cocoa is made from cacao seeds, which are ground and separated into a bitter powder (the cocoa) and cocoa butter. The powder is sometimes mixed with sugar or other ingredients. Hot chocolate is made from melted chocolate (and occasionally sweeteners and spices). To further complicate matters, some mixes use both cocoa and chocolate, so treating the terms as synonymous is perfectly OK.