Today is the day to take criticism well.

Book By Its Cover Review: Chantico Chocolate by Starbucks

Starbucks describes its new beverage as the "drinking chocolate that is a delightfully decadent new drinking dessert." You hear that, people? It's for drinking, not eating.

Therein lies the main problem. When one wants chocolate to count, one wants to eat chocolate. A chocolate-flavored beverage is always tasty, but it doesn't quite hit the spot like a big old slab of chocolate. Chocolate beverages, in the terms of those of us used to counting our calories, 'don't count.'

However, Chantico, in fact, does count. A serving of the drink is nearly 400 calories, and is served in a six ounce cup. Two Hershey's bars are just over 400 calories. Would you rather savor your chocolate or gulp it down in a cup hardly bigger than the plastic one that comes with NyQuil?

Plus, the whole concept of leisurely sipping chocolate is just not American. This is why most of us drink coffee instead of espresso. We like things we can carry around and gulp, not little teeny cups of things to sip carefully. Not that there's anything wrong with teeny cups and delicacy but that's just European, not us.

Tell you what, Starbucks. Double the serving size (to the size of a tall cup) but keep the calorie count the same and maybe then we're talking. Or, freeze it and serve it as popsicles. But until then, chocolate ain't for sippin'.

However, I might have to break protocol here and try this for myself.