Let's face it.

Bargain hot cocoa powder kinda sucks.

It's lumpy, it's too thin, and the flavor is so-so at best.

But no one wants to spend a fortune on expensive hipster hot cocoa mix so we've put together the best science-backed pro-tips to get the most out of your cheap hot cocoa.

The worst thing about hot cocoa mix is the lumps.

You chase them around with your spoon to try and break them up, but they're harder to catch than a cat who knows he's going to the vet.

Those lumps form because hot cocoa mix contains a lot of starch, which is just a long chain of sugar molecules with a branching, tree-like arrangement.

The starch is stored in these little granules.

When you add water into your mix, the starch granules pull the water inside of them.

The water molecules are drawn into the branches of the starch molecules and start to puff them out.

Those branches get pushed out so much that they start to mesh together, forming a seal around the dry middle of the undissolved mix.

This leads to the infamous hot cocoa powder lump.

Here's how to de-lump your cocoa.

Add just a little bit of your liquid into the mix first.

Stir it together to form a paste.

This makes it easier to break up lumps because they can't float away on you, so you can fill your mug up and have lump free delicious cocoa.

Cocoa powder doesn't always dissolve perfectly, and sometimes you get scummy leftover powder in your cup.

That's because it contains stuff other than just starch, like naturally occurring fats.

Fat is hydrophobic so it doesn't play well with water.

Convincing the two to get along together generally requires some kind of emulsifier -- a chemical compound that interacts with both hydrophilic and hydrophobic molecules.

Casein, a protein found in milk, does just this.

If you buy 1%, 2%, or whole milk, it's already emulsified so the milk fat is mixed nicely in water.

This makes it a great solvent for the starches /and/ fats in chocolate.

Some cocoa mixes contain a bit of dry milk or dairy already to help them dissolve.

Some people find hot cocoa mix unsatisfyingly thin.

If you want a thicker beverage, the answer is...more starch.

Cornstarch works as a great thickening agent because starch granules trap water and make it flow less easily -- meaning the whole mixture is thicker.

And as they heat up, some swell until they burst.

Now starch molecules are trailing all over the place, sticking to water everywhere they go.

The cornstarch needs to get fairly hot to really make this process work -- somewhere just south of boiling to get the starch to thicken.

f you're going to go this route, we suggest adding a bit of cornstarch in with your hot cocoa mix.

Our go-to hot chocolate expert suggested an even simpler shortcut -- just use extra cocoa mix, which still has starch in it, and pop it in the microwave.

So here's our recommendation for great hot cocoa made from the cheap stuff.

First, use non-skim milk, not water.

You probably could have guessed this part, since that's like 80% of hot chocolate arguments on the Internet, but in this case we're telling you it's because of science.

Mix your cheap cocoa powder with an equal amount of milk to form a paste.

If you want to thicken it, add a pinch of cornstarch at this stage.

Add more milk and stick that bad boy in the microwave.

Then cool it back down and enjoy your hacked cheap cocoa.

If you try any of these tips, let us know how they turn out!

Thanks for watching, and we'll see you next week.