My Favorite Hot Chocolates of 2018

Since starting this blog, I get asked all the time what my favorite hot chocolate is, or can I please recommend something to get as a gift for someone. Well, yes, yes I can recommend something! Whatever the occasion is that you need an amazing hot chocolate, I'm here to help! Below are my thoughts on some of my favorites and you can decide for yourself which might be the one you're looking for. They are not in any particular order, and I've included a variety of types and flavors, and I'll keep it short and sweet. You just cannot go wrong with the drinking chocolates I've included here! Enjoy!

Bean to Bar Drinking Chocolates

Askinosie Sipping Chocolate
Askinosie is one of my favorite chocolate makers, and I've reviewed their drinking chocolate before. It's a perfect example of what makes bean-to-bar chocolate amazing. Dark and rich, it's a wonderful introduction into the world of bean-to-bar drinking chocolates.

Mutari Craft Chocolate
Mutari only makes bean-to-bottle drinking chocolates, no bars. It's amazing, and if you get a set with a few flavors, you'll really enjoy the differences between them. Not overly sweet, it's perfect for a serious chocolate lover. And I think they may change their flavor offerings, so check back once in a while!

Dick Taylor Drinking Chocolate
Dick Taylor is an icon in the craft chocolate world, and their drinking chocolate is top notch. Before they even offered drinking chocolates for sale, I was making it from their bars. If you like your hot chocolate a little more on the tangy and very rich side, this is the one for you.



Potomac Chocolate
Potomac is my favorite chocolate maker. The whole company is just one guy, Ben, working out of his basement. The flavors he captures in his bars are just amazing, and he's carried that over wonderfully to his drinking chocolates. And the Spiced variety packs a bit of heat!

Gourmet Drinking Chocolates

MarieBelle Hot Chocolate
This is the hot chocolate that got me started on my adventures with chocolate. It was one of my very first posts here on Melting Mug, and is still one of my favorite hot chocolates out there. If you're buying this as a gift for someone, I'd recommend sticking with their original Aztec mix. This one is actually one of my favorites gifts to give during the holidays.

Jacques Torres Wicked Hot Chocolate
This spicy hot chocolate is from celebrity chef and world renown chocolatier Jacques Torres. When choosing a spicy hot chocolate for my list, I had a tough time deciding between this one and Chuao. Both are exceptional and have a fiery kick to them, and you can't go wrong with either. You can even get this Wicked Hot Chocolate as a cool gift set with mugs!

Chuao Spicy Maya Drinking Chocolate
Ok, so yeah, I have to include this one anyway. There's plenty of room on this list for two spicy hot chocolates. This was the first spicy drinking chocolate I ever tried, and it's wonderful. It finishes really hot, though, so if you like spicy things, this is your drink!

Powder Mix Hot Chocolates

Chocolat Moderne Kama Sutra
This mix absolutely blew me away the first time I tasted it, and it's still possibly the most relaxing chocolate drink I've ever enjoyed. It's a day at the spa in a can! The spice combination in the Kama Sutra mix is heavenly, and just smelling it will make you want to put on fluffy slippers and settle in next to the fireplace.

Lake Champlain Hot Chocolates
Lake Champlain's mixes are some of my favorites to keep at work, where I don't always have the time to melt solid chocolate in hot milk. Sadly, it doesn't look like they still make their Chai & Mighty flavor, but their other flavors are great, too.

Mexican Hot Chocolates

La Soledad Hot Chocolates
This is as authentic as you can get, so much so that your have to order it from Mexico. I'd advise grabbing either the almond (almondrado) or the cinnamon (canela). Package it up with a traditional molinillo for frothing the chocolate and you've got an amazing gift set! You can read my review of this drink here.

Taza Stone Ground Chocolate
Taza is made the same way traditional Mexican chocolate is, stone ground and organic. They're based in Somerville, MA, so a little bit easier to order than the La Soledad. Their sampler pack has an amazing variety, and each disc is perfectly sized for a mug of drinking chocolate!

Chocolate Syrup

Abuelita Chocolate Cinnamon Syrup
I know, I know - it's made by Nestlé. If you've read my blog before, you know I tend to stay away from the giant corporate chocolate makers. However, the ingredients here aren't packed with chemicals, and the flavor is a wonderful variation when reaching for a chocolate milk. I wouldn't have it on this list if I didn't love it.

Make your own!
A while back I posted a super simple recipe for making your own, and not only is it one of the tastiest I've had, you can use it on everything from hot and cold drinking chocolates to ice cream and pies. Check it out here, and keep in mind you can use your favorite cocoa powder to make it your own. Also, your friends will be thrilled that you made it yourself!

Marshmallows

Marshmallow Madness!
If you've never tried homemade marshmallows, oh wow, you NEED this book! Making marshmallows is easier than you might think, and so worth it. And again, it's one of those gifts that your friends and family will be amazed by. I mean, who gives out homemade marshmallows? you do, that's who!

Recipe - Dick Taylor Craft Chocolates "Ecuador" Hot Chocolate

I've mentioned before that I'm very much a fan of artisan chocolate makers. Many artisan chocolate makers also create their own hot chocolates, and I've even reviewed a few already, like Chuao and Askinosie.

Today we're going to make a hot chocolate using chocolate from an artisan chocolate maker who doesn't yet offer a drinking chocolate. Dick Taylor Craft Chocolates is a tiny company in Northern California, and they are cranking out some of the best chocolate being made anywhere on Earth.

The first time I tried one of their bars, I fell in love. Some of their chocolates are fruity, some are much more of a deep, strong chocolate flavor, and many of them have things like coconut or fig mixed in.

Last fall, I attended my first Artisanal LA show here in Los Angeles. It's a small local convention type of thing that is mostly about foods, condiments, and candies. Anything local and edible turns up here.

To my surprise, Dustin Taylor and Adam Dick had a booth there! I got to chat with them a bit and had a great time sampling most of their bars. For every compliment I paid them regarding their chocolate, they returned the favor, praising us chocolate bloggers for helping spread the word about their amazing products.

That's Adam on the left, with the mustache. Dustin is in the plaid on the right.

The packaging they do is just amazing, probably my favorite artisan chocolate wrappers out there. So detailed, on beautifully textured paper, each one is a work of art. Both Dustin and Andy are carpenters and have built and refurbished furniture and boats. That idea of pride in craftsmanship and really creating something by hand, from scratch, is what inspired their ship-building wrappers.

We're going to use their 76% Ecuador bar, which is one of my favorites. Their 72% Belize, however, is a Good Food Award winner and would also make an excellent choice.

Even the bar itself is a masterpiece! The detail work in the molding is gorgeous! It's almost a crime to break it and eat it. Once you taste it, though, you realize the crime would be NOT eating these bars. So delicious!

To make the hot chocolate, I heated 1 cup of water. Once it was almost boiling, I broke up about half the bar and dropped the small pieces into the water, whisking as I went. You can add as much chocolate as you like. Pay attention to the thickness and texture as you go, and just stop adding chocolate when you reach the consistency you prefer. I added a bit more than half the bar, and it made a nice, thick sipping hot chocolate.

I served mine with some Plush Puffs Vanilla Bean marshmallows. If you like to make your own marshmallows, that's the way to go. If not, then these are the ones I recommend buying. Plush Puffs are wonderful!

Wow, what a perfect after dinner dessert! Using water lets the flavor of the chocolate really come through unimpeded, which is exactly what you want when using chocolate like this, chocolate made by hand, directly from the bean, in a small workshop. You can taste every nuance of the bean. I like to add the marshmallows and eat them quickly, as if I just ran them through a chocolate fountain.

Do you have a favorite chocolate maker? Try it out with one of their bars. If you haven't yet tried Dick Taylor chocolates, I strongly suggest ordering some. There is absolutely no way you could be disappointed!