[SEA] hot chocolate

[LaurieA-B]

This is a wintertime topic. Anywhere you can recommend for excellent hot chocolate? The only one I could find discussed here is Le Pichet's, which I've tried, and it's delicious but not drinkable. It's extremely rich, like liquid chocolate mousse. I'm looking for a deliciously chocolatey drink that's a beverage, not a dessert. The one I tried most recently was at Top Pot, and it was unsatisfactory, more like warm vaguely chocolate-flavored milk. With all the coffeehouses in town, I'm sure someone is making a good hot chocolate. Suggestions welcomed. (Matthew makes a fabulous hot chocolate from Pierre Herme's recipe, but I'd like somewhere to get a good one while away from home.)

[BastilaShan]

I like the hot chocolate at Fran's in the U-Village.

There's a rich dark chocolate taste and my fav hot chocolate drink.

This is a wintertime topic. Anywhere you can recommend for excellent hot chocolate? The only one I could find discussed here is Le Pichet's, which I've tried, and it's delicious but not drinkable. It's extremely rich, like liquid chocolate mousse. I'm looking for a deliciously chocolatey drink that's a beverage, not a dessert. The one I tried most recently was at Top Pot, and it was unsatisfactory, more like warm vaguely chocolate-flavored milk. With all the coffeehouses in town, I'm sure someone is making a good hot chocolate. Suggestions welcomed. (Matthew makes a fabulous hot chocolate  from Pierre Herme's recipe, but I'd like somewhere to get a good one while away from home.)

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[LEdlund]

Neuhaus Chocolates makes good hot chocolate. I think there is one in Pacific Place but they are also across the street from the Fairmont Olympic (I still want to call it the Four Seasons!).

I haven't tried them yet, but there are a couple of Dilletante Mocha Cafe's downtown now. One is in the bottom of Rainier Square and the other is between University and Union on 6th Avenue. You'd think they might make good hot chocolate. I have a coupon from them that expires at the end of the month. Maybe I'll give them a try!

[lalala]

I haven't had a fran's hot chocolate, but I'll try tonight. Dilletante makes a pretty good hot chocolate, but I haven't had one in a while.

If you are going to Fran's, remember, their espresso machine/steamer "breaks" around Christmas, Valentines Day and Easter.

lalala

[tsquare]

There's a weird chocolate shop on Post Alley - down from Kell's - might have good options - but the varieties of chocolate available for sale did not impress.

How about Rocky Mountain Fudge - do they make hot chocolate?

I liked Spanish Table's when they made the thick stuff, but I don't think they do anymore.

Torrefazione used to have a nice couple of options - including unsweetened.

Edited November 22, 2004 by tsquare (log)

[reesek]

after reading this thread i immediately went downstairs to our (private) coffee stand for a hot chocolate. i kind of hate you guys.

it was decent, but pedestrian...like i would have made at home when i was a kid.

[skyflyer3]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Vivace's hot chocolate. Man, that stuff is addictive - especially with the whipped cream that is accented with vanilla, espresso and sugar. MMmmmmm.

I've made it myself with the recipe distributed in an earlier Pacific Northwest magazine (hot cocoa by Greg Atkinson) but this one didn't do it for me. Sweet, but the brown sugar did not add a clean enough flavor. I haven't tried Jeffrey Steingarten's recipe - is this an amended Pierre Herme one?

[22tango]

You might try Dolce Vita up on QA. Granted, we're not in Seattle any longer, so the last time I had their chocolate was before they closed and then reopened. If it's still on the menu, it was quite good...although pricey!!

[mark918]

I've enjoyed excellent hot chocolate at the Dilettante on Broadway on Capital Hill. It's the best I've had in Seattle.

[LaurieA-B]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Vivace's hot chocolate.  Man, that stuff is addictive - especially with the whipped cream that is accented with vanilla, espresso and sugar.  MMmmmmm.

I haven't tried Jeffrey Steingarten's recipe - is this an amended Pierre Herme one?

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Coincidentally, I just sampled Vivace's this evening; after starting this thread, figured I'd better do some sampling. I thought it was pleasant but unremarkable. According to the menu they use Guittard. The coffee whipped cream was the best part.

Yes, the Steingarten recipe is the Pierre Herme recipe that I mentioned above. It's in It Must've Been Something I Ate.

[LaurieA-B]

Last night I was waiting for a bus in front of Seattle's Best Coffee, so ordered their hot chocolate, which is called (pretentiously) Cocoa Trio. It is advertised as a blend of milk, dark, and white chocolate, and came topped with an enormous swirl of whipped cream, drizzled with chocolate syrup and sprinkled with white chocolate shards. Looked pretty, but once I got past the whipped cream the drink was in anemic in flavor and appearance.

[lalala]

Went to Fran's last night and ordered a hot chocolate. Nice and chocolately and not sweet.

Will try Vivace this week.

lala

[LainerX]

I've enjoyed hot chocolate at Zoka. They apparently make their own chocolate syrup.

[BetsyinKY]

Granted this is not necessarily something that you can find only in Seattle, but I just made a pretty decent hot chocolate at home using Williams Sonoma's Peppermint Hot Chocolate. It is shavings of bittersweet Guittard chocolate that have been infused with peppermint oil. The chocolate melted almost instantly in the hot milk and it was just the right degree of sweet and rich. The peppermint added a nice holiday flavor.

[chuck]

Chocolati on the north side of Greenlake by the wading pool has good hot chocolate. A good balance of sweet with intense chocolate flavor, but not super thick. Perfect after a winter walk around the lake. Hope that's not what makes it so good...

The best hot chocolate ever, not that this helps, was at the old Last Exit on Brooklyn west of the U. W. Some weird brand of chocolate that I'd never heard of at the time, and can't remember now, but it had just the right amount of salt in it. They would add an orange twist if you asked.

[LaurieA-B]

Matthew made us each a cup of the Herme/Steingarten chocolat chaud last night, to top off Thanksgiving. It was so perfect that I now feel there's little point to tasting any more.

But I will try Dilettante, at least, since it's right down the street. Thanks for all the recommendations. The Herme recipe uses both chopped chocolate and cocoa powder. One conclusion I've made is that decent hot chocolate cannot be made with chocolate syrup, which is what many of the coffeehouses appear to use. If anyone needs a PM with the Herme recipe, let me know. Or click here. Definitely one of the best uses for an immersion blender.

[mamster]

And I tried the hot chocolate at Neuhaus. I thought it was much better than the average coffeeshop cocoa, but the chocolate flavor was a little weird. Not bad, just not the very direct flavor you expect of good H.C.

[SparrowsFall]

Matthew made us each a cup of the Herme/Steingarten chocolat chaud last night, to top off Thanksgiving. It was so perfect that I now feel there's little point to tasting any more.

What you said. I have never, ever had such incredible hot chocolate as the batch that Matthew managed to spray all over my counter some months back. (And which I've vaguely duplicated some times since.) Why look any further?

OTOH, it makes me feel like Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, when Don Pedro proposes to her:

DON PEDRO: Will you have me, lady?

BEATRICE: No, my lord, unless I might have another for working-days: your

grace is too costly to wear every day.

Not the cost, actually--it's just so bloody rich, I can't quite manage it sometimes. But yum.

Steve

[Ye-Ye Girl]

I tried something called "Chantico" at Starbucks today, which they bill as "drinking chocolate." The one I had was fairly thick in consistency, kind of like thin chocolate pudding before it has a chance to set. It wasn't grainy, and was fairly intense on the chocolate taste. I like a little more of a rich taste (i.e. cream), but this wasn't bad. Not too sweet, either.

[mamster]

Chantico thread