Bottega Giuliana

I arrived before they had recovered from St. Patrick's day business and mess, but they were kind enough to fire up the machinery and get a hot chocolate coming my way. Nice people there.

The chocolate was very dark, and not sweetened much at all. I suspect they neglected to water it down with milk or cream. Rich taste, but not balanced. I will have to try again, but now they are only open for dinner hours.

2/5

Homemade

It's always hard to compete with homemade hot chocolate, and I can often manage to make better drinks at home than I can buy outside. However, this requires the range, time, energy and attention. Sometimes I'd rather just spend some money to get some chocolate, so I do.

When making HoCho at home I often blend chocolates, try to use milk instead of water, and add some spices. I enjoy sprinkling in combinations of:

• cinnamon
• clove
• nutmeg
• allspice
• cayenne
• black pepper
• vanilla

Some spices I've tasted elsewhere or want to try out soon:

• bay leaf
• cardamom
  
• chili powders

I know there were more additions I was contemplating, but they escape me. What would you like to try in your next cup of warm beverage?

Atticus Dark Cocoa (70%)

For a few days they had some sort of Mexican Hot Chocolate, which was basically warm chocolate milk with paltry spices mixed in (at least when I had it), but they seem to have a more permanent and more interesting item on the menu: Dark Cocoa.

This is a nice degree of dark for drinking chocolate, and not so thick that it makes you regret drinking a whole cup. It's rich, earthy, smooth and very chocolatey. If I were going to replicate at home I'd add a touch of cinnamon and allspice, but all in all it's very good for my usual craving.

4/5

Places to cover

A short list of places we'd like to touch on in this blog:

• MarieBelle (NYC)
• City Bakery (NYC)
• Gastronomique (NH)
• Publick Cup (NH)
• Atticus (NH)
• Koffee on Orange (NH)
• ABP (NH)
• Starbucks

We're always looking for new spots, if you discover something.

Hot Chocolate

The subject of this blog will be chocolate, most often of the hot variety.

We would love suggestions for new locales, fluids, solids and products to explore if it fits our existing subject matter.