The best hot chocolate...in the world?

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British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,709
1,947
Mercia
My way:
For one large cup:
One small espresso ( or very strong brewed coffee, about two soup spoons)
Varlhona cocoa ( Van Houten or Droste are excellent too)
Water
Full fat milk
Whipping cream/double cream
Brown sugar
Tiny pinch of salt
1 drop Vanilla extract ( I use Bourbon Vanilla extract)

Adult Content:
Ron Zacapa 23


Warm up about 50 ml water gently, stir in slowly about 2 soup spoons of the cacao powder.
Stir smooth, heat up almost up to a boil.
Take off heat, stand for 10-15 minutes.
Back on heat, heat up, pour in about 200 ml of milk.
Heat up.
Pour in 50 ml of cream, heat up.
Drop of Vanilla essence, sugar to taste.
A tiny pinch of salt
Espresso,
Heat up, stirring well
Pour a measure of Rum in a large cup, fill with cocoa drink.

To be honest, I never measure exactly, the only more or less fixed volume is the Espresso shot.
In the evening I use a smaller shot, day time a larger one.

I do not have any whipped cream on top. Trying not to get too fat!

To be honest 2: if you use a quality cocoa, the result will be nice!

No matter what you do!

The way I do it, not many children like it, as it is very full of taste, slightly bitter and not so sweet.

The Rum adds a nice flavour!
Sounds great!
 

Paul_B

Bushcrafter through and through
Jul 14, 2008
6,152
1,546
Cumbria
I tried it, interesting but not to my taste. My partner drinks it that way. She lived in south America for a long time and that's the way the locals drank it there. Well one of the ways.

Interestingly, colombians drink coffee a different way to westerners too. From what I've been told they're not big coffee drinkers and when they do it's heavily sweetened iirc. Things like yerba mate are more popular. Plus juice bars.
 

Janne

Sent off - Not allowed to play
Feb 10, 2016
12,330
2,293
Grand Cayman, Norway, Sweden
Inching Off Topic now, but in Cuba, they do a fantastic, fantastic coffee.
Basically a double Espresso, then they stir in lots and lots of condensed, sweetened milk.
The coffee bean quality is exceptional there, very aromatic and flavorful.

Back On Topic: years ago I was served a Chocolate beverage ‘Inka style’ by a Peruvian.
To be truthful, did not enjoy it much.
For a start, the cacao powder was not as refined as ours. Less taste.
 

Janne

Sent off - Not allowed to play
Feb 10, 2016
12,330
2,293
Grand Cayman, Norway, Sweden
In Jamaica, they make a weird Cacao product.
They take the fermented beans, then crush them, squeeze out excess fat, roll into small balls and let dry.
Some add sugar, some not. Stores well.
They use these balls to either eat as they are or to make Cocoa from.

I can get them from friends and patients.
Acquired, strong flavour. Even if prepared using cream, more sugar and so on.
Unrefined.

They add Cinnamon bark to when they boil the Cocoa.
( I remembered because I saw a container of those cacao balls in the kitchen this morning)
 

santaman2000

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Jan 15, 2011
16,909
1,114
67
Florida
I tried it, interesting but not to my taste. My partner drinks it that way. She lived in south America for a long time and that's the way the locals drank it there. Well one of the ways.

Interestingly, colombians drink coffee a different way to westerners too. From what I've been told they're not big coffee drinkers and when they do it's heavily sweetened iirc. Things like yerba mate are more popular. Plus juice bars.
I’ve heard similar stories about other South American countries (however they really are “westerners”) I think the logic behind their taste is that they grow some of the best coffee in the world but it’s for export; leaving them with the bitter stuff that needs the sweeteners more.
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,664
McBride, BC
Coffea arabica and C. robusta are two of maybe 30 species of Coffea used for coffee bean production.
The plants themselves are not difficult to grow in pots, we had lots of them at work.
Never got enough for any roasting experiments.
These days, I buy my coffee beans fresh roasted just a mile or two down the road.

I'd like to be able to buy Theobroma seed (chocolate beans) the same way.
 

Dave Budd

Gold Trader
Staff member
Jan 8, 2006
2,894
321
44
Dartmoor (Devon)
www.davebudd.com
Could I by any chance trouble you for the full recipe please Dave? That sounds right up my alley!

The recipe is from a book of historical chocolate recipes by Nick Trustram Eve and Suzi Richer. Nick trades as 'The Copper Pot' at historical foody type places and reenactors' markets, he has excellent tasties and I always like finding my stall near his :D

To Make Wine Chocolate (John Nott: The Cooks and Confectioners Dictionary 1723)
Take a pint of sherry, or a pint and half of red port, four ounces and a half of chocolate, six ounces of fine sugar, and half an ounce of white starch, or fine flour; mix, dissolve, and boil all these as before. But if your chocolate be with sugar, take double the quantity of chocolate, and half the quantity of sugar; and so in all.

Or in Nick's words and a much reduced quantity than the above that will do 20 glasses!

100ml of port
30g chocolate (minimum 70% dark chocolate)
10g of sugar

Put it all in a saucepan and gradually bring to a gentle simmer, whisking continuously.

Obviously, I didn't follow the instructions at all. I just tipped the last of a bag of Nick's drinking chocolate (dark chocolate drops with lumps of glass-like sugar in it. This bag was cardamom and long pepper flavour) into a pan along with a couple of small cups of merlot (that I had just been washing my dinner down with), then added 'some' sugar. Stirred it all until it came to a gentle simmer (it changes the consistency of the liquid when it actually starts to simmer) and then sat down to drink it :)
 
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