Hot Chocolate at Cafe du Monde, New Orleans, USA

I have been wanting to go to New Orleans for a long, long time and finally had the chance this past weekend. We arrived on a Friday night and stayed at a generic hotel near Bourbon street.  Initially I was not very impressed, but come Saturday morning when we had the chance to walk a few blocks into the French Quarter I was instantly in love.

New Orleans is such an interesting place, a mix of cultures, flavours, sights and smells. It truly has something for everyone. What I liked about it is that it reminded me of Paris, but with a North American twist. Early in the morning as we walked through the quite streets many shop owners were busy cleaning their bits of sidewalk, something I haven’t seen much over on this side of the Atlantic. Generally the streets were very quiet…that is until we hit the line up to enter Café du Monde.

Café du Monde opened in 1862 and is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week except when the occasional Hurricane passes a little too close and they are forced to close. I had Café du Monde on my list of must dos in New Orleans…and from the size of the queue, I’m guessing it is on every tourists list. Who can go to New Orleans and not get a beignet…or in our case, a whole bag of them.  Beignets were brought to Louisiana by the Acadians and are a square piece of dough, fried and covered with a lot of powdered sugar. Here you order a bag of three, and then shake it up to make sure every piece of the beignet is covered in powdered sugar. They are delicious and addictive, especially when made fresh and hot.

We decided not to wait in line for a table and instead joined a slightly shorter and much faster moving line for takeout. We were then able to take our beignets and of course a hot chocolate to a nearby bench which is still pretty much part of the Café so you still feel like you are there and part of the action.   Unfortunately, my hot chocolate wasn’t anything extraordinary…not like the beignets! It was very generic, and very sweet. I’m not sure if I expected anything special, maybe I did since the Café du Monde menu is so short: beignets, café au lait, hot chocolate….that’s about it.  But I was too distracted by the goodness of my beignets to even notice. An added bonus was that where we were sitting was just across from a large window that looked directly into the Café du Monde kitchen were two men were cutting, forming and frying the beignets.

Verdict: Ultimately you don’t go to Café du Monde for their hot chocolate, and you shouldn’t. Get yourself at least a bag of beignet and enjoy that. Save the hot chocolate for later…and somewhere else.

Hot Chocolate at Chokolait, Melbourne, Australia

I love Melbourne’s CBD (Central Business District). Every year I always make sure we have at least one day to just walk around and take it all in. You have Federation Square with its modern art buildings and galleries. The impressive Flinders Street train station is across the street. The streets are lined with interesting scultupres and statues and colourful graffiti covers some of the walls of the side streets. There are dozens of arcades that connect the different streets in the CBD, some lined with restaurants and cafes, others with stores. My favourite arcade is probably most people’s favourite arcade here, the one and only Royal Arcade.

The Royal Arcade was built in 1869 and is simply stunning. My favourite feature has to be the two giant statues at the end of the arcade of Gog and Magog. Since the very first day the place opened the two statues have struck chimes at every hour. Tucked just next to these two mythical giants is Chokolait.

I have probably already said it and I will say it again, Melbourne seems to be the hot chocolate capital of the world. Fine, France and Belgium have really good hot chocolates and very few bad ones, but the ones here are extremely innovative and more often than not, very very good. Many are unique, including Chokolait.

Chokolait is all about chocolate. They have a range of chocolate products including a wide range of hot chocolates. You can have white, Belgium, milk or dark. You can add to that chili, hazelnut, cinnamon. But that isn’t why we came here. We came here because this is the first place I have been to that has single origin hot chocolates. Yes, just like the coffee drinkers out there who get to choose the country of origin of their coffee beans, Chokolait lets you do that same with your hot chocolate. Today the choices are 38% Costa Rica Milk, 43% Venezuela Milk if you want something a bit lighter. Over on the dark side, you have Peru Dark at 64%, Papua New Guinea Dark and Costa Rica Dark all at 64%. If you are feeling really adventurous you can try the 71% from Ecuador or the ultimate, the 80% from Uguanda. According to the woman at the counter all have their own unique flavour, some are a little fruity, some nuttier, like a good wine really.

Feeling adventurous, we went dark today. I had a 71% from Ecuador and Rich the 80% from Uguanda. They came to us in tall clear glasses with handles. I loved the first few sips of my 71% hot chocolate. It was chocolatey, just the perfect amount of sweetness and it even had almost a spicy note to it but that didn’t linger too long. Rich’s on the other hand was very bitter (surprise surprise) with no sweetness at all and he ended up sipping mine quite a bit. I loved this hot chocolate but only the first half. Perhaps because it was in a clear glass it cooled down very quickly and once it cooled down it was very thick and puddinglike. The subtle spiciness went and it just wasn’t as enjoyable to drink. But I absolutely loved the first half and could come back again to try the other options and compare.

Verdict: I’d love to see Chokolait put in place a tasting platter where they have the different chocolates served to you in little tea cups or shot glasses so you can taste and compare all the different single origins. Maybe next time? Chokolait, Shopt 8 Hub Arcade, 318 Little Collins Street, Melbourne, Australia

Hot Chocolate at Tiny Boxwoods, Houston, USA

Tiny Boxwoods is like a little hidden world right in the middle of busy Houston. You don’t know it is there until you are in it and once inside you can’t imagine what the world outside looks like.  Tiny’s, despite what its name may suggests, spans a whole city block. On the right side of the block is a little store that sells lovely decorations for the homeowner who already has everything. This store is surrounded by a beautiful garden shop selling multicolored flowers, a range of herbs, larger pots with olive plants and small palm trees and all the pots you could ever need. Next to this is a little square of very green grass leading right up to Tiny Boxwood’s itself. This little café has quite a bit of seating outside including some very large tables for big families.

 

Inside though is my favourite. It is bright and cheery. Today there was some French café music which made me miss Paris. The walls and furniture are different shades of beige with green accents. Around the cash register you are easily tempted by a range of freshly baked pastries at this hour of the morning (and incredible chocolate chip cookies if you come later in the day).  We ordered a hot chocolate, of course, and went to sit at one of the tables near the window where we had a view of everything happening in this relatively small space.

It took a while but my hot chocolate finally arrived and in what I like to call a hug mug, one of those big mugs that just seems to give you a big hug as you drink from it. This one was white and warmed my hands and made me happy. Unfortunately, as so often happens at places that I love, I didn’t stay happy for very long. The hot chocolate was very plain and very sweet, I suspect a chocolate syrup stirred in milk. I only had a few sips and spend the rest of the morning enjoying the mug instead and using it to warm my hands. It is always so sad for me to review hot chocolates at spots that I love that seem to put a lot of attention into every detail, and then have a very disappointing hot chocolate…high expectations and all. But Rich loved his latte and everything else looks fantastic at Tiny’s…oh well.

Verdict: If you are in Houston I would recommend a relaxing stop at Tiny Boxwoods but skip the hot chocolate. I do however highly recommend the hug mug so ask for another drink (a latte perhaps) in the mug so you can enjoy that! Tiny Boxwoods, 3614 W Alabama St. Houston, USA

Hot Chocolate from Taza Chocolates (made at home), USA

A few weeks ago, Merrill, a friend and fan of hot chocolate (smart girl), sent me a little package. Inside was a sampler pack of 4 Taza hot chocolates. Since then I have been anxiously waiting for the perfect day to try this out.  I have seen Taza hot chocolate sold at my local cheese store, and since I love everything that store sells, I figured there was a reason that they sold Taza hot chocolate. It must be good.

Today turned out to be the perfect day to try this out. Rich got home early and with the change in time it was still light outside. With the sun shining on the balcony and the temperature cool enough to enjoy a hot drink, we decided that this was the day. It took a while to decide which flavours to choose. My little sampler pack included three disks of flavoured chocolate; vanilla (50% dark), cinnamon (50% dark) and chilli (50% dark), with the last one just good old dark chocolate (70% dark). Today we settled on cinnamon and chilli.

The packaging provides easy to follow instructions on how to create the hot chocolate. One cup of milk heated up, take it off the heat and add the chopped up chocolate. Mix until dissolved and then heat up again. Add a little pinch of salt and you are ready to enjoy it. We used my favourite hot chocolate testing mugs and brought them out to the balcony to drink.

I love what this company has done with its chocolate, from the marketing and branding to their sustainability angle. Everything is organic: the coco beans, the cane sugar, the vanilla beans, cinnamon and even the chilli powder. The cocoa is sourced directly from growers who are paid a fair price. The packaging is full of interesting tid bits. Apparently the company uses Oaxacan stone mills instead of steel refiners to grind their cocoa in small batches resulting in a unique texture and robust flavour. I love the brown packaging and the fonts used. I hadn’t even tasted the hot chocolae and I was a fan. How can this be bad…really?

It wasn’t bad, in fact, it was fantastic! I really loved these hot chocolates and couldn’t find anything to fault. Rich had the chilli which had just the right amount of kick, while I had the cinnamon which was beautiful and rich. They were both silky and very easy to drink, and the flavour was a perfect balance, bitter but not too much and enough sweetness to satisfy a sweet palate.

Even after finishing my hot chocolate my newfound obsession with Taza continues. I spent quite a bit of time going through their website. They have factory tours in Somersville MA if anyone is over there, where they show you how they make their chocolate. They even organize a chocolate tour to Belize regularly.  All of their chocolates have a batch number on the packaging that you can enter into the site to learn more about your particular chocolate. They use bicycle couriers to deliver their chocolate locally and have really made sustainability part of their whole operations. Alex, Kathleen and Larry, the founders of Taza, basically created the hot chocolate company that I would have liked to create myself … which is good because that means that instead of starting a hot chocolate company, I can dedicate my time to drinking hot chocolates and tell you about them! Thank you for that.

And thank you Merrill! You can send me hot chocolate any day…really.

Verdict: I really loved Taza hot chocolate disks, as you can probably tell. I can see this will turn into a guilty pleasure for me. Since writing this blog I have tried almost all the Taza flavourites and they are all fantastic! Taza Chocolate,

Hot Chocolate at Allan Scott Vineyard, Marlborough, New Zealand

After spending over a week in the North Island of New Zealand we took the interislander ferry across from Wellington to Picton in the south island. As much as I was impressed with the North Island, I was stunned by the south island. The scenery is really extraordinary and changes regularly as you drive along, from lush green hills with views of the ocean, endless fields of dairy cows grazing on grass, and within 30 minutes or so of leaving the coast all of a sudden the clouds part, the land flattens and you are faced with kms of bright green grape vines. This is Malborough Wine Country.

We checked into Okiwa Bay Lodge before exploring the area and I highly recommend it. The view from our room could not have been more stunning and the couple that run the place are really great. From here you can drive anywhere, enjoy fresh green mussels at Havelock, drive along the scenic coast line and of course make your way to wine country.

Marlborough has 236,000 hectares of land planted with grapes and the area is the largest wine producing region in the country representing 79% of all of New Zealand’s active wine production. It also has quite a few fruit and vegetable growing areas so it is not uncommon to see signs on the side of the road directing you to freshly picked apricots and cherries among other things.

If you are a fan of white wines this is where you should be. I’m not particularly keen myself as I usually prefer red wine, but was open to trying some and our first stop at Gibson Bridge Vineyard for a tasting converted me. This husband and wife dual is really fantastic and if you only have time for one tasting in this region, then come here. We visited a few other vineyards for tastings and then finished off at Allan Scott.

Allan Scott Vineyard has a beautiful restaurant with a gorgeous terrace out to one side. At this time is it was pretty much empty but you can tell by all the tables and chairs both inside and outside that this is a place that gets very busy. There is a little veggie garden on one side and a giant chess board on the other. The whole vineyard is run by the Scott family who started it in 1990.

I’ll focus on how beautiful the region was instead of my hot chocolate, as unfortunately it really wasn’t that great. It was in a tall clear glass, way too hot to even hold, and tasted like very very sweet milk. Considering the beautiful surroundings, I was pretty disappointing But the coffee looked good (Rich assured me it was) and the food menu looked even better, anything really to have a chance to just sit here and watch the bumble bees feeding on the beautiful flours surrounding the terrace and watching the grape vines sway in the wind.

Verdict: This is a beautiful wine region and Allan Scott Vineyard is a good stop. The staff are friendly, the atmosphere is great. Allan Scott Vineyard, Jacksons Road between Renwick and Blenheim, New Zealand

Hot Chocolate at Olive, Wellington, New Zealand

If you are looking for a spot to grab a bite or a drink, Cuba Street is the place to go in Wellington. The street is packed for blocks and blocks with a whole range of interesting looking spots. There are restaurants serving food from every country you can think of, including India, Malaysia, Turkey and Mexico. You have the local restaurants serving fusion dishes including one restaurant, Logan Brown, which is considered one of the best restaurants in New Zealand. You have, of course, a pretty large choice of spots to have coffee too, since New Zealand does seem to be the coffee lovers capital of the world oddly enough. So the other morning when we were looking for a spot to grab a quick breakfast we had plenty of choices. Olive jumped out at us and welcomed us in.

I really liked Olive. First it has a fantastic name, isn’t that just a great name for a coffee, breakfast, lunch, restaurant and overall just really fun place to be? I think so! Inside the place is bright and airy with wooden tables and interesting art pieces on the wall. My favorite part though was the terrace outside at the back which feels like an overgrown jungle with great colorful tables and chairs scattered throughout.

I ordered a hot chocolate and a breakfast bagel and was pretty happy with both. My hot chocolate came in a tall glass which seems to be the norm in New Zealand. Pretty much all my hot chocolates came in glasses and were all too hot to hold until pretty much the point when the hot chocolate had turned lukewarm. It looked really nice and didn’t taste bad. It tasted like sweet warm milk which made me happy this particular morning. For a country that is so into their coffees I wish they put a little bit more effort into their hot chocolates, but I did enjoy this one.

We were in a bit of a rush this morning as there was a 2.5 hour walking tour that leaves from the tourism office at 10am that we wanted to take. We got there just on time, and were really impressed with it (Walk Wellington). After the walking tour finished, we continued on our own, walking along the harbor, up the hill to the Botanical Gardens and paid a visit at the end of the day to the “Te papa” museum which you will like even if you don’t like museums.

Verdict: I wish I had an Olive close to my house so it could be my hang out spot. I would pick one of the chairs in the outside jungle and just set up there…indefinitely. Olive, 170 Cuba St, Wellington, New Zealand

Hot Chocolate at The Store, Kekerengu, New Zealand

“The Store” is one of my favourite little spots in the whole world. To start with, The Store is located really in the middle of nowhere. If you take the road from Blenheim to Kaikoura on the East Coast, it is exactly in the middle. Before it there is nothing and after it there is nothing. Nothing that is except lush hills covered with beautiful trees that come all the way down to the road on the right side and a stunning coast line with rough waves and rocks along the shores on the left. From inside you enjoy this same view and can watch the waves hitting the sandy beach just outside the back terrace. It is a present, a treat and completely unexpected at this particular spot.

  

The second thing I love about The Store is the design. It looks like it might have been an old post office, at least part of it. The main eating area has been designed to look like a traditional cob , but also has the look of a giant yurt or tent from the inside. The main counter has two large displays, one full of sandwiches and quiches and the other of tasty looking sweets. A giant blackboard on one side lists the specials for the day. There are several tables both inside and out but because of the chilly breeze we opt for one inside. We are surrounded by curiosities, many of which are for sale. There are a series of large baskets on the floor near our table, one filled with lemons, one with lavender.

We ordered two fish and chip plates which were delicious and of course I ordered a hot chocolate. The hot chocolate was beautifully presented but there wasn’t very much of it. Like most Kiwi hot chocolates there is a pretty thick later of foamy milk on the top of the hot chocolate. In this case they broke the record for the trip, a full half of the cup was milk foam which only left room for a taste of hot chocolate underneath unfortunately. The little hot chocolate I got I enjoyed. It tasted as a nice hot chocolate should, like chocolate but not too sweet.

Once you leave, full and satisfied, the drive along the coast will continue to impress. If you can take your eyes off the road or stop along it, there are thousands and thousands of seals, from big male seals to mothers nursing their young.

Verdict: I will never forget The Store because of how stunning it was. I wish I lived closer as this is where I’d love to do all my writing and thinking.  The Store, Kekerengu, Marlborough, New Zealand

Hot Chocolate at Knoll Ridge Chalet, Tongariro National Park, New Zealand

While driving down the North Island of New Zealand, I was really keen to visit Tongariro National Park. Unfortunately we didn’t have time this trip to go hiking across it, apparently one of the most beautiful hikes in the world. Turns out it didn’t matter anyways, because most of the tracks were closed since one of the nearby volcanos had erupted only a few weeks ago, and it was still smoking pretty strongly.

We took the road up to nearby Mt. Ruapehu which is an active ski resort in the winter. Of course, being summer, there was only snow right at the top and the houses and ski chalets were all nestled amongst the black volcanic rocks making it look a bit like a movie set for a star wars or other intergalactic movie. At the end of the road there was a car park and a little coffee shop and we went in thinking we would get a hot chocolate there. We quickly realized that the ski lifts that bring skiers up the mountain in the winter also operate all summer long. Not only that, but the highest café in New Zealand is almost at the top of the mountain (at 2020m). So we paid the 30 dollars each and took the two chair lifts to the top.

The ski lodge at the top of the chair lifts is big enough to welcome the winter skiers but a small part of it is open all year around including a little coffee shop with sandwiches, drinks and treats and of course an incredible outdoor terrace . We ordered lunch and drinks and sat on the terrace outside. From here we had the most incredible view. We could see the other mountains in this area, which is all part of a World Natural Heritage Site. We watched the smoke coming out of the nearby active volcano, and could even see as far as Lake Taupo and beyond. My hot chocolate was exactly what you’d expect after a day of skiing on the mountains. It was hot and sweet and kind of perfect for a ski resort, even in the middle of summer.

Verdict: Can’t beat the view, plus the café here has one of the best paninis I have ever had anywhere!! Knoll Ridge Chalet, Mt Ruapehu, New Zealand