When the idea to taste test a bunch of different hot chocolates all around Edmonton came up, I thought it would be pretty easy.

I was wrong.

We hadn’t even made it to the halfway mark and I was ready to give up. It turns out you can in fact have too much of a good thing.

Our 3 judges (myself, my partner Robyn, and our friend Brittney) found after taste testing 13 different hot chocolate versions at 9 different establishments, we had a pretty clear top three favourites.

We’ll get to those favourites shortly, but first we should talk about the common themes of the underwhelming hot chocolate versions we tried.

For me a great hot chocolate just needs to nail two simple characteristics.

• It needs to be chocolatey
• It needs to be creamy

Extras like whipped cream, chocolate shavings, chocolate sprinkles , marshmallows, or whatever else you want to throw on top are all fine, But ultimately pointless if it’s not creamy and chocolatey underneath.

The hot chocolates that we didn’t care for cheaped out on the chocolate, plain and simple. Even a place that uses a verified delicious chocolate powder from Jacek chocolate tripped up by basically only using it for colour. The underlying flavour was good, but it was like listening to your favourite song on volume setting 1.

Of course skimping on the chocolate also has a negative effect on the creaminess of your hot chocolate, so it’s a double whammy.

We tried variations that used generic chocolate chips, baker’s chocolate, chocolate powders, and chocolate syrup.

Our three winners all had a different characteristic that made them great, and therefore makes it easy to pick the right hot chocolate for the right occasion.

Here’s our three picks for where you should get your next cup of hot chocolate.

Sweet Lollapalooza

• The hot chocolate at Sweet Lollapalooza is by far the creamiest and most chocolatey any of us had ever had. It’s thick as hell, and the ultimate luxury hot chocolate. It’s simply made with water and chocolate. And lots of it.
• the downside, if you consider it a downside, is that it is so intense that it can be near impossible to finish a cup to yourself. It actually had my chocolate loving partner Robyn asking out loud if there’s such a thing as too rich and chocolatey?
• We finished half of it and took the rest home for the next day. It almost solidified in the fridge and was great just eating with a spoon.

Cococo

• The hot chocolate at cococo was chocolaty and creamy, but more drinkable than Sweet Lollapalooza’s. This is a hot chocolate you could sit and enjoy the entire cup easily.
• we all loved that we could customize our hot chocolate to our own personal tastes here. You can choose from milk chocolate, dark chocolate, a dark blend, a house blend, and a single origin. No matter what your chocolate preference, you’ll find a hot chocolate you’re going to love here.
• Hot chocolate swirl finished with a little bit of whipped cream and some chocolate shavings on top. I found the chocolate shavings added an extra Aroma element that elevated the experience, and the little melty bits were really nice.

• 

Cafe Sole

• This little cafe was easily the best value of the day at $3.50 for a 16 oz hot chocolate. Their Mexican hot chocolate has a very well balanced flavour profile and is finished with a generous dollop of whipped cream. This is hot chocalate with a bit of spice and flair.
• Bonus marks for bringing in their ingredients direct from the state of Chiapas in Mexico, a place I love.

So there you have it- hot chocolates for any occasion, but you’ll have to bring your own pocket Bailey’s if you want to Irish up your hot chocolates.