The Bounty Hunter

“We’ve been hunting for the best hot chocolate Pixie’s has to offer! This year at Pixie’s, we decided to highlight what we are known for, our 1950s Soda fountain. In recent years we have been known for using our fudge in creative and interactive ways, making a rich and creamy hot chocolate. Why not re-imagine fudge again? Enjoy a Bounty Bar in hot chocolate form, but frozen! We have deconstructed a hot chocolate and rebuilt it using our rare soda fountain, one of two in all of Canada. Enjoy creamy coconut ice cream mixed with chocolate fudge, topped with whipped cream, chocolate shavings and more coconut. Each sip is rich with velvety chocolate and accompanied by coconut shavings from our ice cream, creating the sensation of eating a bounty bar in every sip.”

Price: $5.99

Let me start by saying that this frozen chocolate tastes EXACTLY like a Bounty Bar. I am absolutely thrilled that Pixie’s stuck with their roots and did cold chocolate this year!  The combination of flavours is absolutely amazing, it is so delicious. As our first frozen chocolate of the month, let me say it’s going to be hard to beat this one!

If you like eating Bounty Bars, please go and visit Pixie’s and try their delicious frozen chocolate from their soda fountain. Such an interesting way to make a cold chocolate.

Ingredients : Chocolate fudge, Coconut Ice Cream, Whipped Cream and Coconut

Triple Sin Hot Chocolate

“Named after the famous Triple Sin cookie, this devilishly delicious hot chocolate will tempt you three times with its dark chocolate sauce, white chocolate drizzle over whipped cream, and chocolate sprinkle toppings! If that’s not enough, there’s also a chocolate bar garnish on top of every drink.”

Price: $6.75

I found myself excited to go and try this hot chocolate since I have absolutely loved all of their creations in the past. Unfortunately, this hot chocolate let me down, it was very basic and not crazy inventive I found.  I was looking for the creative and interesting flavours that they were known for but they didn’t deliver this time around.

It seemed like a basic hot chocolate with a cool mini chocolate bar garnish.

Ingredients : Dark Chocolate sauce, steamed milk, whipped cream, white chocolate drizzle, chocolate sprinkles, chocolate bar garnish

Charred Orange and Ginger

“I love the combination of sweet and spicy, which this warm beverage will satisfy! The spicy ginger is complimented well by the charred orange flavour. The spirited version will have Grand Marnier added.”

Price: $6.65 (non-alcohol)

This hot chocolate really intrigued us with its flavour profile and we knew we had to try it for sure. Vendome was smart when they were creating their drink this year, they combined the flavours of charred orange and ginger into their chocolate syrup. It makes making the drink a lot easier and simpler. To our surprise, you get a hint of orange and ginger in each and every sip. It is a very good hot chocolate for sure.

Ingredients : Charred Orange and Ginger Syrup, chocolate, milk or milk alternative

Ginger Snap Hot Chocolate

“Ginger Snap! We believe we have done it this year with our entry for YYC Hot Chocolate Fest. Mixing the spicy flavour profile of a Ginger Snap Cookie with our already decedent and creamy hot chocolate, this drink is sure to delight all sweet and spicy lovers. If the Cinnamon Sugar and 5 Spice aren’t enough to captivate the audience then the Ginger Bread Man peeking out of the Whipped Cream might just have to come along and steal the show.”

Price: $3.25 small

When I first smelled the hot chocolate all I got was ginger which was very good. I was happy that the flavour was throughout the whole drink. I was shocked to find out that this drink was made with chocolate milk, it slightly changed the way the drink was tasting in my mind, if it was made with chocolate ginger syrup it would have just heightened this a little more.

The cookie was cute and tasted really good. It was a great addition to the drink.

Ingredients : Chocolate Milk, Gingerbread cinnamon sugar, Chinese 5 Spice, Whipped Cream, Cinnamon, Mini Ginger Cookie

Toasted Honey Nut Hot Chocolate

“House-made Honey Nut Cereal milk infused with Ghirardelli white chocolate, topped with whipped cream and a honey drizzle.”

Price: $6.85

I am sad to say that we didn’t get any of the honey drizzle on our hot chocolate this morning, but overall we found this drink a little sweet for our liking. Which will happen with the cereal milk. You do get the flavours of the honey nut cereal throughout the drink. Overall it was very good but I am sad I didn’t get the drink like it was described.  

Ingredients : Honey Nut Cereal milk, white chocolate, milk, honey and whipped cream

Nanaimo Cream

“Inspired by Canada’s own dessert, the Nanaimo Bar, we bring you Rosso’s take on this classic in hot chocolate form! Rosso’s Nanaimo Cream is created from a white hot chocolate base with added notes of graham cracker and vanilla custard. We top it off with a luxurious chocolate whipped cream, garnished with toasted coconut flakes.”

Price: $6.75

Upon first sip of this hot chocolate, we found it was very sweet and we didn’t get a lot of the Nanaimo flavour. We didn’t find any graham cracker or vanilla custard tastes, which was slightly disappointing.

We did find that as the drink cooled a little it did taste a little more like a Nanaimo Bar for sure.

Ingredients : Milk, white chocolate sauce, dark chocolate sauce, whipping cream, coconut flakes, vanilla powder.

Smoky Turtle Cheesecake

“As we started brainstorming we realized that we all love chocolate, caramel, and cheesecake so having these items in drink form was very exciting.”

Price: $6.99

We were very excited about trying this creation since their entry from last year really surprised us. We were the first customers of the day that were getting this hot chocolate so it was great to see.

The ganache for this hot chocolate had the perfect smoke smell but wasn’t overpowering in any sense of the way. We were so happy that we were able to get each and every flavour of this hot chocolate in each sip. The caramel worked perfectly with the ganache and it had the perfect saltiness from the smoked pecans.

If you love Turtles, this is definitely the drink for you to go and try. Absolutely amazing!

Ingredients : smoky dark chocolate ganache, buttery caramel sauce, whip cream, smoked pecans and graham waffer

Since dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic last year, this year is back at it full steam ahead. This year the launch is a go, but sadly we will be unable to go. Looking at the list of contestants there will be no need to get Calgarians excited because there are so many amazing businesses participating this year. We cannot wait to get trying these delicious hot chocolates that the businesses of Calgary are offering. This year there are 109 participating vendors and 115 different drinks, so start planning which you would like to try.

If you don’t know what YYC Hot Chocolate Fest is, it takes place in February every year and participating cafes, restaurants, and chocolatiers compete for the coveted titles of Best Hot Chocolate, Best Spirited Hot Chocolate, and the Cup that Runneth Over (who sells the most). A portion from each of the Hot Chocolates supports Meals on Wheels and which in turn provides meals to Calgarians in need.

This is our seventh year participating in YYC Hot Chocolate Fest. Last year we were able to try over 60 different Hot Chocolates and 50 the year before. We wonder how many we will be able to try this year.

There are so many amazing cafes, restaurants, and chocolatiers participating this year, including;

• Kristi
• Black Sheep
• Pixies Candy Parlour
• Café Jindo
• Cravings Market
• Element Café
• Fringe Coffee
• Bullet Coffee House
• Boogie’s Burgers
• Brekkie / Sammie Cafe

Although we have only listed ten, there is so many more that are going to be exciting to try.

If you would like to follow our adventure make sure you follow us @extremecoffeefreak on Instagram or keep checking out the website for all the posts about the drinks.

We look forward to trying the hot chocolates this year!

Happy Chocolating!