“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 IceCream, Whipped Cream and Coconut
“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
“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! 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
“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
“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.
“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;
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!
Yesterday we decided to check out a new little cafe that just opened at the end of March this year. We were excited to see that somewhere new had opened. The location is super cute and beautiful, it is located in a brick building just off of 5a Street in Sunnyside / Hillhurst area. Not that far from Kensington. If you were just walking by the building, I’m not sure you would know what it is, since when we were waiting outside after we visited, some people asked us what the place was. Soon everyone will know.
The Interior
When you walk in you are immediately greeted by a wall of flowers and then you enter to the slight left. There is a family style table in the centre and then all along the left side there is a few tables. When we arrived it was very busy, thankfully a very nice family was just leaving and they gave us their part of the family style table. At the front on the right there is a cute little flower shop that you can purchase single stems or bouquets. On the right before the order table there is a mini cooler that only had a couple items in it today, two delicious kinds of tiramisu (obviously got one of those), and then shelves which I can only assume will hold something soon. Then there is a big counter where you order, they have a couple items there that you can see and purchase as well such as cookies and the cutest presentation of a slice of cheesecake.
The Drinks
After seeing some of the beautiful drinks come out as we were waiting to order there was no way that we were not trying something beautiful they had to offer. They have a bunch of items that will be coming when they fully open, so it is a little limited right now, but what they had was delicious.
I ordered a Vanilla Latte for $5.00, it had really good flavour and it was a little bigger than I expected to be. They currently use Rosso for their beans.
My wife ordered a Strawberry Latte for $5.95, it had no coffee despite the name. They used real strawberries muddled in the bottom to make the most delectable strawberry milk. It was a cool way to think of making it.
My daughter ordered a Chocolate Latte for $6.25, it also had no coffee. They used real melted chocolate in the bottom and as you mix it all together you get the most chocolatey chocolate milk. It was delicious.
They had a bunch of other drinks that were absolutely beautiful that we would like to try next time we go as well.
The Food
When we come to a new place like this we seem to like to try a little bit of everything. So that is what we did, we each had a different breakfast item, we could a cute little Ang Cookie, a slice of Jerry’s Cheesecake, and of course a tiramisu to go. When we arrived everything that we seen coming out looked beautiful and delicious so we were very excited to try some of the menu items that we had ordered.
I ordered the Brown Cheese for $9.95, it is a croissant that has been pressed in a waffle iron topped with vanilla ice cream and shredded brown cheese. Now some of you may think that is crazy, but the flavours all together were absolutely delicious. If you tasted the cheese by itself it almost tasted like a smoked cheese of some kind. With the blending of all the flavours it made the crowaffle (new term, I think so) sweet which was crazy since my meal seemed a little more savoury.
My wife ordered the Andsome for $10.95 which had the same crowaffle base with seasonal fruits, vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. It was absolutely delicious. She only wished that they made their own whipped cream instead of using canned. Other than that it was amazing, she loves fruit and wished it had more.
My daughter ordered the Waffle and Parfait for $19.00, which had a giant housemate buttermilk waffle, whipped cream, strawberry jam, and a parfait with seasonal fruits, granola and honey. It was a lot of food, but I helped with the parfait. She said the waffle was delicious, nice crunch on the outside and light on the inside. She guessed it was a buttermilk waffle as she was eating it because of how filling it was. She too wished they made their own whipped cream but it was very delicious either way.
We also got an Original Ang Cookie for $2.75. It was a cookie with two biscuits, a slice of butter, and some sweet red bean paste. The flavours all came together amazingly and was delicious. If you go, make sure you try this cookie for sure.
We also got a slice of Jerry’s Cheesecake for $6.00. Look how cute this is, it’s a slice of cheese. How they got such a creamy, smooth, soft piece of cheesecake to stay in this form was absolutely incredible. It was very rich and delicious, I would suggest sharing with someone, especially if you have eaten something else as well.
My daughter purchased one of their tiramisu for $7.95 and it has really good flavour. They use what looks like a thin cake layer that is soaked in coffee with very thick layers of the marscapone whip. Some bites you get stronger coffee flavour and others very light coffee flavour. It is very good either way.
The Service
Everyone working there was very friendly and looked like they were excited at how busy it was. All the questions we asked they were able to answer quickly which was nice. While we were waiting for our food and drinks everything seemed to come out really quick, you really didn’t wait more than five or six minutes for everything to come out. They brought the food items out as they were ready which was nice. They brought all the drinks together which was nice as well. If they keep up the amazing service and keep coming up with creative items they will do really good.
The Hours
Sunday to Thursday – 8:00am to 10:00pm
Friday and Saturday – 8:00am to 11:00pm
Parking
Since they are located away from the busy streets of Kensington, the parking is all free and for 2 hours. Just watch for some permit parking locations on surrounding streets.
Last Words
We will definitely be visiting again in the future. We will wait until their full menu is available so we can see what else they have come up with. We are really excited to see what else they will come up with. Like I have said, you should definitely head down to Sunnyside / Hillhurst and check these guys out for yourselves. Here is their current menu if you are interested, they also have an extensive tea menu, it would not show well on here, sorry.
Extreme Coffee Freak 