Extreme Coffee Freak

Let’s start off by saying this month has been a lot of fun and we had an amazing time going to try as many hot chocolates that we can. We have had an awesome time driving around the city trying everyone’s creations. This month we tried a total of 61 different hot chocolates totalling roughly $500. 

We had high hopes for a bunch of hot chocolates since the location had an amazing hot chocolate last year, but this year they really disappointed us. We were looking forward to trying certain ones and they really let us down and this was very sad, whereas others really surprised us to no end.

So without further ado, here are my daughter’s and my wife’s top nine hot chocolates for the 2022 YYC Hot Chocolate Fest.

My wife’s top 9, in no specific order;

My daughter’s top 9, in no specific order;

We had found that there were some really good ones this year that didn’t make our top nine but did deserve a honorable mention because of their flavour or their creativity.

Honorable Mentions;

We could all agree that this year had some outstanding hot chocolates and some that missed the mark. The ones that were outstanding really stood out against the rest and the ones that failed really were disappointing due to flavour, texture, garnishes, whip, or their overall beverage.

We were very pleased to be a part of this year’s YYC Hot Chocolate Fest and we were so happy that we were able to visit as many locations as we could. We really hope you had as much fun as we did trying these hot chocolates and we hope that you may have followed our adventures this past month.

A big thank you to everyone who participated and who bought hot chocolates to help support Meals on Wheels. Thank you to all for helping this wonderful organization.

Here is to next year!

Happy Chocolating!

Spicy Ginger Black Tea Hot Chocolate

“This creation was so loved last year that it deserves a repeat! If you missed it last year, here’s your chance – this hot chocolate is made with steeped Assam black tea and gets an extra dose of heat from spicy ginger syrup. This surprisingly delightful trio will keep you warm all winter long! No hot chocolate is complete without a big pile of whipped cream and what’s wayyyyy better than a cherry on top? A COOKIE. A Spicy. Ginger. Cookie.”

Price: $6.20

This is an absolutely delicious hot chocolate, it has the best spicy ginger flavour. The combination of the spicy ginger with chocolate works, plus you get a delicious soft gooey and chewy ginger cookaie. It pairs perfectly with the drink. The Assam black tea is a great combination to the chocolate. You get a slight kick from the spicy ginger, but it is not crazy hot which is really nice. We hope that they keep this on their menu year round. 

Kirsch Noir

“Dutch pressed cocoa powder, nutmeg, cinnamon hot chocolate with a drizzle of cherry kirsch syrup, topped with cherry whipped Chantilly cream and a sprinkle of dark chocolate shavings garnished with a wedge of house made black forest gateau with a cherry on top!”

Price: $15.00, Spirited $18.00

Let me start off by saying how disappointed I was with this drink. I am fully aware that this is their first year participating, but I wanted to make sure they knew the feedback on their drink. I was the most excited about trying this creation based on the picture and the flavour combination. When the drink was placed in front of me I was shocked, it looked nothing like the picture, this was the ultimate ‘what’s going on?’ (Above is the picture of the expectation and what I received.) The hot chocolate supposedly had chocolate liquor, but unfortunately I didn’t taste any of that. The cake had the kirsch syrup, but unfortunately I didn’t taste any of that either. The only thing that had really good flavour was the Chantilly cream and the raspberry drizzle on top. 

When I asked the lady if they had made a change in the design of the drink, she said they had. I said that they should have posted because people see the photo on the website and expect to get that drink and not something different. If I knew that they had made the biggest change to this drink, I don’t know if I would have come to try it. You sell drinks based on flavour description and the picture, so if I would have read what I did and seen the picture I don’t know what I would have tried this one. 

Black Forest Hot Chocolate

“Who says dessert should be served on a plate? We choose to put it in a cup. Come and enjoy a delicious hot chocolate inspired by a classic dessert. The perfect blend of maraschino cherries with the lushes taste of chocolate, spiked with Amaretto, and topped with whip cream and chocolate shavings. This one will take you deep into the Black Forest.”

Price: Spirited $12.00

This is a very beautiful hot chocolate, when it came out it looked exactly like the photo. Absolutely amazing. I was so thrilled to see exactly what I saw on the website. The hot chocolate is spiked with Amaretto which was a nice addition to the chocolate. The flavour of the hot chocolate is exactly like a slice of black forest. I did start to lose the cherry flavour half way through the drink which was very sad, I wish it was all throughout the drink. Other than the missing cherry, the drink was absolutely delicious and amazing.  

Pistachi-o-Paradise

“When given the opportunity to create a drink to benefit Meals on Wheel, we knew it had to be the best. What better to use than the king of nuts! The all mighty pistachio. Each shell kissed by god before being turned into our vanilla bean pistachio syrup. We take the best chocolate syrup that Sysco has to offer and steam it with Canadian 2% milk, with the option to substitute oat or soy milk. Lots of hot chocolate comes with whip cream, but this being the best of the best, we have made a whip with a little but of marshmallow to bring some richness to the beverage. We top it with a crumble of the glorious pistachio, with a masa based gluten free cookie on the side. You’re welcome to have it as non-alcoholic hot chocolate, but the winter is long and cold in Calgary and we could all use a little bit more spirit to get us through. We add a little bit of dark rum and green chartreuse to tie it all together. Come give it a try..”

Price: $6.00, Spirited $12.00

This hot chocolate has a delicious pistachio flavour throughout the whole drink. We loved the homemade whip topped with dulce, it really added a delicious sweetness to the salty of the pistachio. We really liked that the hot chocolate was not overly sweet and not overly salty, but a perfectly balanced between the two flavours. We agreed that it had the perfect amount of pistachio on the top that steeped into the hot chocolate. You get the hint of vanilla bean pistachio syrup throughout the drink which is amazing. If you love pistachio as much as we do, then you need to head down and try this hot chocolate for sure.  

I Want S’More

“Inspired by our love for all things cozy, comforting and whimsical – Busker Irish Whiskey, house made Nutella hot chocolate, whipped cream, toasted marshmallow drizzle topped with a torched marshmallow – It doesn’t get much more comforting than that! And will definitely leave you wanting S’more!”

Price: $8.00, Spirited $14.00

We were excited to see S’mores, but we didn’t fully read and later found out that it is a Nutella based drink. Let me start by saying that we are not huge fans of Nutella. So this was not the hot chocolate for us. The lady that made it was very nice and friendly, but the drink was not our favourite. If you love Nutella this is the drink for you. The canned whip and store bought marshmallows was a very sad moment for us, since we love when cafes make their own form scratch. The hot chocolate itself was creamy and had a very strong Nutella flavour. So like I said at the beginning this is not for us since we don’t like Nutella, but if you love Nutella you will love this drink.

Dark Chocolate & Cherry Burst

“Hot Chocolate topped with House Made Cherry Marshmallows. Spirited option available with Buffalo Trace Bourbon.”

Price: $9.00, Spirited $17.00

We were very excited to see that they made their own marshmallows. The cherry was subtle and a nice addition to the thick and creamy dark hot chocolate. This hot chocolate was very creamy, thick, delicious, rich and amazing. We found ourselves wishing that there was a little more cherry flavour in the hot chocolate.  But other than that we really enjoyed this hot chocolate and we would be curious how it would have tasted with the Bourbon.

Cookie Dough Hot Chocolate

“When you were a kid, did your parents ever tell you not to eat the cookie dough? Then the moment they looked away you snuck a taste? Guess what, they’re still not looking, time to go into Cookie Monster Mode!! Try Hexagon’s specialty Cookie Dough Hot Chocolate this winter.”

Price: $6.50

Let me start off by saying that the cookie was outstanding. A perfectly cooked chocolate chip cookie. We were sad to find out that they used canned whip and that the hot chocolate is a basic standard hot chocolate. There was no cookie dough flavour throughout the drink at all, the only spot we got any cookie dough was in the cookie. We wished that they would have added a cookie dough flavour throughout the drink, maybe with a cookie dough whip or marshmallow whip. In the drink they could have used a syrup that bought together the flavor a little more. 

Andalusia Orange

“Combining the flavours of our Orange Rooibos tea with rich dark chocolate with Oat Milk to create a beautiful vegan hot chocolate with a light citrus flavour that has to be enjoyed during the winter season.”

Price: $6.50

This hot chocolate is had a good orange flavour that comes from their Andalusia Tea Syrup. They use their tea to create the syrup used for this hot chocolate. To our surprise this was a creamy, orangey, smooth hot chocolate that was delicious. They only thing we were disappointed about was it didn’t look like the picture, nor did it look like the people ahead of us either. It was sad that they used canned coconut whip cream, but if this is something they don’t normally have, that is fine. Overall the drink was very good and its completely vegan which is always a bonus for sure.