Drinking Chocolate

Cafe drinking chocolate

The difference between a cafe hot chocolate and the one you make from a supermarket tin is mostly cocoa content and how well the powder is built to dissolve in milk. Cafe blends carry more cocoa and less filler, which is why they taste of chocolate rather than of sweetness.

All four blends here come in 1kg bags, which is the size cafes buy and the size that makes sense at home if hot chocolate is a winter fixture rather than an occasional thing.

Which one

• Premium Drinking Chocolate, 28% cocoa. The standard cafe blend and the safe choice. Balanced, sweet enough for children, and the one to buy if you are only buying one.
• 40% Dark Drinking Chocolate. More cocoa, less sugar, and noticeably more bitter. This is the adult version, and the one that stands up to a mug of full cream milk without disappearing.
• White Chocolate. Sweeter and creamier, with no cocoa solids doing the work. Also the base most people use for a white mocha.
• Organic Drinking Chocolate, gluten free. For venues that need to answer the gluten question without hedging, and for households where it comes up.

Making it well

Same method as chai, and for the same reason. Powder in the cup, a splash of hot milk, work it to a smooth paste, then fill and stir. Tipping powder into a full cup of hot milk is how you get the lumps that sink and sit at the bottom.

Milk matters more here than people expect. Full cream carries the cocoa and gives you the texture you are after. Skim will taste thin no matter how much powder goes in, and the usual response is to add more powder and make it sweeter rather than richer.

For an iced chocolate, dissolve in a small amount of hot milk first, then top with cold milk and ice.

Arkadia rates the Premium 28% at 20g a serve, which makes a 1kg bag about fifty cups. That is the number to use when you are costing it out.

Ships Australia-wide from our Melbourne store. The rest of the Arkadia range, including the chai the same cafes run alongside their hot chocolate, is here too. Ask us if you are choosing a blend for a venue and want to know how it costs out per cup.