As the temperature continues to drop and snow — hopefully — keeps falling, I find myself constantly craving a simple, classic hot chocolate. While cinnamon and nutmeg certainly have their place in cocoa, all I’m looking for this winter is the perfect ratio of milk to chocolate.
On my quest to find a hot chocolate that will tide me over for the winter, I visited four of Evanston’s frequented coffee shops. My criteria were four-fold: thickness, to analyze the milk-to-chocolate ratio; chocolatey-ness, to look into how much chocolate was left over at the bottom of the cup; sweetness, to review where it landed on the sweet-to-bitter spectrum; and whether there was a presented whipped cream option. After all, when in the right mood, a little extra fluff on top makes a hot chocolate even better.
Spoiler alert: none of the establishments I tried offered whipped cream up front. Putting that disappointment aside, here are my hot cocoa rankings — out of five marshmallows, of course.
Evanston Pour 3/5
- Thickness: 3/5
- Chocolatey-ness: 2.5/5
- Sweetness: 3/5
- Whipped cream: 0/5
Price: $3.75 to $4.75 based on size
To kick off this hot chocolate crawl, I visited Evanston Pour for the first time. The hot chocolate itself was more on the bitter side, though hints of sweetness came out sporadically. It felt like the milk overpowered the chocolate, but around the halfway mark in my cup, I did hit that perfect middle ground for one sip. This isn’t my cup of hot cocoa, but it’s definitely a win for anyone who likes their drinks a little more tart.
Patisserie Coralie 4/5
- Thickness: 4/5
- Chocolatey-ness: 4/5
- Sweetness: 4/5
- Whipped cream: 0/5
Prices: $3.50 to $3.95 based on size
This is a hot chocolate I could keep drinking forever. Patisserie Coralie’s drink had a balanced milk-to-chocolate ratio and was the sweetest one out of the four I tried. It got even better once I was halfway through my cup, with each sip including a strong punch of chocolate. It’s definitely suited for anyone with a sweet tooth looking for a chocolatey drink.
Colectivo 2/5
- Thickness: 3/5
- Chocolatey-ness: 2/5
- Sweetness: 2/5
- Whipped cream: 0/5
Price: $3.75
Colectivo’s hot cocoa is like an obnoxious wake-up call when you’re in a deep slumber. Milk overpowered the drink, making it thick but not nearly chocolatey enough. It was the opposite of sweet, to an extent I haven’t experienced before. Perhaps this is the ideal hot chocolate for bitter taste lovers.
Reprise Coffee Roasters 3/5
- Thickness: 2/5
- Chocolatey-ness: 4/5
- Sweetness: 3/5
- Whipped cream: 0/5
Prices: $4.50 to $6, depending on size
Reprise Coffee Roasters’ hot chocolate has the perfect balance of chocolate and milk in every sip. It is more on the watery side, which was a little disappointing given how good the flavors were. Ultimately, though, the wateriness let the chocolate come through more. This is a hot cocoa I think everyone would enjoy — it’s not too sweet and not too tart. If Goldilocks were here, she would say it’s just right.
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