Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Twelve dates of Christmas: On our eighth date of Christmas...

...We did a hot chocolate crawl in search of SLC's finest. We only made it to three places because after three cups of hot cocoa we were surprisingly hot-chocolated out. Who knew?

First stop, Nostalia Cafe. We ran into BD's car pool companion and he spotted us our first cup of the night, bonus. The atmosphere is pretty up-hippity, but they scored points for having the puuuurfect temperature of hot chocolate. Meaning no tongue scalding. They use real milk steamed with a sweetened cocoa powder, but the real upside was a shot of butterscotch. Overall a decent cup.
Next up we hit Caffe Niche. Hands down, they won the contest on presentation: a wide latte mug topped with whipped cream and a pretty chocolate syrup design. It was extra frothy too! I do love froth. Our waiter made a point to tell us they use Ghirardelli chocolate sauce. And actually, you could really taste a strong chocolate flavor. Overall, very very good.
Our last stop was Hatch Family Chocolates, which we expected to be our favorite and it indeed was. Their new digs are nice, but I actually think I prefer their former more cozy, impossibly crowded location. Nevertheless, the hot chocolate is pretty awesome. Zero points on presentation for a plain white paper cup and plastic lid, even for sit-down customers. But the taste was "silky and smooth" according to BD. I think I spotted a Guittard Chocolate syrup container behind the counter, evidence that they use a high quality product. Regardless, it was really delicious, perfectly warm, extra creamy, and ultra chocolatey. Ding ding ding!

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