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When the weather drops in Central Texas -- to a bone chilling 60 degrees! -- all you want is a luscious mug of hot chocolate to warm your spirits. Go sip some here.
The atmosphere of Mozart's is equal parts airy and cozy, a haven for studious grad schoolers and Lake Austin view seekers. Come winter, there's nothing like huddling over a cup of Mozart's hot chocolate topped with whipped cream and cinnamon, and perhaps a demure chocolate-covered strawberry on the side.
If your hot chocolate tastes veer toward the light and frothy, this cup is for you: Upper Crust makes a mug that is cappuccino-like in consistency, and pairs nicely with a slice of their moist Lemon Buttermilk cake. Of course, their Black Gold cookie pairs nicely with anything, including a second portion of itself.
Halcyon cycles through various hot chocolate offerings, but if you happen to arrive while the (spiked) Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate is on the menu -- ORDER IT. It's naughtier than the boys stumbling out of Rain across the street, and laced with a coat-your-mouth macadamia nut liqueur.
A Mexican grocery store with a tiny fajita-slinging cafe tucked in the back, La Moreliana is one of the few places in town (besides Fiesta) where you can buy Nestle's Abuelita hot chocolate -- a frothy, must-sip for at-home hot chocolate connoisseurs. This stuff isn't powdered: It comes in wheels of hard chocolate wedges, which you melt down into boiling, creamy milk.
A generous dose of cinnamon gives Epoch's Mexican hot chocolate a special, nose-tingling kick.
Holy Cacao's hot chocolate isn't for the faint of heart: This South 1st food trailer melts down two parts pure chocolate and one part cream for rich, unadulterated hot chocolate goodness. There's also a peppermint and a Mexican variety, and the latter is my favorite: It's infused with ancho chiles, cayenne and cinnamon, to create one deliciously caliente beverage.
Here, chocolate is not a guilty pleasure. (Well, maybe a teensy bit.) Chocosutra aims to restore chocolate to its proper status, as a healing agent. "Hot chocolate" is a tonic elixir, "chocolate squares" are nutritional nuggets. Which isn't to say that Chocosutra's stuff tastes medicinal -- it doesn't, it's delicious -- I'm just glad I can eat chocolate now and brag about how healthy I'm being.
A one-stop-shop for spice hunters and salt geeks, this is the place to craft a true at-home hot chocolate masterpiece: Savory Spice Shop sells their own hot chocolate blends (classic, chile, and chai), and you can add a zing of personality to yours with the store's expansive selection of cinnamons, cardamoms and cayennes.
