The search for Canberra's best hot chocolate

By Chloe Swan

white and black mug with marshmallow and milk

Photo by Mekht on Unsplash

Photo by Mekht on Unsplash

It is an essential on a cold day. Rich and creamy, a sweet indulgence. It can be bought as a treat, or made with love at home. If you're lucky, it comes with a marshmallow. It is the perfect winter drink.

It is a hot chocolate.

With Canberra entering the cold time of the year, the beloved hot chocolate becomes a staple winter drink.

Providing a warm and comforting sensation, hot chocolates are enjoyed by chocolate lovers, children and non-coffee drinkers alike.

But seriously, who doesn't like a hot chocolate!

However, not all get it right.

I have taken it upon myself to find the best hot chocolate in Canberra, based on the following, very essential criteria.

The perfect hot chocolate will be judged based on being:

  1. Creamy
  2. Not too milky
  3. The perfect temperature to drink right away
  4. Extra points for coming with a marshmallow

Personally, I think it should be a crime for hot chocolates to come without marshmallows. They're not just for the little kids you know!

After careful consideration, the following hot chocolate places made the list for review:

San Churro

Milk Hot Chocolate

San Churro was right when they said their hot chocolates were worth every sip. You see that frothy foam right? That is frothy chocolate and it was absolutely divine.

With eight hot chocolates to choose from, you are spoilt for choice at San Churro. I kept it simple in tasting the "Milk Hot Chocolate". Made from real couverture chocolate, you don't have to worry about this drink being too milky.

There is genuinely nothing worse than getting a hot chocolate, where the chocolate is an afterthought, and the milk is the main flavour of the drink.

Having a milky hot chocolate is eligible for a "this ruined my day" offence.

Taste

With the first sip you are greeted with a rich, warm, chocolatey taste, leaving you wanting more.

The foam chocolate will disappear after your second or third sip, where you have a smooth mug of hot chocolate left.

Don't worry if you think this will be too rich for you, as there is such thing as a chocolate overload (for some, not for me though).

This drink strikes the perfect balance between being rich and chocolatey, but easily drinkable and not overbearing.

This one also ticks the box of being the perfect temperature to drink right away.

Verdict

While a bit pricey, coming in at $7.50 (I know, expensive right?) I will allow it.

This drink is worth the price for its quality and chocolate superiority.

It matches all criteria of being creamy, not too milky and the perfect temperature to drink.

I can't explain enough how this hot chocolate just tastes SO good!

The only way this drink would improve is if it came with a marshmallow, so it is going to be very hard to beat.

Score: 9/10

Price: $7.50

Location: San Churro Woden

Doubleshot Top Deck Hot Chocolate

Doubleshot offers 5 different types of hot chocolates.

Instead of sticking to my roots and getting a milk hot chocolate, I decided to branch out and try the top deck flavour.

Very adventurous I know!

A top deck hot chocolate consists of both a milk chocolate and white chocolate blend.

As someone who doesn't like to try new things (for fear of it tasting gross and wishing I had just gotten my usual), I obviously had to try something with two different types of chocolate in it!

But... upon first glance, the hot chocolate looked extremely milky! Which is not a good sign.

Could my day potentially be ruined by essentially drinking a cup of milk?

What I quickly realised is that you need to mix the chocolate at the bottom of the cup, to formulate the hot chocolate.

Taste

The first sip was very milky frothy, so I appreciated the generous amount of chocolate powder sprinkled on top.

The next sip was purely milk (this is when I realised you had to mix the drink), so I mixed vigorously.

Similar to San Churro, Doubleshot also uses real chocolate, as opposed to chocolate powder, for their drinks.

This is a massive bonus as it was delicious to eat some of the melted chocolate off the spoon while I was mixing.

It was still a bit milky after I had mixed it, so I let it sit for a few minutes to let it all combine together.

Verdict

Despite the general milky taste of this drink, the chocolate flavours did formulate once I let it sit to combine.

However, if you don't mind an initial bit of milk (ew), this drink could be for you!

This ended up being a very enjoyable hot chocolate. It was definitely the right temperature to drink straight away and the dual chocolate flavours complimented each other nicely.

Next time I would get this drink as a take-away, as all of the mixing would be done for me and my overall experience would be better.

A bonus of this drink is that it did come with a marshmallow, and was more affordable coming in at $5.50.

Score: 7/10 (bonus point for marshmallow)

Location: Doubleshot Deakin

Price: $5.50

Lindt Chocolate Shop

Swiss Chocolatier Lindt are experts on all things chocolate.

Being a chocolatier, I had very high expectations for this review.

With four hot chocolates to choose from, I kept it consistent in trying the milk hot chocolate.

This is also my first take-away cup review, so no mixing needed.

Taste

You know those red Lindt chocolate balls? Well imagine that in a drink.

Seriously... it was amazing.

Lindt is known for its rich flavours, and the hot chocolate was no exception.

This high quality drink was very chocolaty and smooth, although not as creamy as it was rich.

This could perhaps be attributed to the take-away cup.

The drink was also the perfect temperature to enjoy right away, but sadly didn't come with a marshmallow.

Nevertheless, this drink was worth the journey to DFO (officially known as Canberra Outlet Centre) for an authentic chocolate drink.

Verdict

The Lindt hot chocolate lived up to the expectations of being a good drink, coming from a chocolatier.

It literally tasted like the milk chocolate ball, but in hot chocolate form.

While a tad pricey (a small is $6.30!) the authenticity of the chocolate made it worth it.

This is a hot chocolate you could never get sick of.

If I was rich, I would be more than happy to get one of these every day.

Score: 9/10

Price: $6.30

Location: Lindt Chocolate Shop Canberra Outlet Centre

Urban Pantry

Urban Pantry offers similar hot chocolates to Doubleshot.

This time I decided to try the original milk hot chocolate.

I know what you're thinking, but learning from my past mistakes at Doubleshot, I knew to start mixing straight away!

The Belgian chocolate of this drink combined perfectly with the warm milk.

Being a lovely and crisp seven degrees when I went to Urban Pantry (you can hear the sarcasm, right?) the hot chocolate was a great choice of beverage.

Taste

As I said, I learnt from my past mistakes, and I'm so glad I did.

This hot chocolate was the perfect level of richness, and something that you could easily drink every day.

The velvety, creaminess of the drink came from the chunks of chocolate at the bottom, getting brought up with every sip.

The drink fulfilled both the creamy, and the correct temperature to drink straight away criteria.

Verdict

This hot chocolate was the perfect drink on a cold Autumn's day, which was enjoyed with friends.

The Belgian chocolate throughout the drink is something you can't get enough of.

Whilst being slightly disappointed that this drink did not come with a marshmallow (they were out, and have consequently lost a marshmallow point) I would get this hot chocolate again and again.

Next time, I would even try the "Chocolate Overdose" option, to get an even bigger chocolate hit.

Score: 8/10

Location: Urban Pantry Manuka

Price: $5.50

So, which hot chocolate was the best?

Drumroll please...

San Churro Milk Hot Chocolate!

After reviewing four enjoyable hot chocolates, it was very difficult to look past San Churro's masterpiece.

The real couverture chocolate was just too good.

It's like they used chocolate milk instead of normal milk, but that was just how strong and delicious the chocolate flavour is.

I can now understand why this drink was a bit more pricey, but it was seriously worth every cent.

So there we have it, San Churro's milk hot chocolate is victorious as Canberra's best hot chocolate!

San Churro claimed the title, despite not even coming with a marshmallow! Impressive.

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