HoCho Fest Day 10: The Campfire

The day's gray weather seemed to reflect my mood: Nothing too extreme, but somewhat low energy, and very much conducive to collapsing into a nap. This was not an ideal mental state with an interview later in the afternoon, but what better to help remedy a melancholy wave than with a cup of hot chocolate?

I returned to my first stop in the festival to satisfy today's chocolate quota, as it was close by and I was in a time crunch with my interview fast-approaching. Plus - the second option on their festival menu had looked very good when my friend had it. 

With a couple of good folks, I headed off to Thomas Haas for the second time this month.

A classic hot chocolate, only with smoky caramel, smoked Hawaiian sea salt.
Served with vanilla marshmallows.

($5.95)

The drink was meant to come with vanilla marshmallows, but they had run out of these (I likely would not have eaten them anyways, as gelatin is something I try to avoid despite its lack of explicitness in its non-vegetarian-ness).

Anyways! As a replacement, they offered Grand Marnier-infused whipped cream (which I requested be left out) and provided DELICIOUS dark chocolate almond sugar cookies - however, they didn't seem like the traditional sugar cookies - they were ooey gooey good on the inside! And did not crumble in the least. Perhaps I misinterpreted what the barista described to me.

I ordered my drink to be made with almond milk, as I thought it would complement the rest of the beverage's characteristics: Chocolate, smoky caramel, sea salt... The nuttiness of the almond milk made the dark chocolate flavour less heavy, and the "smoky caramel" left a pleasant aftertaste on the tongue while making the drink's name come to life on the tastebuds.

Towards the middle of the drink, the true caramelly flavour began to really show itself; evidently, the caramel usually drizzled atop the marshmallows had sunk straight to the bottom of the drink undetected! So, as the rest of the beverage disappeared, the caramel could more easily slip into each sip (deliciously). The Hawaiian sea salt was very subtle, and I probably would not have taken notice if not for the drink's description being read ahead of time. I quite enjoyed this drink, and think soy milk would make its body feel more full; but the almond milk was lovely and light.


I've begun to schedule where my next stops will be, so I look forward to trying something new tomorrow with some free time on my hands!