This festival has been a great deal of photographic and palatable fun! It is always a pleasure to connect and re-connect with people through hot chocolate adventures during the festival weeks, and I love having the project of visiting the *locations each year.
* I should note that I decided not to visit two locations due to the drinks offered, as they did not align with my diet or morals very obviously (crickets on hocho?!).
Leading up to one of my favourite days of the year - Valentine's Day - I wrapped up my festival journey with two more delectable stops.
HoCho #20: Brownie Delight, Chez Christophe (~$8.70)
I had been waiting quite some time for the opportunity to sample this hot chocolate, named after one of the most chocolaty treats one can hope to enjoy - the brownie! With almond milk in the mix, my drink was blended to delicious, smooth, chocolaty perfection - a rather dark chocolaty perfection, I might add.
AE enjoyed a milkier Christella Decadence with a sphere of Chez Christophe's hazelnut cream - imagine a Ferrero Rocher going into your hot chocolate, if you will...
HoCho #21: Adults Only, Diva at the Met (~ $8.25)
Here we are... The final stop.
At the end of my hot chocolate festival journey, I found myself sitting in a classy establishment known as Diva at the Met, located in the Metropolitan Hotel. Seated in the lounge, my company and I ordered both festival options: Adults Only, and Sizzling Spice.
To meet high demand, and to achieve the envisioned taste of the specialty chef that created the drinks throughout the festival, the drinks were prepared in advance with dairy milk. However, I could not turn back in my journey - so I took on one quarter of the beverage with another quarter taken on by my partner-in-chocolate.Adults Only was an incredibly smooth hot chocolate served with a matcha green tea cake (cute-sized), with a chocolate disc placed atop the beverage - in the middle of this disc was a chocolate sphere containing Bailey's (hence, adults only). As the steam from the hot chocolate rose and warmed the disc...
Ker-plunk!
After the Bailey's addition, the drink reached a new level of smooth drinking (and later, stomach aches) - it was delicious! We could not stop saying "WOW!" throughout our small chocolaty excursion at this festival stop.
It has been a wonderful hot chocolate season as I wrap up
my third round of festival going and my second round of
truly dedicated festival reviewing and exploration.
Hopefully, at next year's festival, I will have an opportunity
to win one of the festival prizes for their photography contests!
Further, and perhaps most significantly,
it is my pleasure to have contributed to the
projects and mission of East Van Roasters in supporting
women from the Rainier Hotel in Vancouver.
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