HoCho Fest 2016: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Each year, the Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival brings together cafes, confectionaries, and restaurants to create specialty hot chocolate beverages to fundraise for a great cause. This year, proceeds of the festival will be going towards supporting the Downtown Eastside Women's Job Training Program of the PHS Community Services Society and East Van Roasters. Each year, I join this win-win-win situation by dropping in to every possible location, tasting delicious drinks and snacks, reviewing my stops, and supporting this superb cause.


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HoCho 6: Mumbai Meets Paris, Thomas Haas

On Thursday morning, PSYC 325 reading in hand, I made my way to an annual all-star for the festival: Thomas Haas.

HoCho Fest Day 14: Caffe Shakerato Con Cioccolato

Two weeks! I've passed the halfway mark.

Happy February 1st! Today's post is likely to be short, as this festival item was not quite my 'thing', and I didn't finish my half of the drink! It was just a little too much for me, as it was like a chocolate bar that melted and was put into an iced Americano (actually, that is more or less what it was, ha ha).

I went downtown to visit Mink Chocolates today, one store in a small chain that a friend used to work for nearer to my house. They have an amazing array of treats (including cookies, pastries, and waffles!), chocolate beverages with all the necessary dairy alternatives, and even a personal chocolate fondue with fruit if you're feeling up to it (it is cute-sized!).

The location itself is beautiful, not far from Leonidas by the Vancouver Convention Centre and right near the ocean's side! I also enjoy the interior of Mink stores; they are simple, elegant, and also contain a great deal of chocolate product (always an interior design plus).

Iced espresso and warm 70% dark ganache.
Served with a chocolate covered lemon, orange or grapefruit citrus peel. 
Available: February 1 - February 14.

($8.93)

As for my beverage: Like I said, it was a chocolate-ized Americano. Not in an "iced mocha" sort of way, but rather like an iced Americano with hot dark ganache mixed into it and oozing over the ice cubes inside. It was like consuming an espresso-infused chocolate bar that was melted.. Yet somehow ice-cold. 

My final opinion would not be a bad one, so don't take that away from my post! This was simply not a drink that I could consume on my own, nor one that I might choose regularly due to my aversion to coffee-flavoured items (which is becoming less strong, I might add, so this drink went over better than I had expected!). I didn't exactly "drink" this beverage in the regular sense - it was a spoon-feeding sort of experience, as the ganache was in delicious chocolaty globs that I don't imagine would have been easy to sip from the cup. 

This drink came with either a chocolate-covered lime, orange, or grapefruit peel; it was a surprise to those who ordered it, as the baristo/as did not know which was which! They all looked the same. My company and I figured it was orange in the end, but the dark chocolate made it tough to taste which citrusy treat was hiding beneath the chocolate exterior (it was good, whatever it was).

I suppose my main concern would be the price - almost $9 for what my feelings were while consuming almost-half of the drink did not feel worthwhile for me, but perhaps $9 for how full I would have been with thick ganache if I'd finished the whole thing may have made more sense!

My first cold beverage will not deter me from trying more in the future, but today was a cold day that may have called for a warmer drink!