Have Your Chocolate and Drink It Too

One of the many things I love about winter is hot chocolate. It’s the perfect drink to complement a chilly day, to bring with you on a brisk walk or to keep you company during moments of quiet reflection. If this is up your alley, head over to The Shop for the return of their Hot Cocoa Fest. Running January 5-February 28, they will release a new flavor of hot chocolate every Tuesday and run that flavor all week. I’ll do the math for you, that’s eight new hot chocolate flavors in eight weeks. Yum. After all flavors have been released, you get to vote for your favorite flavor on The Shop’s Instagram, Twitter and Facebook pages. Whichever hot cocoa reigns supreme will be available, alongside their traditional cocoa, throughout the wintry season.

To give you some idea of the chocolate bliss you can relax into, think of flavors like peppermint, chocolate banana, raspberry and peanut butter cup. This is a cup of chocolate you can feel good about drinking, too. By no means a health food, it does however contain whole milk from Munroe Dairy whose cows are grass-fed and happy. This turns the drink into “liquid velvet.” They mix that with direct-trade cocoa powder from the Omanhene Cocoa Bean Company and top it with a homemade marshmallow from The Illuminated Oven, which is made from grass-fed gelatin and honey. This, of course, can be made dairy-free or vegan if you’re willing to part with the marshmallow – my guess is you won’t want to, though. 460 Wickenden Street, Providence. 684-1140