13 February 2008

Canberra's best iced/hot chocolate

| Jazz
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I dont drink coffee.

I’ve never really aquired a taste for it and am always amused when i get invited out for a coffee as inevtiably i’ll order a hot chocolate instead. Lucky for me that most coffee shops also sell hot chocolates (funny how we call them that, coffee shops almost invariably sell far more than coffee). I suppose that like coffee, there is a great deal of variability in what makes a good hot/iced chocolate such as things like powdered or real chocolate, how bitter it is, how much froth and that sort of thing.

The best hot chocolate i’ve had in canberra was a belgian hot chocolate from Koko Black. I really enjoyed that you could stand a spoon up in it, but then the richness of theirs is not for everyone (if you havent had one its kind of like a mousse only not quite as set). Strangely enough the worst Iced chocolate i’ve had, was also from the same place. It was far too bitter.

In your opinion what makes up a great iced/hot chocolate and where do you go to get one?

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I have never try hot chocolate from The Cook & Grocer (Gungahlin) but I had a flat white the other day, it was horrible and worse in gungahlin but most expensive too. $3.50 for a regular cup……

$4 is reasonable – but not for a thimble of liquid as is the case at current cafe…

MyCafe in Manuka (not sure about the new one in Civic) do a bang-up range of smoothies, including banana. And yeah, $4 is cheap…

el ......VNBerlinaV85:35 pm 15 Feb 08

I’ll suss ’em out Danman (I’m there several times a week anyway) – $4 is *cheap* by today’s standards, sadly enough. Cheers.

el – I think you will find that the smoothies at My Coffee Cup in mort street are very good.

At 4 bucks a pop though you do not wanna skull em.

Hmm…
If thats the case, I can name four drains that are in immediate need of some attention from TAMS, I shall have to set about developing a sufficiently whingey post to get them cleaned.

One of them had a dead baby pig in its blocked-up rubbish about a fortnight ago.

ETA: whenever I can be bothered to take a camera when out and about.

could be just a changing demographic of submissions Skid, You’ve got to remember that JB was also managing this as a full time gig. The remainder of us have to fit it in between our day jobs and families.

el ......VNBerlinaV811:08 pm 14 Feb 08

What about smoothies? Hard to get a consistently good, cold banana smoothie I’ve found.

Being a self-confessed iced-chocolate/coffee connoisseur, the best iced chocolate I have had in Canberra is at Gus’s cafe.

Have not been to Koko Black yet but keep meaning to. Only time I tried it was completely full. Everyone seems to rave about the place though.

Does anyone else hate it when they put in large chunks of ICE instead of ice cream? A travesty I say and never go back if they do this.

el ......VNBerlinaV86:50 pm 14 Feb 08

No, the font’s different!

Does anyone else find it strange\disheartening that RiotACT has gone from being all
“Where is the worst case of TAMS dropping the ball in terms of cleaning drains\ACT Housing rorts\local courts coverage” under Johnboy to
“Help, the poor chickenman will never see a profit again!” or “Where is a good place for hot chocolate\pies\pizza”?

Eh, you want the besta hotta chocolate inna Canberra? Easy… but you gotta wait for a hot day. Go to the chocolate shop in Centrepoint opposite the merry go round and get about 8 of their rich dark handmade liqueur truffles, then trot over the way to the Oven Door and pick up a 600ml of milk. Trot over to Barstucks and purchase a drink in hot chocolate in a china mug. Tip their chocolate out and leave the mug filled with the chocolates as well as the milk in the sun for half an hour. Once the chocolates have melted in the mug tip in your solar heated milk and bob’s your uncle. Delish! If it’s not hot enough, you can hit on one of the hot chicks in the Oven Door to heat it in their microwave to add that little more zest.

All depends on who you get making it – I havn’t ever found a consistant place for coffee/chocolate hot or iced.

Mrs G reckons 1.5 lindt balls in a mug of hot milk is the go.

Italian Hot Chocolate at the deli in Fyshwick Markets – it’s like a cup of soft fudge and waaaaay too much for one person (IMO).

Koko Black iced chocolate is super rich and creamy and not at all like Cottees topping and milk.

Don’t ask for a hot chocolate at Dobinsons unless you want Cottees topping and warm milk – YUK!

It used to $hit me to tears when I lived in Perth that all the coffee shops there make iced chocolate with topping, milk and ice. You don’t get ice cream and/or cream unless you ask/beg for it and even then they usually charged me extra!!

la mente torbida9:50 am 14 Feb 08

Off topic….how good are Koko Black’s Chilli Truffles? Maybe more addictive than ice

la mente torbida9:48 am 14 Feb 08

Simply, Koko Black is on the outside of the new shopping centre in Bunda Street….diagonally opposite Gus’s

Holden Caulfield11:36 pm 13 Feb 08

@Felix

Koko Black is on Bunda Street in Civic, just near the escalator up to Dendy.

More info here: http://www.kokoblack.com.au/

el ......VNBerlinaV810:59 pm 13 Feb 08

FFS. That’s DISGUSTING!

And….I have to try it! – I’ll let you know how I get on 😀

Start with a Mars and a Boost bar – remove from wrappers, place in mug and microwave (42 – 53 seconds should be about right).
Top up with King Island double-thick-extra-lardy-cream.
Drink before it goes solid.

Oh yeah, and report back if you make it as I never have.

Felix the Cat10:16 pm 13 Feb 08

Where is Koko Black? I’m a chocolate addict too!

The Italian hot choc/Italian mocha at Tosolini’s is pretty good (but sip with care, they take the “hot” part seriously).

Agreed with OP.
KokoBlack Hot Choc is the best I’ve had, but their Iced Choc was luke warm, bitter and tasted like any old Milk+Chocolate Topping from any random cafe.

Still yet to find a good Iced Chocolate in Canberra worth having more than once. : /

Holden Caulfield5:27 pm 13 Feb 08

Kokoblack = overpriced and overrated.

Philistine! 😛

Still, I guess that’s one less person in the queue.

philbert83au5:17 pm 13 Feb 08

Kokoblack = overpriced and overrated.

The best hot chocolate I’ve had in the last year was definitely from All Things Chocolate in the middle of the Green Square arcade in Kingston.

All things chocolate in Green Square is FANTASTIC!
I think it may be called ‘Hot Gia’ but its like liquid nutella.. YUM!

I haven’t been back in Canberra long, but I had a hot chocolate from The Cook & Grocer (Gungahlin) the other day and twas mighty fine.
I curious where there’s a good iced chocolate though.

The chocolate shop inside the shops at green square is well worth a try. I went there when back from Sydney a few months ago and it was much better then max brenner and lindt that we have up here.
I’m not sure of the name, but they were also much better value and no ‘panzy’ type cups either Meconium!

With you on Koko Black being #1. However, Tilley’s don’t do a bad hot choc.

I’m stoked to see there are so many other non-coffee drinking chocolate lovers out there.

i never really dug much from koko black’s beverage counter.

i don’t drink coffee, either. hot chocolate (well, chocolate in general i suppose) is my vice.

i really dig the signature hot chocolates from starbucks. say what you will about their coffee, i don’t care. but a signature hot chocolate, often with a shot of peppermint. delicious.

never found a decent iced chocolate though, to be honest. way too many times it’s just milk and cottees chocolate topping. i’ve given up trying.

definitely interested to hear more, though 🙂

Holden Caulfield2:08 pm 13 Feb 08

Koko Black, of course. Also the Italian hot chocolate from Tosolini’s is very good.

While not in Canberra, one of the best HCs I have had was at the National Library in Copenhagen. A couple of broken bits of chocolate in a glass, hot milk poured over the top and I was on my way, able to stir in or eat as much of the chocolate as I desired. And on the bitterly cold summer’s day it was, it hit the spot perfectly. I’ve tried recreating it at home using Lindt balls, or even a Freddo frog, and while both options are still damn good, well, you never forget your first!

Cinnamon hot chocolate at Koko black #1
make your own plain hot chocolate, purchased from Cosmorex in Fyshwick #2

Add Cinnamon to #2 and it blows #1 out of the… water.

Italian Hot Chocolate at Belco Markets (Forgot the cafe’s name) but its the first store on your right when entering the markets at the mushroom end but from the 1st choice liquor side.. if thats confusing enough (North East).

Gus’ also do a good white hot chocolate if you are into non villification of hot beverages.

Hmm, make that about 19 minutes fast…

Lol, sorry I didn’t even read your post fully. The iced chocolate I had there was awesome, and I’m going to have another one this arvo to see if they’re consistent.

Tell you a suprisingly damn good cold chocolate beverage though: Belgian chocolate beer. They used to have it at the Belgian Beer Cafe but they don’t any more because that place has gone downhill and only offer a fraction of the beers they used to offer.

But if you see it in a bottle shop – First Choice in Woden or Vintage Cellars in Oaks Estate are the most likely places you’ll find it – it’s called Floris chocolate beer, and it tastes like an iced chocolate, and not like a beer someone’s wrecked by putting choc in it.

Going a bit OT but mahwool. Why is the RiotACT clock about six minutes fast?

Hey, it’s not 12.35pm yet…

I had an iced chocolate the other day from Koko Black, and it was amazing. I used to be damn good at making iced chocolates back in the day and this rivalled the best I’ve made.

It’s full of bogans and difficult to get a seat and the iced chocolate is expensive ($6.50 I think) and it comes in a brandy snifter so you look like a panzy when you’re drinking it… but it’s sublime.

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