Hot Chocolate Battle!

Hot Chocolate is a pretty common drink found in most coffee houses and dessert shops. 

But which of them make the best hot coco? 

Well that depends on the individual's taste but here are some of my favorite places.

The first place is Max Brenner, which is probably not surprising since they specialize in chocolate desserts.  They have several different types of hot chocolate including milk, dark, and white but they also have some interesting flavors like the Mexican Spicy Hot Chocolate. I personally prefer the regular milk chocolate flavor because I didn't quite like the Mexican Spicy (it's actually spicy) but it was worth a try!

This guy is making my Mexican Spicy Hot Chocolate.
I tried to take a peak to see what  their secret ingredients are but I couldn't read the label on the bottle.

During the evening, especially on weekends, the line here can be really long (and what I mean by long is 30-60 minute wait) so if you are here just for the hot chocolate, I recommend getting it to-go. 

The small size to go cup. It's a pretty teeny tiny cup.

 Up next is L.A. Burdick and this is my ultimate #1 favorite spot for hot chocolate. This place is a small chain (total of 4 shops across the U.S.) and my first visit was actually in Boston, right in the lively location of Harvard Square. I googled this place as soon as I was back from Boston and was so happy to find out that there is a NY location right on 20th street and 5th avenue.

The White and Milk Hot chocolate along with two tiny macarons

I fell in love with the white hot chocolate the moment I took a sip - the richness of the flavor along with the thick, smooth texture was just incredible to say the least. The white may be a bit too sweet for some of you because it's definitely sweeter than any other hot chocolates I've tried in the past. They also have a pretty large selection of pastries but the hot chocolate alone is probably enough to satisfy your sweet cravings.

Another place known for their amazing hot chocolate is The City Bakery, located in Flatiron District. It's a lively place for food or baked goods in general and Carrie and Samantha have lunch here in one of the episodes of Sex and the City.

This place even holds annual hot chocolate festival every February during which they make a different hot chocolate of the day for the entire month. So definitely try this place out in February because they create very unique flavors during the festival like "Chinese Cinnamon Hot Chocolate" and "Moulin Rouge Hot Chocolate."

But their regular hot chocolate is delicious as well, although I've seen a few people say that it's too sweet for their taste. It's definitely really rich (almost like melted chocolate) with heavy, thick texture.

City Bakery hot chocolate with homemade marshmallow

 Godiva is perhaps the least exciting of the bunch since it's a pretty well known chocolatier.

However, not many people try their hot chocolate served at the store. 

Their milk hot chocolate has a very thick and viscous consistency as some of the other hot chocolates I introduced above, but the flavor of Godiva is much deeper, rather than sweet. So if you don't like your hot chocolate overly sweet, you might enjoy a cup of Godiva.

Yelp Ratings

Max Brenner - http://www.yelp.com/biz/max-brenner-new-york

L.A. Burdick - http://www.yelp.com/biz/l-a-burdick-handmade-chocolates-new-york

City Bakery - http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-city-bakery-new-york

Godiva - http://www.yelp.com/biz/godiva-new-york-3#query:Godiva%20nyc