Houston, TXHot Chocolate

Houstonia Magazine calls out this upscale downtown Oaxacan restaurant's authentic hot chocolate as reason enough to visit this holiday season. Its cacao is made with a real chocolate cocoa pod mixed with tejate foam, rare chocolate criollo, and milk chocolate, while the chocolate caliente is Oaxacan hot chocolate typically made with fresh cacao beans for a nuttier taste and served with churros for two. Order the chocolate caliente with churros if you want the fuller, shareable version.

This Uptown shop has been owned and operated by the same family since the company's 1892 founding in Syria, and it makes its hot chocolate from recipes passed down for generations. Order the hot chocolate on its own to taste the family recipe.

This Cypress churreria's centerpiece drink is its Mexican hot chocolate, typically made with plenty of cinnamon, Houstonia Magazine reports, alongside a sweeter, thicker Swiss variation and an Iced Mexican version for warm days. The magazine notes you can pair any of them with the shop's traditional Spanish churros and ice cream, including a churro sundae that combines several toppings at once. Order the Mexican hot chocolate with a churro for dipping, the pairing the magazine leads with.

Houstonia Magazine describes this Greek-themed Montrose coffee and hangout spot serving hot cocoa alongside Greek coffee, champagne, tea and European wines, plus a dessert menu of gingerbread men, kolaches, cookies and biscottis. The magazine frames the hot cocoa as part of a larger holiday-season experience among the shop's ancient Greek decor, with a belly dance performance on Wednesday nights. Order the hot cocoa with a kolache or biscotti from the dessert case.

Houstonia Magazine describes this self-styled funky, eclectic Heights bakery, founded in 2014, serving hot chocolate to sip alongside a chocolate brownie, seasonal bread pudding with bourbon caramel sauce, a slice of tres leches, or a whole cake. The magazine notes the shop also runs a bookable high tea experience for private events, for anyone who wants more than one cup. Order the hot chocolate with the chocolate brownie, the pairing the magazine puts first.