Raleigh–Durham, NCHot Chocolate

Cocoa Cinnamon draws a firm line between its drinks and ordinary hot cocoa: Indy Week's review explains that sipping chocolate is melted chocolate with cream, milk or water, not a powder mix. The Geer Street cafe's sipping chocolate reads as pretty incredible in that review, and WRAL's later roundup of Triangle hot chocolate spots points to Cocoa Cinnamon's creamy white hot chocolate among its drinking chocolate lineup. Order the sipping chocolate, or Dr. Durham, its housemade vanilla, ginger and maca cappuccino finished with black lava salt, described by Indy Week as one of the cafe's signature drinks.

Escazú's hot chocolate bar pours eight drinking chocolates, WRAL's roundup of Triangle spots reports, including spicy, white chocolate with spices and a peanut butter version, plus a frozen hot chocolate for warmer months. WALTER Magazine's feature on the shop's cottage-industry roots describes it as a bean-to-bar operation sourcing Costa Rican cacao, led by head chocolatier Danielle Centeno, and notes the shop has won Best of the Triangle honors repeatedly. Order the historic Spanish-recipe hot chocolate, based on the first published hot chocolate recipe from 1549, the drink WRAL calls out by name.

Videri makes its own chocolate onsite in a Warehouse District factory space, and WRAL's Triangle hot chocolate roundup names its hot chocolate for using that onsite chocolate directly, recommending the frozen version. WALTER Magazine's feature on the area's chocolate makers describes the Davie Street factory's transparency, with production visible through viewing windows and tours offered to visitors curious about the bean-to-bar process. Order the frozen hot chocolate in warm months per WRAL's recommendation, or the standard hot chocolate the rest of the year, made from the same chocolate sold in the retail case.

WRAL's roundup of Triangle hot chocolate spots calls out lucettegrace's version as delicious and rich, built by blending dark and milk chocolates rather than working from a single bar or powder. The Salisbury Street pastry shop also sells its own homemade hot chocolate mix to take home, per the same roundup. WALTER Magazine's profile of owner and pastry chef Daniel Benjamin traces his decision to strike out on his own to open the shop, and the refined, inventive approach to desserts and baked goods that followed. Order the hot chocolate in the cafe, or take the homemade mix home for another cup later.