St. Louis, MOHot Chocolate

St. Louis Magazine's winter guide gives this Cherokee Street cafe two cups worth ordering. The White Hot Candy Cane combines white chocolate with the house peppermint syrup, and the Mexi-Cocoa is built on a Mexican hot chocolate mix plus dark chocolate from Kakao Chocolate in Maplewood. General manager Robyn Niesmann told the magazine the two businesses have worked together since Kakao was almost a neighbor on Jefferson. Order the Mexi-Cocoa, then the candy cane cup on the way out.

Two cocoas are described here by St. Louis Magazine. The original is made with a housemade chocolate sauce, chocolate milk and a whipped cream topping, and Clara's Cocoa adds housemade peppermint and mocha syrups, crushed peppermint and a chocolate drizzle. The magazine opens its winter guide with this Kirkwood cafe, under the heading Peppermint Bliss. Order Clara's Cocoa if you want the peppermint, and the original if you want the housemade chocolate sauce on its own.

St. Louis Magazine puts this one in its dairy-free section. The signature Mexican hot chocolate is listed on the menu as La Finca Cocoa and made with a chocolate and cinnamon powder, which the magazine says holds up with oat, almond, soy or coconut milk rather than tasting like a compromise. Order the La Finca Cocoa with oat milk on Manchester Avenue in the Grove. The cinnamon is what separates it from the peppermint cups elsewhere on this list.

The winter feature from St. Louis Magazine files this Gate District cafe under sugar and spice, for a cinnamon-roll hot chocolate made with white mocha sauce and caramel syrup. It is the dessert end of the range covered in that guide, closer to a pastry than to a drinking chocolate. Order the cinnamon-roll version while it is on, and check the board first, since the magazine records it as the feature that month rather than a fixture on the menu.

Chief chocolatier Brian Pelletier told St. Louis Magazine that the Maplewood shop's mixes combine fine cocoa powder with real bits of chocolate, and that each flavor is also served made to order at the counter: traditional, bittersweet, mint, chai and other cozy considerations. Sauce Magazine's own hot chocolate list describes the method, a little hot milk poured over two or three spoonfuls of the blend, stirred to a paste, then the rest of the milk and a light foam on top. Order the bittersweet.