Now that it’s January, the icy temperatures of winter are getting stronger and stronger. The cool air, the frost on the ground, and of course, the snow, are all key things that make winter feel like winter for us. But now, the holiday season is ending, and all that is left of winter is the freezing cold weather. And many of us will have fun playing in the snow, but sometimes the chill, the clouds, and the fact that it gets dark outside earlier can make winter a little dull and dreary. But there are little pieces of motivation that can bring some joy to the day, no matter the chill, the clouds, and the darkness outside your window. One of these little motivations is hot chocolate. When it’s freezing outside, nothing is as comforting and calming as a warm hot chocolate. In our own town, there are so many amazing places to get hot chocolate. I chose some of these coffee shops to visit this winter.
First up is SmartWorld coffee. SmartWorld is a coffee shop in town, with a wonderful array of drinks. SmartWorld coffee also features some food items on the menu as well if you get hungry! At SmartWorld, there are several different types of hot chocolate currently on the menu. There is the traditional hot chocolate and the salted caramel hot chocolate in the in-store menu. Online, there is also a regular hot chocolate, but the menu also features a peppermint hot chocolate. I decided to taste the salted caramel hot chocolate here. This hot chocolate featured a new twist on classic flavors! Its presentation was very nice, with a classic milk chocolate color. It was tinted with a warmer hue. This color shows that the chocolate in the drink was well balanced out with the other ingredients. The color of hot chocolate is important, because it helps indicate how much chocolate is in the drink, and affects the taste, because studies have shown that the presentation of a dish or drink affects the taste as well. But, back to the SmartWorld hot chocolate. There was a creamy foam on top of the chocolate as well, probably made by the whipped cream that would be in the hot chocolate. The texture of this hot chocolate was also really nice, and very smooth. The hot chocolate had a slight chalkiness to it, which came out the most in the aftertaste. The chalkiness felt similar to the consistency of a Smartie. This was really nice, because it gave a different texture to the aftertaste, and it really helped to bring out the salted caramel aspect of the drink. This differing texture opposed the smoothness of the chocolate, milk, and rest of the drink, adding a really nice balance to the hot chocolate. The taste of this hot chocolate was really one of a kind. It had a strong and stable chocolate flavored base, with hints of salt and caramel. The chocolate flavor was wonderfully classic! There was a fun twist to the classic chocolate flavor though: the salted caramel. In other salted caramel hot chocolate that I’ve had from a mix, the salted caramel is just a swirl in the background. And that’s not bad. But SmartWorld coffee features a different order of flavors, where the salted caramel is in the front. This was new, different from mixes, and very exciting. As soon as the hot chocolate hit my taste buds, I could taste the salted caramel. That is not common, and was a really nice change. The caramel was strong, creamy, and smooth. Then you could taste the inkling of salt spinning through the caramel, highlighting and enhancing the taste. Caramel is generally sweet, as is chocolate. As a result, the hot chocolate was sweet. But the salt really kept the sweetness balanced. Immediately after, the chocolate blended into the salted caramel mix, creating an end result of a wonderful creamy and sweet hot chocolate, wrapped with a strong, sweet caramel that you could taste right away, which was all balanced out with a lovely sprinkle of salt. This whole progression of flavors happened quickly, in almost a second, and they all meshed together beautifully to create a really amazing hot chocolate that was different and flavourful. If you’d like to order this hot chocolate, here is a link to SmartWorld Coffee’s website!
Next up is Baklava Café. Baklava Café is a Turkish Café, which offers an array of Turkish cuisine, including pastries. Baklava also serves coffee and other drinks. At Baklava, I tasted the traditional hot chocolate. The presentation of this hot chocolate was pretty good. The hot chocolate was a medium slightly-reddish brown color, and the brown was more on the dark side of the medium spectrum. On the top of the hot chocolate, there was a light sprinkle of mini marshmallows, which were really fluffy and sweet. They added a nice touch to the hot chocolate! There was also no whipped cream or foam on top, but that way you could just see the pure hot chocolate. This hot chocolate was also really thick and creamy. But the experience of ordering this hot chocolate was pretty fun. There was a huge black pot the size of a beach ball that held the hot chocolate. The hot chocolate was then ladeled out of the ginormous pot, right into a cup which was then handed to me. Afterwards, I paid for the hot chocolate. It was an incredible experience, and was most definitely a very fun and unique way to serve the hot chocolate. Flavor wise, this hot chocolate was really good as well. It had a really rich chocolate flavor, but it wasn’t so rich that it was too heavy. Just rich enough to be very flavorful, and really warming on a super cold day! This chocolate flavor seemed like a mix between a dark chocolate and a milk chocolate, which was really nice. It was mildly sweet, and had a pleasant little edge of bitterness, but neither flavor was too strong or overpowering. It was not the sweetest or bitterest hot chocolate that I’ve had, so it fell somewhere in the middle. This was nice, because it gave a nice balance to the hot chocolate. It was pretty smooth as well. Overall, it was a pretty great hot chocolate! Baklava doesn’t have a website, but it is located on 164 South Street, right here in Morristown. It’s open 6 days a week, so feel free to check it out!
Last but certainly not least is Lokl Café. A wonderful café in town, Lokl café specializes in European cuisine! At Lokl, I tasted the traditional hot chocolate. Presentation wise, this hot chocolate was pretty good. The color was a smooth, light brown with a cool-hued tint. This was not too light or dark, so it had a good amount of chocolate in it. It had a simple foam on the top of the hot chocolate, but that foam added a light, bubby touch to the hot chocolate. The texture of this hot chocolate was fantastic as well. It was unlike any other hot chocolate that I’d ever tasted, super creamy and smooth. It’s also really airy, and not dense. It’s as if you took whipped cream, liquified it, and melted chocolate right into it. That’s why it didn’t surprise me when I learned that homemade whipped cream topped the hot chocolate. The whipped cream may have contributed to the foam on top, which created the wonderful presentation. The hot chocolate doesn’t have any wateryness, which makes it creamy and full without making it feel heavy. But the flavor of this hot chocolate was really something special. It tasted like pure chocolate. There was a slight hazelnutty taste, which gave a nice balance to the chocolate. There was no trace of overly sweetness in the chocolate, making it taste like just pure, unrefined, chocolate, which was perfect. The natural sweetness from it really added something nice. There was a hint of bitterness, which came out a little bit more in the aftertaste. The natural sweetness of the chocolate, the hazelnutty, nutty, and earthy flavor, (maybe made by clove or nutmeg,) and the light bitterness gave the hot chocolate an incredibly balanced flavor. In my opinion, balance is incredibly important in food, and that makes this hot chocolate special. If you’d like to order this hot chocolate, here is a link to Lokl Café’s website!
As the temperature drops, the hot chocolates of Morristown can help brighten up your day in the long months of winter. Warming, sweet, and wonderfully delicious, these hot chocolates will make winter feel warm and cozy, no matter the temperature or the chill. In Morristown, there are so many wonderful places to enjoy one of the delicious hot chocolates. Most of them aren’t even in this article! So go ahead and go out to one of these amazing coffee shops, and enjoy a sprinkle of winter for yourself. Have a warm winter, and enjoy the Hot Chocolate of Morristown!
*All of these hot chocolates were to go, so presentation wise, the presentation/experience of the drinks may be different if you sit down and drink the chocolate in a mug, which is possible at some of the restaurants I reviewed for this article. I only got to go, because some of the coffee shops didn’t have a sit down option. This way, no opinions of flavor would be skewed by the presentation, (because presentation does affect flavor.) I know that the flavor would not be skewed for certain drinks because of presentation. because I ordered to – go drinks at all of the coffee shops.
Also, there are other amazing coffee shops in Morristown that I would have loved to review and visit, but due to scheduling, availability, and the hours that these coffee shops are open, visiting these coffee shops was not possible. But, I will still recommend them from past experiences and ratings. The Green Point Juicery seems to have a wonderful hot chocolate on the menu, and so does the Artist Baker. The artist baker hot chocolate I have actually tried before, but I do not remember much other than it was very tasty. It also came with a homemade marshmallow when I had tasted it years ago! I do believe that the marshmallow still comes with the drink. These restaurants I will definitely still recommend, but they are not in the article due to scheduling. There are many more coffee shops with amazing hot chocolate in town other than the ones mentioned above or in the article too! So feel free to explore Morristown for even more delicious hot chocolate!
