Make it: Mexican hot chocolate you need now, from basic to boozy
Abuelita and La Monarcha Bakery’s Mexican chocolate products both have a cinnamon flavor that is a hallmark of the warm drink. Shown with a molinillo, a wooden whisk used to froth hot chocolate. Photo by Emily Kemme.
By Emily Kemme
On a cold, blustery day, you might think that one of the best warmer uppers out there is a cup of hot chocolate. But there is one thing better: Mexican hot chocolate.
If we ever see snow (and even if we don’t), you use this guide to Mexican hot chocolate — basics to boozy.
Why is Mexican hot chocolate so much tastier?
Warm chocolate drinks have been enjoyed in Mexico for over 4,000 years by Aztec, Mayan and other indigenous peoples. That, in and of itself, has given the country time to figure out the best way to prepare a drink created from the fruit of a tree native to Mexico.
The primary difference between American (or European) cocoa and Mexico’s chocolate drink is how much processing is involved to produce cocoa powder from a cacao niblet.
According to Isabel Eats, because Mexican chocolate is minimally processed, the texture is grittier than milk or semi-sweet chocolate and has a bitter flavor. After cacao beans intended for drinking chocolate are dried for 6 to 15 days, they are cracked open and the nibs are removed and ground. The classic method is to use a metate, a flat stone used for grinding.
The less a nib is ground, the more unrefined the powder (or paste) will be — leaving more thick chocolatey essence in your cup. Sweetened with sugar and touched by a whisper of Ceylon cinnamon, the lush taste of Mexican hot chocolate will help you understand why the Aztecs used xocolatl (bitter water) to celebrate holidays, including Christmas.
But, you don’t have to limit it to holidays. Hot chocolate can be an everyday treat, too!
How to make it rich and frothy
While you can cheat and froth Mexican chocolate to satisfactory levels with a cappuccino maker — and yes, I’ll even admit to “frothing” it in a blender when desperate — the key to a frothy cup of Mexican hot chocolate has nothing to do with machine power and everything to do with a beautiful little wooden whisk called a molinillo.
According to Mission Chocolate, “most molinillos are made entirely from one piece of wood and are considered pieces of art.” Often handcrafted, they’re made throughout Mexico and other Latin American countries.
Creating a frothy drink requires elbow grease (maybe ‘wrist’ grease, to be more accurate), which means whisking until you get those luscious, thick bubbles. You’ll subliminally know when it’s ready.
Abuelita: basically delicious
The Mexican brand Abuelita was established in 1939 but is now owned by the Swiss company, Nestlé. Abuelita products are available in the United States in tablets, instant powder, bars and syrup. It’s made with Nestlé cocoa from sustainably sourced cocoa beans.
You’ll detect a light cinnamon fragrance when you unfold the waxed paper enclosing one of six solid blocks of chocolate that are stacked inside bright yellow, six-sided boxes. On the box, an image of a bespectacled, gray-haired “abuelita” (Spanish diminutive for “little grandmother”) smiles happily.
Break off a triangle of chocolate and heat with milk until melted. Whisk with a molinillo (or a metal whisk, if you don’t have one), until frothy. Serve in a mug and enjoy.
La Monarca Bakery & Cafe: Los Angeles’ cinnamon-forward chocolate
This California bakery serves its cinnamon-y hot chocolate as a devious method of enticing patrons to buy pan dulce and Mexican pastries for dunking into cups of hot chocolate. You may not know this, but pastries and hot chocolate are natural companions.
Luckily, Greeley has its own supply of delectable Mexican bakeries, and you can buy La Monarca Bakery hot chocolate mix online. The reason for doing it is two-fold. First, their chocolate mix is divine, laced with cinnamon and providing a cup of chocolate that has a rich mouthfeel. Second, the company donates 1% of its proceeds to Ecolife Conservation to ensure the protection and preservation of the monarch butterfly — they are pollinators, help control pests and are essential to the food chain.
If you order a gift box, it includes a wooden molinillo.
Make it boozy with Fernet-Branca
Make a boozy Mexican Fernet Hot Chocolate with tequila and Fernet-Branca, an herbal digestif that adds peppermint notes and coaxes fruity flavor from the cacao. Photo by Emily Kemme.
If you’re a downhill skier, you know how satisfying it is to schuss down that final run of the day and head into the bar for hot chocolate to thaw your frozen fingers and toes.
That’s when Fernet-Branca, a 176-year-old herbal digestif from Milan, Italy comes to the rescue. Digestif means, ‘make you hungry,’ which is why fernets historically were sold in pharmacies for medicinal use. There are other fernet brands on the market, but the Branca brand is predominant.
Bitter and dark colored thanks to burnt sugar, fernet is an ideal addition to Mexican hot chocolate. Complex layers of flavor sourced from aloe, gentian, saffron, chamomile, bitter orange — that’s only a handful of the 27 herbs and spices that go into this unique spirit — coax fruity elements from cacao. Fernet also lends a hint of peppermint to the cup, making it perfect for the holidays.
Fernet Mexican Hot Chocolate recipe
6 oz milk
1 heaping tablespoon La Monarca hot chocolate mix (or other Mexican cacao)
1 oz tequila
1 oz Fernet-Branca
several dashes Fee Brothers Aztec Chocolate bitters
Heat milk on low until warmed but not boiling. Stir in chocolate mix, tequila, fernet and bitters. Whisk with molinillo until frothy. Garnish with a cinnamon stick.
Serves one.
Where to source cacao nibs in Northern Colorado:
Nuance Chocolate, 214 Pine Street, Fort Collins
This chocolate maker sources raw fermented cacao beans and then roasts, cracks and uses them to make chocolate nibs that are available for purchase.