We spent months working with master chocolatier Niko B on how to make really good hot chocolate in the Chai Maker.
Anthony, founder of Niko B, trained at a chocolate research institute at the University of California, Davis, before launching his own small-batch chocolate business, first in San Francisco and later in East London.
It turns out most hot chocolate, including the kind you grew up with, could be a lot better than it is 😉
You know the one, a spoonful of powder, hot milk and a quick stir. It’s fine but also thin and gone in a few sips. In this guide we’re excited to share a creamier version that’s thick enough to coat a spoon and rich enough to sit with for twenty minutes.
What actually makes hot chocolate rich & creamy
The gap between "cocoa drink" and "hot chocolate" comes down to two things: cocoa solids and cocoa fat.
Cocoa solids carry the flavour, depth and bitterness, depending on origin. Cocoa fat, better known as cocoa butter, carries the texture. It's what makes a drink feel rich instead of watery. Cocoa powder has had most of that fat pressed out of it. That's precisely why a drink made from powder, however good the brand, will always taste a little hollow next to one made from real chocolate.
The other part is emulsification: getting the fat to blend into the milk instead of separating out. Get it wrong and you end up with an oily film on top and a gritty layer at the bottom. Get it right and it's smooth all the way through. It's the step most people skip, because it takes technique, not just good ingredients.
After Niko B’s advice, we now make our hot chocolate with real chocolate, not cocoa powder, because that's where the fat, and the richness comes from. A good bar of dark chocolate gets you closer to velvety than powder ever will.
The harder part is the emulsification. This is what we spent time testing with our master chocolatier partner: how to get the fat from melted chocolate to blend properly into hot milk without babysitting a pan and a whisk.
The Chai Maker fountain, pulling the milk up and back through the pot as it heats, turned out to do exactly that job. It's the same mechanism that helps a good cup of chai brew properly. Applied to chocolate, it blends the fat through the milk without scorching it.
That's how we landed: real chocolate for the richness, the Chai Maker for the emulsification, and a genuinely creamy mug of hot chocolate at the end of it.
Next up: Niko B's own hot chocolate recipe, plus a couple of ways to take it further here
