Nothing warms you up on a cold winter day like a cup of the best hot cocoa Seattle has to offer. Its rich, creamy, chocolate-y goodness is sure to bring sunshine to your day, even if it’s rainy outside. Check out our favorite spots!
LessSip delicious cocoa and support a great cause at Bellevue’s Bellden Café. Located in the heart of Old Bellevue on Main Street, this café was a Reader’s Digest 2020 Finalist for Nicest Place in America. Serving tasty breakfast and lunch items, coffee, pastries, and of course, cocoa, this café has a unique mission—Bellden Café partners with non-profit organizations, creating signature drinks to highlight different organizations and donating a portion of the profits from the sale of their drinks.
This U-Village locale displays chocolate like a jewelry store displays diamonds; but don’t let the fancy interior intimidate you. The chocolate displays are a testament to the love put into these delectable treats. Pry yourselves away from the selection of truffles, and place your order for Dark Hot Sipping Chocolate. Each cup comes with a perfect mound of whipped cream and an additional chocolate square for the road.
This popular cafe, with locations in Greenwood, Wallingford and Green Lake as well as the Downtown Library, serves what is technically known as "drinking chocolate." In addition to house faves like the Dark House Hot Chocolate with dark chocolate marshmallows, the cafe offers a robust menu of specialty hot chocolates that can be infused with lavender, raspberry, Irish cream, peanut butter, peppermint, cayenne...the list goes on.
After tasting Chocolat Vitale’s traditional European drinking chocolate, you’ll never look elsewhere for cocoa! The sinfully rich drinking chocolate is concocted from a blend of pure Swiss and Belgian chocolate. This decadent drink contains no cocoa powder–it’s made from 100 percent pure chocolate. The café serves hand-crafted drinks using its chocolate and Velton’s Coffee. You can also shop its thoughtfully curated selection of art and collectibles.
Nestled within the busy corridors of Pike Place Market you’ll find a chocolate paradise! Indi Chocolate offers a wide range of cacao-based products including teas, spice rubs, mixology kits and body care products, all created using small batch, single origin dark chocolate directly sourced from international farmers and cooperatives. Tantalize your taste buds with a cup of their single origin drinking chocolate. Or, for the ultimate chocolate-y experience, order the ultra-rich sipping chocolate.
You might be in the mood for a delicious hot cocoa, but don’t forget to bring your appetite. The bakery’s expansive menu is filled with baked goods, sandwiches, pastries and of course, chocolate. Take home some of Bakery Nouveau’s handcrafted bars or chocolates, made fresh, in-house with its signature chocolates. Choose from a rotating selection of mouthwatering morsels, including fan favorites like salted caramel or coconut ganache. The bakery’s chocolates are truly works of art!
Arosa Cafe has been serving up delish cups of espresso and hot cocoa to families for over 21 years. This warm and friendly neighborhood cafe uses a proprietary, microroasted blend from Fonte Coffee in their handcrafted cups of Joe, imported Swiss chocolate in their mochas and hot chocolate and organic milk (including soy, rice and almond).
With six (very difficult) choices; extra dark, Mexicano, dark, ephemere dark, milk and white, every visit to Dilettante is different. With melting pots behind the counter, each cup of hot chocolate is melted down to liquid perfection. This is the perfect place to bring your mini-chocolate lover to determine where their chocolate loyalties lay (nudge nudge – white chocolate).
Caffè Umbria offers the Italian take on hot chocolate. It’s a thicker, spoonable chocolate that’s served with whipped cream. In addition to a “moka bar,” drip coffees and number of traditional espresso-based Italian drinks served in colorful Italian ceramics. Umbria’s Ballard location also offers baked goods from Le Panier and Macrina, light lunch offerings from Volterra, a Tuscan-inspired restaurant next door and a good selection of Italian wine and beer.
Take a trip a little off the beaten path and find your way to the Greenbridge neighborhood nestled in White Center. Dubsea Coffee is well worth the trek, and is settled comfortably among bright and colorful housing and the vibrant local community center. A cup of hot chocolate is filled with rich, deep flavors and is topped with a hazelnut whipped cream.