Really Potent Chocolate Espresso

No fooling around here, this is THE espresso drink for chocolate lovers.  Pair this outstanding drink with your favorite chocolate dessert and you have a world class chocolate rush on your hand.

Quality Coffee And Quality Espresso

This drink revolves around two rich flavors, coffee and chocolate.  Because this recipe calls for intense concentrations of both, it is important to use only good quality chocolate and coffee.  Trust me, you will tell the difference if you try to save a buck by using less than stellar ingredients.

Let’s start with the chocolate.  Dark semi sweet chocolate is actually misleading, you want to find and use a premium semi sweet chocolate or chocolate chip.  I love Ghiradelli, their chocolates are high quality and their semi sweet chips have a bit more cocoa.  This will help give your espresso drink a rich, powerful chocolate flavor, one that won’t be overwhelmed by the coffee.

Next is the coffee choice.  Again, quality matters and you will notice the difference in taste if you use a poor quality bean.  Look for a dark roast for this drink, the coffee needs to stand up to the chocolate.  Under no circumstances should you use an instant coffee or a light roast.  The end result will be quite disappointing.

The Ingredients

8 ounces good quality semi sweet chocolate.

2 shots of espresso.

2 cups of warm milk.

Sugar.

Whipped cream.

Mini marshmallows or chocolate shavings for decoration.

Assembling Your Drink

Melt the chocolate in a small pan.

Add the milk and gently warm.  Don’t let the milk boil!

Add the espresso, stir well to mix and heat gently for 30 seconds.

Pour the chocolate and espresso mixture into mugs and top with whipped cream.

Add marshmallows or sprinkles if desired.

Making This An Iced Drink

This drink can easily be made into an iced drink.  Mix the chocolate and espresso together, then add the milk.  Don’t heat the mixture and let it cool for a few minutes.  Take tall glasses, add 5-6 ice cubes and pour the chocolate espresso mixture over the ice.  Top off with whipped cream, shavings and marshmallows as desired.