My search for the perfect cup of hot chocolate has been long and delicious, beginning in my childhood when my family lived in Switzerland for a time, and I had the pleasure of discovering firsthand that not all chocolate is created equal. I went home a 12-year-old chocolate snob and thereafter always made my own cups of hot chocolate from scratch, experimenting with different ingredients and coming close but never hitting upon the perfect cup.

 Blessedly, years later, I came across drinking chocolate on my travels. Darker, thicker, and altogether different from hot cocoa, I had finally found my holy grail, my nectar of the gods, my you-complete-me chocolate drink.  But while European cafes offered it on the street, American store shelves did not. At least not of the variety that would end my lifelong search. So, with the goal of creating an elixir that could be brewed at home, but transported one's mind to a faraway sidewalk café, I set to work, developing my own recipes. And, with the help of numerous willing taste testers, and after many iterations,  I'm finally satisfied with the result. I think the twelve-year-old chocolate snob would approve.