Where to Warm Up With Hot Chocolate in Philly Right Now
It’s cold out there. Get yourself a steamy cup of chocolatey goodness at these Philly spots.
The hot chocolate at Fiore is divine. Photo courtesy Fiore
Whether you like it dark and rich or served with an artisanal marshmallow on top, these Philly hot chocolate spots are sure to warm you up and satisfy your sweet tooth.
Franny Lou’s Porch, Kensington
Franny Lou’s is excellent at drinks (see: its Sick and Tired ginger beer, lemonade and smoothies). The hot chocolate is no exception, and it’s made with fair-trade organic cocoa.
The Goat, Rittenhouse
The Goat knows exactly how to maximize fun for the whole family: Order the s’mores hot chocolate, which comes topped with a torched marshmallow and served with a chocolate bar and graham crackers, for your kid, and then get a second one for yourself, spiked with booze.
Shane Confectionery/Facebook
Shane Confectionery, Old City
This throwback candy shop has an entire Chocolate Cafe where you can sip rich, creamy drinking chocolates. Or, order its milk and dark hot chocolate mixes and drinking chocolate online.
Grindcore House, multiple locations
Most great hot chocolates lean on a lot of very rich dairy, but Grindcore makes all of its versions with nondairy milk. Choose from coconut, oat, soy, macadamia, almond or an extra-rich soy cream.
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Herman’s Coffee Bar, Pennsport
Herman’s does its own hot chocolate — steaming and rich — and usually offers more than a handful of high-end hot chocolates and chocolate mixes in its well-stocked grocery section.
Guard House Cafe, Northeast Philly
Chef Khoran Horn’s all-day cafe serves up a s’mores hot chocolate made from Dutch-processed cocoa powder and housemade s’mores syrup made from marshmallows, hazelnuts and their signature caramel sauce. Make it dirty with a shot of espresso.
RIM Cafe, Italian Market
This French-Italian cafe is a longtime Philly favorite (and Best of Philly winner) thanks to owner Rene Kobeitri’s decadent, artisanal hot chocolate — including special flavors like white-chocolate peanut butter and tiramisu.
Bloomsday Cafe, Old City
Bloomsday takes its boozy iteration in an unexpected direction, adding a shot of chartreuse. This style of cocoa is a traditional après ski beverage in Europe that gives the sweet, warm drink an herbal note.
Rival Bros. Coffee, multiple locations
Swap out your morning cup of coffee for a sugar rush from Rival Bros.’ excellent hot chocolate, which is made with rich Valrhona cocoa, housemade vanilla syrup and steamed milk.
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Café y Chocolate, South Philly
At this Mexican cafe, start with some tacos (and maybe an order of molten queso dip), and finish with the namesake hot chocolate.
Anthony’s Italian Coffee & Chocolate House, Italian Market
This fourth-generation shop on Ninth Street is the perfect place to score a housemade cannoli or crisp, flaky sfogliatella along with a hot cup of cocoa, spiked with amaretto, peppermint, Nutella, or served straight up.
Manatawny Stillworks, East Passyunk
Manatawny recently released a small batch of its vanilla-barrel-aged rum, which happens to pair exceptionally well with its oat-milk hot chocolate.
Menagerie Coffee, multiple locations
Menagerie is particularly good at doing flavored coffee without making its drinks too sweet, and the hot chocolate is no exception. The team makes it with Omanhene chocolate, a single-origin cocoa from Ghana, and adds steamed milk and your choice of sweetener. (We like cinnamon.)
Fiore Fine Foods, Queen Village
Hot chocolate is all grown up at Fiore with rich, intense, not-to-sweet drinking chocolate and gigantic housemade marshmallows.
Elixr Coffee, multiple locations
When you’re already too wired for a pour-over of Elixr’s house-roasted, single-origin coffees, sip a rich cup of the hot cocoa instead.
La Colombe Headquarters, Fishtown
The hometown coffee roaster’s gleaming cafe on Frankford Avenue serves up unsweetened cocoa mixed with steamed milk so that you can sweeten to taste.
Photo courtesy Weckerly’s
Weckerly’s, Fishtown
Part of why Weckerly’s ice cream is so good is because the team uses very-high-quality dairy, which also happens to make excellent hot chocolate. Top it with two housemade torched marshmallows because life is worth living.
