I prefer to use guittard's chocolate wafers. It requires a two pitcher approach though. I put the wafers in one pitcher with milk then steam to melt and stir in the chocolate. You might have to stir more to dissolve the chocolate stuck on the bottom. In a second pitcher steam milk as usual. Fill a glass with the chocolate milk mixture and fill with the regular milk. This way is a little more involved but it gives the opportunity to have some latte art in the cup.

This is how I do it;

First, mix three parts cocoa powder (the real, premium stuff) with one part sugar (the white, finely granulated stuff), and add three heaped teaspoons of this to every 1/3 liter glass you intend to make.

Then crack out the steaming pitcher and steam enough milk for you drinks. Then pour the glasses a bit shy of full (I like about an inch in a latte glass), and mix it with a spoon. By pouring the hot milk onto the powder you eliminate the clumping problem. Then pour a nice rosetta or heart on top. Alt. add whipped cream and chocolate sauce, think starbucks and you'll get it.

If you want to do it the really fancy way, you need to crack out the chocolate. I like to mix up a batch of 1/3 milk chocolate, 1/3 dark, and 1/3 white. You need to get these finely ground somehow, I use a cheese grater. Then you, again, steam the milk, and when you have that whirlpool going, you sprinkle in about 3 heaped tablespoons per ½ liter milk. That way you get a nice mixture. Just make sure that you don't dump the chocolate in there before the milk starts to get a bit warm. This stuff is really creamy and thick, very very addictive. And the really good part is that you don't need any whipped cream to this, and that the grated chocolate keeps forever, so you can grate 1 kg of each chocolate in one session and mix it into mason jars and have all you hot chocolate needs supplied for the next 10 years or so...

If you want to do it the really fancy way, you need to crack out the chocolate. I like to mix up a batch of 1/3 milk chocolate, 1/3 dark, and 1/3 white. You need to get these finely ground somehow, I use a cheese grater.

Stuggi, are you talking about grating chocolate bars and mixing them into the steaming milk? I never thought of that. Is it sticky and messy?

Nope, not if you grate it really fine, like slivers that are a couple of centimeters long and about a mm in diameter. Your steam pipe is going to need a bit more cleaning than with milk, alternatively you could steam the milk and then add the chocolate to the hot milk while stirring.

Ah Sebastian, your drink brings back memories of Cafe Angelina in Paris (226 Rue de Rivoli):


Search flickr using angelina+cafe+paris for lots of photos

One of their specialties is l'Africain Noir hot chocolate. This is not "chocolat chaud' made with Nestles and UHT milk. Noooo-o, it is a thick, barely pourable, decadently rich chocolate delight. Yum.

LeoZ wrote:my recipe: (quick recipe, approx per cup)
-2tbl chocolate powder
-2tbl dark brown sugar
-dash of salt
-dash of vanilla extract
-1-2oz of boiling water
-5-6oz steamed milk
-chocolate powder or flakes

That's more or less how I do it. I don't want to use sugar so I use http://www.equalexchange.coop/cocoa baking cocoa (has no sugar added) by equal exchange and sweeten it with Stevia (a natural sweetener from Latin America - from the Stevia plant see here http://www.stevia.net/). Use only couple of drops per cup, it's quite sweet.

I put everything in the steaming pitcher with the milk, and away I steam.

good point, I should have specified, I dont use powdered sugar chocolate or the like, I use 'unsweet' baking powdered cocoa.

The Christmas party came and went, so I thought I should report back. Unfortunately, I completely ran out of time and could not make the hot chocolate from scratch. Instead, I ended up buying pre-prepared Godiva hot chocolate, which was still very good. http://www.godiva.com/catalog/product.aspx?id=1859&SE_Section=Shop&SE_Category=28 The link is for Godiva's site, but I bought it from my neighborhood Barnes and Noble and saved 10% with my membership.

Here's how I made it with the Brugnetti:
I put about 6-8 ounces of milk in a steaming pitcher, stretched it, and brought it up to about 100 F. Then, I stirred in three tablespoons of the Godiva powder and steamed until the thermometer hit about 140 F (it still rose after that to about 150). I added some whipped cream to the top.

The guests raved and said it tasted like liquid versions of Godiva chocalate. Some requested espresso shots with the hot chocolate so I abliged. They said it was great with espresso, but I never tried. Would that basically be a "cafe mocha"?

Thank you all for the recipies, and I still plan to try those - especially adding cayenne pepper!

If you are lucky enough to have an espresso machine with commercial or near-commercial steaming power, you can skip the pre-mixing in hot milk step they include in normal recipes. Just put all your dry ingredients (and the milk) in a frothing pitcher and microfoam as if you were making a latte.

And just for the record, if you don't insult your palate with instant flavored "cappuccino" mixes, you should leave the Hershey's syrup to the kids. Serious espresso drinkers deserve real cocoa! It takes less than a minute with a frothing wand.

My kids got some mugs with cocoa and marshmallows from some friends. It is real baking cocoa not the sugared premade stuff. They were not use to it but liked it just as good as or more than the pre-made stuff. They just don't want to take the time to mix the sugar and cocoa but it does make a much better cup. Like Marshall, I put everything into a large steam pitcher, add the milk and then froth it all together on the espresso machine. Saves time and the creamy chocolate microfoam is quite good.