London's Best Hot Chocolate

Hot chocolate is nice throughout the year, however from late October to late March in London, it is the perfect way to warm up and get cosy.

Here are my top spots for the ultimate hot chocolate. They are in no particular order and I like them all for different reasons. When in London make sure you visit at least one of these. None of them use powder – its all crafted luxury chocolate in different forms.

KNOOPS

Pronounced as kunoops, here you can choose the percentage of cocoa you want in your hot chocolate and add in natural flavours and spices if you want. This makes it suitable for all tastes. Not only can you get hot chocolate here, you can get iced chocolate which is just so delicious especially in the summer.

When you walk in you are greeted with a back wall filled with the different types of chocolate you can have. From 100% to 28%, there are 20 varieties of chocolate you can enjoy. I like the 43% or 54%. 

DARK SUGARS

A high quality hot chocolate with the most generous serving of chocolate shavings. The latter makes this an ultimate hot chocolate. White, Dark or Milk – I went for all of it. You can pick a flavoured hot chocolate too and for those you want a coffee instead, you can get a cappuccino with a generous serving of chocolate shavings. The servers are pros at shaving that chocolate.

Dark Sugars sells several different flavours of hand crafted truffles. Be prepared to queue on busy days because the stores are not large and everyone wants one of their hot chocolates.

CHIN CHIN LABS

My first experience at Chin Chin was their amazing icecream with melted chocolate. It was a mess to eat but it was so delicious. On my next visit I had a hot chocolate with a dollop of toasted marshmallow fluff. It is served in a paper cup with a spoon & bowl. The marshmallow is blow torched just before serving and the smell is so good.

The theatrical hot chocolate is rich and the marshmallow fluff adds the sweetness balancing it well. Best enjoyed sitting down or it will get messy and sticky hence the bowl.

These are my best hot chocolates spots in London. I am still on the look out for some more dreamy comforting hot chocolates and will update this post accordingly. After all hot chocolate is sometimes the treat you need to pick you up. Powder ones work for a quick fix but decadent ones are just top tier and work the extra couple of pounds.