It's nearly time for mochas and hot chocolates

A mocha – a combination of an espresso shot, a chocolate ingredient and steamed and frothed milk – is so popular that this summer a city guide even published an article on the ‘15 best mochas in London'.

"Mochas are a great, but often overlooked, way to increase gross profit," says Helen Ostle, marketing head at Beyond the Bean. "It's a great ‘gateway' drink, and there are plenty of ways to play around with it, so you can offer the best of both worlds of coffee and hot chocolate.

"You have to consider which to pair with which. For South American coffees where the tasting notes are often nuts, chocolate and caramel, our Zuma Fairtrade Dark hot chocolate will combine well; for coffees from Ethiopia or Kenya, with fruity and delicate tasting notes, our Original chocolate or our white hot chocolate will allow those flavours to sing.

"Then you can go further with ‘specials', such as Sweetbird rose syrup to create a Turkish Delight mocha, or cherry syrup to create a black forest gateau in a cup."

White chocolate in a mocha is, says the Hotel Chocolat brand, a more delicate flavour than a classic mocha, and baristas have more freedom in combining the depth of coffee and the lightness of white chocolate, topping it with dried raspberry pieces or a berry coulis.

Even Cadbury, king of the commercial hot chocolate, recommends matching carefully: "For a mocha, we recommend the classic Cadbury taste, but for a richer one, use Bournville cocoa," says a spokesperson. However, all the experts agree: do not use a cheap chocolate. "You want a high cocoa content, not overly sweet, that lets the coffee shine," says Lynsey Harley, owner of both the Modern Standard coffee roastery and her own coffee house.

"Many chocolate powders are 25% cocoa, very low quality, with loads of sugar. Ours is high-quality, 52% cocoa, from Casa Luker in Colombia. It's rich and creamy with a very adult flavour – that's why it won the Independent's ‘best hot chocolate' this year."

All in a name

That's the kind of descriptive line on a menu that attracts attention, just like references to the use of Willie's Cacao in a house hot chocolate or mocha.

Willie Harcourt-Cooze is the modern-day adventurer whose work has featured in TV documentaries, including the delightfully-titled Willie's Wonky Chocolate Factory. There is a clear benefit for a menu to feature someone who farms cacao in Venezuela and creates chocolate in Devon.

"I use only the world's great single estate cacaos which, like fine wines, all have highly individual flavours," says Harcourt-Cooze. "To preserve these flavours, I make my chocolate with 100% natural ingredients, which takes me up to three weeks, compared to ‘industrial' chocolate, which is made in a few hours. This craft-made hot chocolate powder is quite unique, the silkiest, richest most indulgent of all hot chocolates. "Then there are many ways to offer your hot chocolate. I use my 100% cacao with water and a touch of sugar for the real Aztec style, which gives a real burst of energy.

"The mocha is a true marriage of beans – use 26g of Willie's Cacao, 200ml of milk and a shot of espresso, and promote it on your menu as bean magic, pure passion. Few things give me such pleasure as watching someone's delight as the realisation dawns of the taste that comes from the very best cacao… viva cacao!" The use of ‘proper' chocolate is something worth promoting, agrees Brad Wright, operations manager at Marimba, pioneer of easy-melt flake chocolate.

"Any syrup-based hot chocolate is an abomination; in general, anything ‘chocolate flavoured' is usually grim and can totally ruin the experience. Marimba Hot Chocolate Melts are flakes of solid chocolate that contain a small proportion of cocoa butter, which accounts for their luxurious finish with a rich and complex chocolate flavour.

"I challenge the general menu description that a mocha is a latte with added chocolate. It isn't – a mocha is a coffee-flavoured hot chocolate! So, make the hot chocolate first and then pour an espresso through it, using the coffee as the flavour shot.

"Our preferred method is to steam the chocolate in the milk jug, using the steam wand of the espresso machine – some machine suppliers say this will damage the machine, but we and hundreds of our customers have been doing it this way every day for over 14 years, with no issues at all. What is critical is that getting the quantities right is more important than with a coffee, so do make a note of your preferred recipe.

"We also believe greatly in hot chocolate seasonal specials, so much so that everything in our recipe book gives the option for a chargeable upgrade and a good rotation of seasonal specials."

Typically, Marimba has seen success with a chestnut hot chocolate, which combines its melt flakes with a shot of chestnut syrup, topped with cream and chocolate-coated popping candy: "It's a hot chocolate version of chestnuts roasting on an open fire!" says Wright.

Another serving suggestion is the white hot chocolate chai mocha: the espresso takes away some of the sweetness of the white chocolate while the chai adds some warming spice.

Single estate appeal

The hot chocolate market has been buzzing so much recently that Kokoa Collection reports having doubled its sales year on year.

"Things have taken off because baristas and customers see the similarities between speciality chocolate and speciality coffee," says founder Paul Eagles, who was the first to promote the chocolate ‘disc' which melts in steamed milk. "Mochas in particular account for a high proportion of sales in speciality cafés, where baristas find the right taste profile to match their espresso.

"We were the first to launch single-origin, ethically-produced, strongly branded, ‘real' chocolate, and that put us in a strong position with the speciality café sector. All operators can now appeal to customers by showing a choice of hot chocolate origins and percentages on their menu board."

The easy-melt facility is advocated by other suppliers. Cocoa Canopy, a rebrand of the Hans Sloane chocolate business, has created its ‘beads', which are tiny easy-melt chocolate drops: "This gives a competitive edge over powdered products as it brings theatre and ‘wow' factor to drinking chocolate and increases versatility. The beads are just chocolate with no coating – and the chocolate is sustainably sourced and made in small batches."

Cocoa Canopy has been taken up as the practical option by some chains including the Greene King pub group, and offers its beads as Rich Dark, Ecuador Dark, Smooth Milk, and Salted Caramel options. Caramel hot chocolate is also supplied by Fairtrade operator Divine, along with its Winter Warming spiced hot chocolate.

"Both are thick and irresistibly luxurious," says the brand's Caitlin Horner. "Salted caramel works well in a mocha, but I also recommend promoting it by itself as a straight hot chocolate – it's utterly delicious!"

Think pink

The newest hot chocolate of all is the ruby, the naturally pink chocolate that made its first appearance in the hospitality sector last year through Barry Callebaut.

"This innovation gave baristas their creativity back by allowing them to offer a new sensory drink," says marketing manager Anna Sentance. "It maintains all the flavour and colour of ruby chocolate while dissolving easily into any type of milk, hot or cold. This versatility makes it a profitable solution, delicious and visually appealing.

"Ruby chocolate has a characteristic colour and aroma unlike dark, milk or white chocolate. It has a natural flavour and colour tone giving a subtle berry fruitiness alongside luscious smoothness – it is a unique product on the market."

Callebaut is the sole chocolate maker for Ruby but the company has made it available to chocolatiers to turn into whatever they can – typically, Marimba uses it for hot chocolate, bars, giant buttons and a ruby and violet cream truffle.

Elsewhere, Lavazza's training chief David Cutler offers an imaginative alternative to the mocha. "Lavazza has a number of mocha and hot chocolates, including our premium Eraclea brand, and our simple Blue dark chocolate capsule, which is useful for smaller sites.

"The mocha does have a wide appeal as a result of its sweeter flavour, and as we transition to the winter months, consumers will be looking for something sweet and more indulgent. Alongside the mocha, we recommend creating and offering the Italian Bicerin – this is espresso, drinking chocolate and milk layered in a small glass, which creates a truly indulgent chocolate coffee serve."