Iced Chocolate
This is the one recipe here with no coffee in it, and every café needs one. Made from cocoa powder shaken into cold milk it is gritty and thin. Made by melting real chocolate into a small amount of hot milk first, it is a genuinely good drink.
What you need
- 30 g of dark chocolate, 55–70%, chopped
- 40 ml of hot milk or water, for melting
- 180 ml of cold full-fat milk
- A pinch of salt
- A tall glass, filled with ice
How to make it
- Put the chopped chocolate in the glass or a jug with the pinch of salt.
- Pour the 40 ml of hot milk over it and leave for 30 seconds.
- Stir until completely smooth. This is the step that decides whether the drink is silky or gritty — do not rush it.
- Let it cool for a minute or two. Adding cold milk to hot chocolate too quickly makes it seize into specks.
- Fill the glass with ice, pour in the cold milk, and stir.
The ratio
30 g of chocolate to 220 ml of total liquid. Adjust for the chocolate you use — a 70% bar needs a little sweetening, a 55% one usually does not.
Why melt rather than use powder
Cocoa powder is defatted and does not dissolve; it disperses, then settles. Real chocolate carries cocoa butter, which is what makes a cold chocolate taste round rather than dusty. If you only have powder, make a paste with a splash of hot water first and cook it for a minute.
Variations
- A drop of vanilla extract.
- A pinch of chilli or cinnamon, which is closer to how chocolate was drunk for most of its history.
- Add a shot of espresso and you have an iced mocha — see our Mocha Coffee recipe.
The salt is not optional
A pinch will not make it salty. It suppresses bitterness and makes the chocolate taste more like chocolate, which matters more in a cold drink where the aromatics are muted.