The Best Hot Chocolates in Castle Rock!

I am very passionate about a lot of things: books, snow, writing… and, most deliciously, hot chocolate. I make it at home pretty much year round, but since fall has arrived, everyone is flooding the Castle Rock coffee shops to get their own favorite drinks. This got me thinking… Which coffee shop has the best hot chocolate?

I guess the only way to find out is to go buy them all and test them myself! Luckily for me, Castle Rock is full of local coffee shops (and 4 Starbucks locations of course!). So I threw my sisters and friend in the car and began my search!

I have 3 categories that I’ve graded each beverage on: value, mouthfeel (fancy word for texture), and of course, flavor. I also gave them an overall rating on a 1-10 scale. So without further ado, the adventure begins!

We started at Briccy’s Coffee, a place I’ve visited quite a few times since it’s right next to the library. Their 12oz hot chocolate was $2.99, making it about 25¢ an ounce. It was a little bit thin, not as creamy as I would have liked it. However, they do ask if you want whipped cream, so that did help while it lasted. It was more sweet than chocolatey, but not overwhelmingly so (white chocolate perhaps?). As we finished it off, we did realize that a lot of the flavoring sunk to the bottom, so that was probably an attributing factor to the watery consistency. Overall, I really did enjoy the flavor so I rated it a 7/10!

Next we drove over to Dazbog, another frequent stop of mine since it is right next to Festival Park. Their hot chocolate costs $2.75 for 12oz, rounding off at about 23¢ an ounce. It had a creamy and thick mouthfeel and was much more chocolatey. It also had a touch of a savory bitterness, which I really liked, and helped to cut through the sweetness of the whipped cream (I always drink hot cocoa with whip cream). Delicious, creamy flavor for a good value: I gave the Castle Rock Dazbog a 9/10!

Right by the entrance to the i-25 is Crowfoot Valley Coffee; our next stop on the hot cocoa journey. Their 12oz hot chocolate was $2.60: about 22¢ an ounce. It was super creamy and foamy at the top, but what had me reeling was the decadent and rich chocolate flavor. By far the most chocolatey hot chocolate we tried! SO delicious, great value… This one was a 10/10 for me!

Next we headed back into downtown Castle Rock to Lost Coffee, and enjoyed their 12oz hot chocolate for $3.50: about 29¢ an ounce. Definitely the most expensive hot chocolate of the day. The consistency was a bit thinner than expected: still very chocolatey, though not as flavorful as the previous few. This, combined with the high price, caused me to give it a 5.5/10.

Over on the other side of Castle Rock is Cookies and Crema, where we got our 5th hot chocolate (I was starting to get full by then). The 12oz cost $2.75, rounding off to about 23¢ per ounce. This hot chocolate was creamy, but one note: a little too sweet in my opinion. This cocoa earned a 6/10 rating.

Last, but certainly not least, we stopped at Starbucks: or, went through the drive-thru. We ordered the 8oz kids hot chocolate, because I wasn’t sure I’d be able to drink a whole other 12oz! It cost $1.75: about 22¢ an ounce. I’ve never really been a huge fan of the Starbucks hot chocolate: it tastes a little syrupy and almost grainy, with a bitter aftertaste. However, I’ll still drink it in a pinch. 6/10!

Final conclusions? Crowfoot Valley Coffee is my favorite hot chocolate in Castle Rock: delicious and not overpriced! My least favorite was a bit of a split. Starbucks had my least favorite flavor, but the Lost Coffee hot chocolate was really not good enough to justify the high price.

Of course, you could always just make your own cocoa to enjoy at home! But which store-bought powder is the best to use…?

That sounds like a different experiment for a different day! Enjoy your fall and drink lots of cocoa! I know I sure will!

Until next time, Namárië!