The great cocoa conundrum (or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the zest)
I have always harbored a deep, perhaps unreasonable, suspicion of beverages that require more effort than the simple act of pouring boiling water over a bag. There is something admirably straightforward about tea. It promises nothing more than hot, leafy water, and it delivers exactly that. Hot chocolate, on the other hand, is a deceiver. It promises comfort and nostalgia but usually delivers a lukewarm sludge that tastes vaguely of cardboard and despair. However, on a particularly gray Tuesday (the sort of weather where the sky looks like it’s been washed with a dirty dishcloth) I found myself possessed by a sudden, inexplicable urge to elevate my existence. I didn’t just want hot chocolate. I wanted fancy hot chocolate. The kind that involves grating things. So, armed with an optimism I hadn’t felt since I bought a treadmill in 2008, I set about creating an Orange and Hazelnut Hot Chocolate. It sounds sophisticated, doesn’t it? Like something you’d drink while wearing a turtleneck...
