With the season's first frost scheduled to hit overnight, we could all use some antifreeze in our blood come the dawn. Since it's unseemly to start the day with a slug of Old Overcoat, I'll be at Rachel Lehman's cool coffeehouse Crema with a steaming cup of liquid fire: Mayan hot chocolate.
Even before it turned up on Lehman's menu, Crema regulars were ordering this stout brew of hot chocolate fortified with spices and a flaming thimbleful of cayenne. You can get it hot or mild, and at first—out of pride, curiosity and obstinance—I was going for the hot, which has a sinus-clearing burn and leaves a fiery burr in the back of your throat. But I've been sticking lately to the mild, which doesn't overpower the chocolate but still feels like a snort from the devil's snuffbox.
I confess that I've tried and liked the Starbucks salted-caramel hot chocolate, even if the salty kick is confined mostly to the top and bottom of the cup. But it can't hold a candle to Crema's kick-ass firewater—or for that matter, to the off-menu orange-zest mocha at DrinkHaus. Keep the chocolate drinks coming, Music City.
Oh, and now through Election Day, if you come by wearing an "I Voted" sticker, you can get a free drip coffee on the house. Can we take advantage of such generosity?
