Feeling Hot Hot Hot (Chocolate)

This week

about some of the great (and not-so-great) hot chocolate options in Nashville and first of all, you're welcome for not running with my original headline "Going Loco for Cocoa." Secondly, if you haven't thought of hot chocolate as anything more than a kids' drink or a mug of nostalgia to sip on during the holiday season, you're missing out — cocoa has gotten a makeover.

As I wrote in the piece, Nashville's coffee scene is growing, and while local cafes continue to nerd out over all kinds of different brewing methods, coffee bean varieties and intricate ways to present their drinks, hot chocolate — once an afterthought delegated to the bottom of the kiddie menu — is being brought along for the ride.

Today's cocoa is so much more than a pack of Swiss Miss and some canned whipped cream; today you can get hot chocolate topped with tasty homemade marshmallows (at Bang Candy Company and Hot and Cold) or even partake in hot chocolate tasting boards that contain a variety of flavors or cocoa content (at the Loving Pie Company and Barista Parlor Golden Sound, respectively).

If a hot chocolate flight with cookie pairings isn't enough to entice you, consider this: Weather.com is claiming there may be a little snowfall tomorrow. I can think of no better circumstances in which to indulge.