Brisbane’s best hot chocolates

Click through the gallery above to discover Brisbane's best hot chocolate!

Bitter Suite, New Farm

Better known as a gastro pub by night, Bitter Suite also caters to the day crowd with one of Brisbane’s very best hot chocolates.

This peanut butter hot chocolate is more than a drink. It’s a way of life.

The decadent drink is topped with an Alpine mountain of whipped cream as well as Reece’s peanut butter topping and chocolate sauce.

The actual hot chocolate itself is beautifully balanced without being either too salty or too sweet.

At $7.50 each, this is also one of the more expensive hot chocolates in Brisbane, but the mug is more the size of a small pitcher so you do get a lot of beverage for your coin.

Bitter Suite is located at 75 Welsby St, New Farm.

Java Lounge Café, Paddington

This funky Paddington café knows how to take something ordinary and make it interesting. The retro furnishings and local artwork for sale on their walls is a giveaway that the menu will be equally creative.

These guys have their own twist on the good old hot chocolate, with a special coconut hot chocolate on offer this winter.

A dash of coconut mixed in with the rich chocolate gives this warming drink a tropical touch.

It is then topped with cream and toasted coconut flakes for an added bit of crunch.

Priced at $4.50, you can easily justify adding a slice of homemade cake to your order as an extra treat.

Java Lounge Café is located at 161 Latrobe Terrace, Paddington.

Vanilla Pod Café, Ascot

For people who love the finer things in life, what could possibly be finer than sipping your hot chocolate out of a whisky balloon?

At Vanilla Pod, you are served frothy warm milk in said balloon glass with a shot glass on the side filled with molten chocolate.

This is a great way to mix up your hot chocolate concoction to your own taste.

There are also optional marshmallows on the side to keep you sweet.

At $4 a serve, this reasonably priced hot chocolate provides a truly decadent experience.

Vanilla Pod is located at 119 Lancaster Rd, Ascot.

Noosa Chocolate Factory, Brisbane CBD

The Noosa Chocolate Factory in the city is a quality-chocolate-lover’s dream and it stands to reason that it is also a quality-hot-chocolate-lover’s dream.

Rather than offering just milk or dark chocolate options, here you can choose the percentage of cacao in your hot chocolate.

The 36% cacao milk hot chocolate is made from a single origin cacao and is smooth and rich.

For dark chocolate aficionados, you can choose to have your beverage made with 56%, 73% or, our personal favourite, the 90% cacao.

At $4.50, this mid-range priced hot chocolate really reflects the quality of its ingredients.

All hot chocolates are made on creamy Maleny Gurnsey milk, with a vegan soy option available as well.

Noosa Chocolate Factory is located at 144 Adelaide St, Brisbane.

Mr Coffee’s, Eagle Farm Markets

It’s not just cafes that house a good hot chocolate, you can also pick up an exceptional cup at the markets too.

The Mr Coffee’s stand at the Eagle Farm Markets offers a ginger hot chocolate which is supremely warming while perusing the market stalls on a windy day.

Made from 65 % organic coco which has been infused with ginger powder, there is also a touch of cinnamon added to the mix. This creates a stand-out hot chocolate that gives you a bit of a kick in the back of your throat.

You can also ask for this to be made on coconut milk to turn your treat vegan.

A small hot chocolate here will set you back a very reasonable $4.

Di Bella Café, Bowen Hills

Yes, this place is known for its coffee, but it does harbour a very tasty peanut butter hot chocolate.

The Di Bella Café version of the peanut butter hot chocolate is not as decadent as the offering from Bitter Suite, but it’s still very tasty and less than half the price.

With a stir-through of peanut butter contrasting against the chocolate, you end up with that salty/sweet taste everyone is loving at the moment.

While it’s not topped with fancy extras like cream or marshmallows, you do get a biscuit on the side.

At just $3.50, this special hot chocolate makes for a great budget hot chocolate option.

Di Bella is located at 82 Abbotsford Rd, Bowen Hills.

Max Brenner

No hot chocolate list is complete without a hot chocolate by the bald man.

Max Brenner makes hot chocolates in specially designed hug mugs, requiring you to scoop up the raindrop-shaped mug to your lips to down your liquid chocolate of choice.

Hot chocolates here are available in white, milk and dark chocolate with various sweet bits added in.

Our pick is the chocolate waffle balls, which are like mini Maltesers bobbing around in your sea of chocolate.

Other tasty additions to your drink are American marshmallows, salted caramel, or Mexican spice.

Hug mug hot chocolates start at $5.90 for the classic version, or $6.30 for some of the fancier add-ins.

Max Brenner can be found at Carindale, Newstead, South Bank, Hamilton and Bulimba.

Chocolateria San Churro, South Bank

This chocolate-lovers paradise in South Bank serves up a traditional Spanish hot chocolate in a colourful little cup that resembles a miniature old-school soup tureen.

This hot chocolate is thicker than your average cup of chocolate-joe, in a similar style to an Italian hot chocolate.

It is, however, sweeter than its continental counterpart, with a bit more sugar added into the blend.

For anyone watching their sugar intake, a sugar-free version is also available here, sweetened with maltitol.

Other hot chocolate options at San Churro include the Avellana with hazelnut flavour, Hot and Cold topped with a scoop of white chocolate ice cream, and the El Grande Choc Biscuit with a chocolate biscuit crumble on top.

The classic Spanish hot chocolate starts from $5.95 a cup.

Chocolateria San Churro is located at 2/161 Grey St, South Brisbane.

La Dolce Vita, Milton

We mentioned the Spanish hot chocolate already, now we have the Italian hot chocolate.

This is sheer decadence in a cup, with chocolate so think you can stand your spoon upright in it.

La Dolce Vita is a Park Road institution, and for winter after winter, it has been serving up Italian style hot chocolates to discerning Brisbanites.

Paired with a traditional Italian ricotta cannoli, you can almost imagine the Go Between Bridge turn into the Ponte Vecchio.

A cup of the Italian hot chocolate here will set you back $5.95, with normal hot chocolates priced at $3.95.

La Dolce Vita is located at 20 Park Rd, Milton.

Cowch, South Bank

The hot chocolates at Cowch are udderley good. Served up in a unique glass udder mug, you can choose from milk, white or dark chocolate.

Rich and smooth, these hot chocolates are a great winter warmer after walking around the breezy parklands.

For an extra $1, you can opt for the deluxe version, which comes topped with whipped cream and mini marshmallows.

There is also a salted caramel hot chocolate available, although to be honest, we didn’t really get much of a salty kick from this one. The milk hot chocolate is the pick here at Cowch.

Classic hot chocolates start at $5.95, with the deluxe versions setting you back an extra dollar.

Cowch is located at 2/179 Grey St, South Brisbane.