The international scene

Americans and Canadians like to add tiny marshmallows to hot cocoa or hot chocolate,

sometimes a cinnamon stick candy to make a fancy hot beverage, particularly for children. The

French prefer milk and cream in varying proportions for an extra rich beverage. The Austrians use

milk with whipped cream on top. In Russia and Brazil, they add coffee to hot cocoa to make mocha.

And in Mexico, cinnamon is the accepted standard. In fact, Mexicans love hot chocolate with

cinnamon so much that chocolate bars intended for hot chocolate come with added cinnamon.

Mexicans even have a special kitchen tool, called molinillo, to prepare a cup of frothy hot

chocolate. This is a ridged cylinder-shaped wooden (now plastic) stirrer with a long handle that

looks just like a lemon reamer. They put the thick lower portion of the molinillo into the hot

chocolate and rotate it back and forth by rolling the handle between the palms of the hands,

whipping the hot liquid into a froth.

Points to Remember

For good coffee you need premium coffee beans and fresh, cold, clean water. Use any coffee

maker that satisfies your taste buds.

Store both whole and ground coffee beans in the freezer or refrigerator to slow oxidation of

coffee oil and staling. Grind coffee beans just before brewing, if possible. If you buy ground

coffee, buy in small amounts.

For best coffee, use full measure of 1 tablespoon coffee per cup. If you like coffee weaker,

dilute brewed coffee with hot water.

Reheated coffee loses a lot of flavor. If you must reheat, use a steamer nozzle of a steamer or

espresso machine to steam-heat it.

Avoid flavored coffees if you want to avoid additional chemicals in your body.

Use very cold no-fat or low-fat milk for building good froth with your steam nozzle.

Use high-quality tea for a good cup. Steeping tea with loose leaves maintains the essence of tea

rituals but good-quality tea also comes in tea bags.

For best flavor use full measure of 1 teaspoon of tea per cup, steeped for 5 minutes. If you like

your tea weaker, dilute with hot water instead of using less tea or shorter steeping time.

Milk and chocolate make hot chocolate, milk and cocoa make hot cocoa. The two terms are not

the same. Hot chocolate has considerably higher fat content than hot cocoa.

Serious Kitchen Play