Throughout the thunderstorms and wind, fancy hot chocolate might be the only thing keeping me sane in the trenches of the Seattle winter. What’s a better pick-me-up than a warm cup of chocolatey floral milk water? Nothing, I say. Get your whisk out.  

Tools: 

• Pot
• Whisk
• Mug

Ingredients:

• Earl Gray tea bags (‘Stash’ Double Bergamot)
• Water
• Hot Chocolate
• Half and Half (milk of choice)

Recipe:

1. Use your mug as a measuring cup, determining how many portions you’d like of hot chocolate. I used 4 mugs of water, so I could share with my roommate. Dump the water into your pot and bring the water to a rolling boil. Add 2 earl gray tea bags and reduce the heat to a simmer. ‘Stash’ Double Bergamot is my favorite earl gray because it is super floral, which is kind of the whole point of making an earl gray hot chocolate other than the caffeine. 
2. Simmer the tea for about 10 minutes, tasting every once in a while to make sure that the flavor is strong but not bitter. You want to take the bags out before the tea becomes bitter.
3. Once your tea is a desirable strength, whisk in a little less than half a cup of hot chocolate powder or chocolate chips. This is to taste. Sometimes I like my hot chocolate to be less thick and chocolaty, more on the tea side of things. Today I decided I wanted it more on the hot chocolate side of things. Utilize free will. 
4. Once the chocolate has completely incorporated, turn the heat off and add ¼ cup of half and half for a creamy finish, or any milk of choice. 

Now, look how fancy you are! What a refined palette you have. Everyone will be so impressed with your elevated hot chocolate they won’t even question how easy it was. They’ll just ‘ooo’ and ‘aaa’. And clap, probably.