Summer time switches my usual drinks up. Whether it is coffee, tea or hot chocolate my order is followed by, “can I get that iced?”
This iced mint chocolate drink is ridiculously intense. You know when you take a sip of really good coffee and it hits you with a BAM? Well, this is made with Lindt’s 99% cocoa chocolate. Yes, 99%! You get that instant wow factor from the first sip. If you’re a chocoholic, particularly if you love the darker varieties, you have to get your hands on this chocolate.
Then make this drink, obviously.
My iced drink addiction became the running joke some years back when I was travelling in Australia with friends. Back then, good iced coffee hadn’t made it’s way in to my home town in northern England. We didn’t have either of the big chain coffee shops and you couldn’t find it in the chilled aisles of the supermarket. I ordered iced coffee everywhere I went in Australia and made a point of stopping for one at the airport before I got on my flight home.
Iced drinks first, being on time for flights second.
There’s something really indulgent about making hot (or iced) chocolate from scratch at home. It’s a treat for sure, but to make it extra special you have to pick out the right chocolate.
Lindt sent some samples of their 99% in the post for me to play around with and I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed it just on it’s own. I love white chocolate, milk chocolate I can take or leave, 70-80% dark chocolate I find a little bitter but by 99%, all that bitterness seems to disappear and you’re left with the most intense chocolate you’ll ever experience.
The advice that Lindt print on the packaging is to gradually inch up the cocoa scale until you can handle the 99%. To put things in perspective, Cadbury’s Dairy Milk is 26% and Bourneville which is marketed as dark chocolate is still only 36%. I’d separate chocolate lovers in to two categories; the cocoa lovers and the sugar fiends. If you fit in to the cocoa lovers group, you’ll find 99% chocolate nirvana. The super low sugar content in this bar probably won’t suit the rest of you but I still think it’s something worth trying, just for the experience.
I’ve made this an iced mint chocolate but feel free to skip the mint or add something extra. A shot of espresso would be heavenly in this.
Now for a quick disclaimer. If you’re on the healthy eating train at the moment, you might want to stop off at my healthy chocolate shake recipe for a lactose and sugar free version instead. That’s the ‘good‘ option, made with nothing but raw ingredients. If you want the super indulgent real deal iced chocolate, scroll down for the recipe.
- 250ml Milk
- 2 sprigs Mint
- 1 tbsp Honey
- 15g 99% Cocoa chocolate, chopped finely
- 140g ice
- In a small saucepan, add the milk and mint springs then gently heat until it begins to simmer.
- Remove the mint sprigs
- Turn the heat off and add the honey and chocolate, stirring until melted.
- Pour the mixture in to a blender and add the ice. Pulse until smooth and well combined.
- Serve immediately.
Let me know what you think