Drink · Campfire Blend
Vanilla campfire hot chocolate
Hot chocolate with a shot in it and a torched marshmallow on top.
Cocoa, a shot of Campfire Blend and a vanilla syrup that carries a hint of oak. The torched marshmallow is not optional — it is the whole point.
What you need
- 2 tbsp good cocoa powder (the higher the fat, the better this works)
- 2 tbsp vanilla syrup — bourbon vanilla if you have it
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 shot Western Tamp Campfire Blend, brewed as espresso or very strong
- 1 large marshmallow, to torch
The roast for this Campfire Blend From £11.95 How to make it
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Heat the milk with the cocoa
Warm the milk gently and whisk the cocoa in while it is still below a simmer. Cocoa added to boiling milk clumps and never fully recovers.
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Stir in the vanilla syrup
Off the heat, so the aroma stays in the cup rather than going up the wall.
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Add the coffee
Pour the shot in and whisk again. The coffee is what stops this being a child’s drink — it puts a bitter edge under all that sugar.
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Whisk hard
Properly hard, for a good twenty seconds. That is the difference between velvety and merely warm.
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Torch the marshmallow
Blowtorch or grill until the outside is genuinely black in places. A pale marshmallow adds sugar; a burnt one adds smoke.
Why it works
Cocoa and dark-roasted coffee share a lot of the same roasted aromatic compounds, so the espresso does not read as "coffee in my hot chocolate" — it reads as the hot chocolate suddenly having a floor under it. The burnt sugar on the marshmallow bridges the two.
Worth knowing
- Use high-fat cocoa powder — it is the single biggest lever on richness.
- A splash of real bourbon in place of some of the syrup, if it is that kind of evening.
- Torch the marshmallow at the table. It is worth the theatre.
The recipe card
Save it, print it, take it to the kitchen.
Everything on this card is written out above as well, so you don’t have to squint at a picture to cook from it.
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