drinking chocolate, spo-dee-o-dee...

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Vintage Ad #967: Nerves of Steel

After a hard day of working on the railroad, in the repair shop, or on the assembly line, isn't it nice to restimulate your nerves with a relaxing cup of cocoa?

I've been on a hot chocolate kick lately, or at least versions that aren’t just Swiss Miss in a cup. I foist the blame on Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor, where I fell for the lure of a cup of Vosges Aztec Elixir Couture Cocoa over Thanksgiving weekend. The Zingerman’s website describes it as:

Inspired by the recipes of the Aztecs. Dark chocolate, ancho and chipotle chilies, Mexican vanilla beans, cinnamon, and cornmeal to thicken. Steamed with our Calder Dairy milk and a splash of 1/2 and 1/2, this drink is silky and rich.
It packed a rich, peppery punch that felt soothing on a sunny fall weekend afternoon after gorging on the sandwich below.

#46 Stan's Canadian Hotfoot
#46 Stan's Canadian Hotfoot at Zingerman's. More details.

Locally, Soma Chocolatemaker in the Distillery District makes a mean Mayan hot chocolate. The main drawback is its richness—it’s hard to imagine drinking more than a small cup.

Just because the chocolate drink has “hot” in its name doesn’t mean it has to be warm. While waiting for Sarah to order a drink at a Montreal branch of Second Cup earlier this month, I glanced at a display of canned mixes near the window. Looking over the “Fffrozen hot chocolate" mix, I noticed that its ingredient list had fewer oils and multisyllabic chemicals than the other preparations. Sensing that I could use a cooling, dessert-like drink after having downed a smoked meat sandwich and fries at Schwartz’s (hmm, does my chocolate consumption coincide with ingestion of mass quantities of deli meat? Discuss.), I ordered a cup. Sarah figured I had discovered the coffee shop equivalent of my addiction to Slurpees. The first one may point in that direction (the lower count of artificial ingredients was detectable), though the slightly heavy feeling that sinks in once you've polished one off might mitigate the risk of developing a habit.

Source: The Mail and Empire, October 24, 1929

PS – For advice on how to control overstimulated nerves, check out today’s vintage ad column on Torontoist.

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