Cocoa Quest: Mayorga Coffee Factory

By Linda Lombardi | Mar 4, 2009

I consider chocolate — particularly dark, almost bitter chocolate — a basic food group. And I’m happy to live in an enlightened period in human history, one in which it’s possible to buy serious dark-chocolate beverages with relative ease.

So the description of Mayorga Coffee Factory’s hot chocolate (”handcrafted with European dark chocolate”) raised my hopes. Unfortunately, I was left wondering what exactly they do to that chocolate. The result is less like a fancy chocolate bar grated into milk, and more like a classic American hot cocoa.

That’s not to say that it tastes like a mix, exactly. It’s a better quality drink, smoother and richer than one made from a powder. But it’s too milky, mild and sweet to be filed under the “European dark chocolate” heading.

Of course, hot-chocolate lovers who prefer this style of drink may be pleased. But it’s too bad the South Silver Spring coffee house doesn’t describe it more accurately — not just for my sake, but for fans of mild, sweet, comforting hot cocoa misled into thinking there’s nothing here but a dark, bitter disappointment.

Snag one of Mayorga’s big, comfy leather chairs and soak up the nicest place in town to hang out. Just read the menu with a skeptical eye, at least in the chocolate department.

Mayorga Coffee Factory, 8040 Georgia Ave, Silver Spring, (301) 562-9090.

Linda Lombardi is an Associated Press columnist and freelance journalist who works from her Silver Spring home. Check out her street cred at lindalombardi.com.

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Cocoa Quest: Highland Origin Coffee

By Michael Kent Cornett | Feb 18, 2009

Fenton Village’s Highland Origin Coffee is a familiar place to me. I’ve spent lazy weekends sipping and reading there, and I actually like their coffee. So when my latest Team Cocoa Quest assignment sent me to the corner of Fenton Street and Silver Spring Avenue one brisk afternoon, I knew what to expect.

At least, I thought I knew what to expect.

My hot chocolate order was filled quickly and politely, but when I peeled the top of my 12-oz cup ($3), something seemed a little off. I took a sip.

A chemical aftertaste countered the chocolate flavor. It was unpleasant and harsh, not quite the slam one gets from saccharine. I couldn’t quite place what it was, but it just didn’t belong. This was not the rich, real chocolate I’ve had at other places. This hot chocolate was — horror of horrors — reconstituted from powder.

Even my mom’s homemade brew, made with Quik, didn’t have this aftertaste. As I drank it down to the dregs, I saw the familiar wet stuff clumped at the bottom. I rolled some of it against my palate and felt the familiar grit. Yep, powder.

Perhaps another visit would prove this to be a temporary mix-up, I thought. Um, nope.

On my second visit for Team Cocoa Quest, I watched carefully as the barista dumped a scoop of powder into steamed milk (at least milk was used), and then put on the whipped topping. The first few sips were good, but then I realized the whipped topping was killing some of the powder’s chemical taste. Once the topping was gone, the aftertaste ruled the day.

This is a sad comedown. Just over a year ago, Highland Origin used a high-quality syrup to make their cocoa. Now it’s just cheap powder. Nasty powder.

Next time, I’m sticking with the coffee.

Highland Origin Coffee, 8200 Fenton St, (301) 495-6302.

Michael Kent Cornett is a member of The Penguin’s 2009 Team Cocoa Quest. He also reviews horror and mystery fiction for his blog, Dust and Corruption. Michael works in downtown Silver Spring and lives in Takoma Park.

Photo by MK Cornett for The Penguin.

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Cocoa Quest: Eggspectation

By Jennifer Deseo | Jan 28, 2009

Here’s the good news, at least for me: I survived the hot cocoa at Eggspectation. Now here’s the bad news, certainly for that “we ain’t just eggs” restaurant in the Downtown Silver Spring shopping center: I survived the hot cocoa at Eggspectation.

First, a little background.

I’m lactose intolerant and not ashamed to admit it. I cramp at the sight of whole milk, and spontaneously fart on contact with it. Ingestion of any dairy product — yogurt, cheese, ice cream, whatever — triggers painful bloating. That’s just me.

Consuming hot cocoa made with warm milk and topped with whipped cream certainly would have sent me running for the bathroom. Yet Eggspectation’s version of the drink had no ill effect on me. Good thing, right?

Well, good only in that I spared my dining companions the disturbing sight and smell of my lactose intolerance. Bad for Eggspectation, because now I have the responsibility of reporting that the joint uses nothing but water, powder and aerosolized whipped topping to make its hot cocoa. There’s nothing dairy about this drink.

Of course, the place doesn’t promote itself as a coffee house or patisserie. They’re all about eggs and, strangely enough, terrifically moist and monstrously sized hamburgers. And how realistic is it to expect their chefs to grate chunks of semi-sweet chocolate into a simmering pot of milk?

Still, it would have been nice if the drink’s taste matched its presentation. Served in a clear cappuccino mug (above), the hot cocoa was topped with a swirl of whipped whatever then sprinkled with a couple of chocolate chips. Its comfy, cozy look said flannel jammies and warm slippers.

However, its taste said something entirely different: organic chemistry, that college class that taught me how to decaffeinate tea using ether. (Good times!) The drink derived its flavor mostly from high-fructose corn syrup, with hints of nitrous oxide used as a propellant in aerosol cans. Its consistency also ran thin, more like water and not milk.

At three bucks a mug, one would be better off scoring that same action at home with a packet of Swiss Miss. When at Eggspectation, stick with the eggs and burgers.

Eggspectation, 923 Ellsworth Dr, Silver Spring, (301) 585-1700.

Photo by J. Deseo/SSP.

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Cocoa Quest: Kefa Cafe

By Michael Kent Cornett | Jan 14, 2009

Editor’s note: Lactose intolerance prevents me from reviewing rich, creamy and oh-so-dreamy hot cocoa in milk. So I’ve delegated that task to an elite team of black-ops Penguin ninjas, specially trained in the art of sipping cocoa without scalding their taste buds. This chocolate-mustached crew goes by the name Team Cocoa Quest. Expect reviews to drop all winter long. — JD (Jan 14, 2009)

There’s nothing like hot chocolate on a cold winter’s day. Whether it’s an after-work treat or a breather from the urban hustle, a cup of hot chocolate fixes things like nobody’s business. So after a busy day at the office, I wandered across the street to Kefa Cafe, on a secret assignment to sample their hot chocolate.

Now, I have to confess, I’ve never been in there. They’ve been around forever and folks speak highly of it, but I’ve never managed to get in there. Sometimes I’d walk by and see happy people sitting inside, chatting away, being all chummy. But I always felt too intimidated to walk in, like I wasn’t invited to the party.

But today, I conquered my neurosis and went in. It was only an hour until closing time, but I’d make it count. “Uh, do you have hot chocolate?” I stammered to the sweet lady behind the counter.

“Do I have hot chocolate? I make a great hot chocolate!” she smiled and winked. And she proceeded to whip one up, right then and there.

I sat down at a table and took the first sip. It reminded me of Mom’s homemade, and immediately, I was a kid again, sitting at the kitchen table, looking out the window at a snow-dusted bird feeder. I had to shake myself to remember where I was. I took another sip and was firmly back in Silver Spring. That sip established that this was better than Mom’s homemade.

Kefa prepares its hot chocolate with real milk, not water and powder thrown into a cup. There was a slightly granular quality to it, but not in a bad way. It was as if there were little bits of real chocolate floating around in it. Compare that with Mom’s, which was made with Quik.

This drink was not something to be gulped down, but sipped meditatively and savored. It was sweet but not cloying, and it was certainly hot. The chocolate flavor was superb, what hot chocolate is supposed to be. Kefa’s hot chocolate is a substantial beverage, not to be taken lightly.

The cafe’s early hours are a pain: Closing time is 5:00 p.m. on weekdays, 9:00 p.m. on Fridays, and 5:00 p.m. on Saturdays. (They’re closed on Sundays.) But that only makes the hot chocolate more special.

Kefa Cafe, 963 Bonifant St, Silver Spring, (301) 589-9337.

Photo by Michael Kent Cornett for The Penguin.

Michael Kent Cornett is a member of The Penguin’s 2009 Team Cocoa Quest. He also reviews horror and mystery fiction for his blog, Dust and Corruption. Michael works in downtown Silver Spring and lives in Takoma Park.

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