It’s always exciting to visit a cafe that is dedicated to hot chocolate (at least for me), especially one that makes their own chocolate. Rey Amargo was therefore high on my list and definitely worth a detour. There are dozens of flavours available, although most I only realised after the fact because the menu I found online didn’t seem to be available at the cafe. It’s a ‘choose your own adventure’, hot chocolate style. They have chocolate available in many different percentages, from as little as 32% (so quite sweet) to 72% (much darker). They will keep it traditional or add flavours such as orange or mint and serve it either hot or iced. Some of their recipes include corn, which is quite typical of many Mexican chocolate based drinks.
I couldn’t choose, so I went a little crazy and ordered not one but two hot chocolates. The staff honestly thought I was crazy…maybe I was! The first out was the Xocolatl which, according to them, is an ancestral beverage with Mexican cacao served with cinnamon, pepper, chilli and vanilla syrup. My second choice was the seasonal pumpkin spice hot chocolate. Pumpkin spice is obviously much loved in the US as I saw it everywhere on my trip. It is a blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger that is mixed with pumpkin puree to make pumpkin pie. So no pumpkin in the hot chocolate, although I think that might be interesting!
While both hot chocolates were interesting, and beautifully presented, I didn’t finish either of them, which is probably a good thing for my health anyways. Both were very sweet, like syrup sweet. I know Americans like, or rather perhaps expect their drinking chocolates to be sweet, but I found that the chocolate was lost, which is unfortunate because the chocolate is apparently quite good! Rey Amargo sources their cacao from Mexico. In 1939, Carlos Rios and his wife Baudelia Martinez started a chocolate business called “El Cometa” in Jalisco. They made many different products but the one they called Rey Amargo was the most popular. This led them, in 1869, to chang the name of the company to Rey Amargo. It seems that the founder’s grandson brought the store to Seattle, bringing Mexican cacao grown in Tabasco, one of the two main cacao growing regions of Mexico (the other being Chiapas)
Apart from the impressive array of hot chocolates, you can also buy their bars and cocoa powders to enjoy at home and, although they weren’t available when I was there, they also offer churros and empanadas. I wish there was a bit more focus on the chocolate, but overall enjoyed the experience.
Rey Amargo, 722 E. Pike St, Seattle open everyday from 9am to either 8 or 9pm
