990 SOUTH 700 WEST, SUITE 8
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH 84104
TOPHER WEBB, OWNER
Topher Webb started Mezzo Drinking Chocolate out of a genuine love of Oaxacan culture, style, and approach to drinking chocolate. In Oaxaca, making drinking chocolate straight from the cacao bean transcends socioeconomic boundaries as a drink shared by all at most every celebration. It’s a drink that unites and supports the great milestones and rites of a culture. This depth and richness and flavor inspired Topher to start Mezzo Drinking Chocolate.
A culture rich with cacao finds many uses for the great bean, all putting on display the magic and alchemy held inside. American culture finds ways to do as little as possible to sell something as legitimate or the “original.” What Americans call “hot chocolate” bears almost zero resemblance to the drinking chocolate from which it derives. Most hot chocolates have trace amounts of cacao and disproportionate helpings of sugar and vanilla and a list of other ingredients in need of a chemistry degree to understand.
Topher is joining the chorus of voices in Salt Lake City championing a better way. He could easily purchase inexpensive cacao made on farms that do little to support their farmers and their families. With today’s wordsmith marketing strategies, he could cut corners and still call it the genuine drinking chocolate. But if you go to a tasting at Mezzo or spend an afternoon with Topher, you’ll see that his style and approach honor the cacao bean, the farmer, and Oaxacan tradition. He sources single-origin beans, meaning all the cacao in a particular bag comes from one country, one region, one farm, and one harvest.
With meticulous attention to detail from farm to warehouse to cafe, Mezzo is telling a new story of an old tradition.
(SERVES 6–8)
1⅓ cups uncooked long-grain white rice
5 cups water
2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 (14–ounce) can unsweetened coconut milk
6¼ ounces Mezzo Chocolate La Red 80 percent
⅔ cup sugar
½ vanilla bean, split and scraped
½ tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon ground canella (Mexican cinnamon)
Place uncooked rice and water in a blender. Blend together until rice starts to break up, typically about 2 minutes. Pour water and rice in a pitcher with a lid and let stand at room temperature for a minimum of 4 hours.
While rice is steeping in water, place milk, cream, and coconut milk in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, being sure to stir to keep milk and cream from scalding. Once mixture starts to simmer, remove pan from heat and stir in chocolate with a wire whisk. Mix well. Pour mixture through a wire strainer into a pitcher and set in the fridge to chill.
When rice is done steeping, pour the rice through the strainer into the blender once again. Pour the chocolate mixture from the above paragraph into the blender as well; add sugar, vanilla bean, vanilla extract, and canella and blend on low until well incorporated. Pour back into the pitcher, preferably with a lid, and place in the fridge until very chilled.
Note: Chocolate horchata is best when served in a chilled glass. Horchata is a drink enjoyed with particularly spicy meals in Mexico to cool the palate. The addition of chocolate adds a wonderful depth that pairs well with meals using mole poblano, mole negro, or any traditional red enchilada sauce. For a fun twist steep a little orange zest in with the milk in the second step.
