Cup of Van Houten cocoa

[liralen]

Reverse-engineered from what I remember of the now-defunct Van Houten style cocoa served by Seattle's Dilettante chocolate houses. They don't have a hot cocoa by that name anymore, though something similar is their Mexican cocoa, but it's actually quite different, too, as I think the Mexican style one has cinnamon and almonds and vanilla instead of just anise and vanilla. Both, though, are water based instead of milk based.

Mine is as follows:
1 serving teaspoon (probably 1 1/2 measuring teaspoons) of Van Houten cocoa powder
2 serving teaspoons of raw sugar
2 drops anise extract
1/4 teaspoon vanilla powder (extract would probably do, too, but the...hm... texture? is different)

Pour in one ounce just-boiled water, mix to get rid of lumps, add water to fill a 10 ounce mug, stir. Add a dollop of half and half or cream or just milk if you like. I don't like milk for most of the drink, it seems to take away from the depth of flavor of the cocoa itself, but it's possible to use milk instead of the water.

It's perfect for waking me up and getting steam into my lungs to open things up after a dry night with congestion.