From Japanese to Italian, hot chocolate in Prague gets an international twist

Over fifteen years ago, we put out our first hot chocolate guide. In the years to follow, many of the contenders for Prague’s top cup of cocoa are still standing and still offer a great place to start for exploring some of the city’s most decadent hot chocolate served in cozy surroundings.

What has changed is the breadth of offerings, from viral hot chocolate creations served in a Japanese style to sweet Italian-style rituals imported from Sicily, served up with a slice of pannetone. The new and unexpected spots reveal a delicious, diverse, and chocolate-ier city in 2025.

While you can still enjoy many of the originals mentioned in that story (including Café Louvre's spoonable variety pictured here), we also suggest trying these sips of the season when out and about this winter.

Originally a food stall tucked behind the Kotva department store, Taiyaki Bar has officially traded its small-stand roots for a permanent brick-and-mortar home and a winter menu that is currently dominating Prague’s social media feeds.

Founded by a young Prague-raised Vietnamese couple, the shop first gained fame for introducing the city to the taiyaki: a golden-brown, fish-shaped Japanese pastry that balances a mochi-like chew with a crisp, waffle-inspired exterior.

The viral sensation of the season is their themed hot chocolates, which transform the standard cocoa into a high aesthetic dessert. Each cup is topped with a cloud of toasted white chocolate and a scoop of ice cream and comes in three decadent variations: S’mores, Oreo, and Raffaello.

For the purists at Kakaw Co., chocolate is both a confection and a ceremony. Specializing in high-percentage, single-origin cacao inspired by South American traditions, this Vinohrady sanctuary strips away the sugary fluff of the standard café offering. Here, the hot chocolate is a dark, potent, and deeply aromatic brew that pays homage to the complexity of the bean.

Whether spiked with traditional spices or tailored to your preferred sweetness, this is a destination for the true dark-chocolate devotee where you can also pick up expertly roasted beans and artisanal chocolate products for a taste of the Andes in your own kitchen. It's also a social enterprise, supporting farmers who used to grow coca and poppy for drug cartels.

Hailing from the Sicilian town of Gela, Giacomo Candido brings the ancestral warmth of his great-grandmother’s wood-fired oven to Prague’s Arte Bianca in the shape of artisanal focaccias and crusty Trentino loaves.

This time of year, the Italian hot chocolate is a velvety, spoonable masterpiece, thick, fragrant, and designed for the slow pace of the dolce vita. Pair it with the house Panettone con Pistacchio (while supplies last) or sticky fig Christmas cookies wrapped in almond-flour dough.

If the crowded squares of Old Town feel a world away from the peaceful, festive mood you crave, the garden of Slovanský dům offers a smaller sanctuary, currently lit with a butterfly-motif light installation. Amidst the heated igloos, the garden’s drink stall run by the wine bar at Advivum, serves a crowd-pleasing American Hot Chocolate.

Advivum provides a nostalgic, high-quality take on the classic American style, a comfort food version of the drink. Unlike the spoonable dessert of European tradition, the Advivum’s take is creamy and drinkable (for something more grown-up, it's all about the white mulled wine with lavender honey).

Tucked away near historic Betlémské Náměstí, Choco Café is less of a coffee shop and more of a shrine to the cocoa bean. For purists, the draw is their signature hot chocolate, a drink so decadent it transcends the category. Choco Café serves what can only be described as the “good stuff”: high-quality chocolate, melted down into a silky, unctuous liquid that clings to the spoon.

The menu is a chocoholic’s odyssey, featuring over twenty variations ranging from classic dark to inventive infusions. For those seeking balance, a savory lunch menu of copiously filled baguettes and crisp side salads provides a necessary counterpoint to the sweetness.