My 1-Ingredient Upgrade for the Best Hot Cocoa Ever

As a kid, hot cocoa is just about as good as it gets when it comes to piping hot seasonal drinks. For me, that love has carried well into adulthood, mostly due to the fact that I was a late bloomer to coffee, and not necessarily always in the mood for tea. Whether I needed something warm on a cold winter morning or a chocolatey indulgence for a cozy evening at home, hot cocoa has never let me down.

These days, I tend to save my hot cocoa consumption for special occasions, so as not to ruin its uniquely nostalgic charm. When I do make it, however, I like to give it a little upgrade—and seasonal kick—by using a chai tea bag and a mix of autumnal spices. This simple trick elevates hot cocoa with a warm, fall flavor—and it couldn’t be easier to put together.

My Hot Cocoa Upgrade

• The Upgrade: Chai tea bag
• What You Need: Hot cocoa mix, milk or water, 1 chai tea bag, and a dash of each seasoning (optional)
• How to Put It Together: Make the hot chocolate as you normally would, then steep the chai tea bag in the already heated drink.
• Optional add-ons: Whipped cream, marshmallows, brown sugar
• Why I Love It: It’s simple, seasonal, and tastes amazing

How to Add Chai Tea to Hot Cocoa

There are plenty of iterations of this trick online, including making hot cocoa from scratch with real chocolate instead of using a mix. I personally love the convenience of the mix, which is why this upgrade has always suited me perfectly: the mix does all the work, while the chai tea and spices are the cherry on top.

Start by preparing your hot cocoa. Once it's ready, drop in the chai tea bag and let it steep just as you would in hot water. This part is where experimentation will come into play; if you want a stronger chai flavor, go ahead and steep a second tea bag.

Now for the accouterments: Once the tea has been steeped, top off your drink off with a dash of cinnamon, nutmeg, and/or pumpkin spice, followed by a dollop of whipped cream and mores spices. Care to get a little fancier? Toss in a cinnamon stick for flair, or add a touch of brown sugar to the spice mix for extra sweetness.

I’ve even gone as far as adding a caramel drizzle and a few marshmallows to really bring out the seasonal notes. But be careful: Once you go too far down this road, there’s no turning back, and who knows if you’ll ever enjoy a basic hot cocoa the same way again. Then again, there could be worse scenarios, couldn’t there?