Best of Cleveland 2017: Iced Chocolate Latte

Forget the artificial sweeteners and sugar-packed syrups. Heartwood Coffee Roastery is changing the latte game with its iced chocolate latte ($4.75). When co-owners Nick Edmundson and Jim Sanders were figuring out the iced coffee menu for their new coffee shop in Hudson, they stumbled upon Hartzler Family Dairy’s chocolate milk — a creamy, nonhomogenized milk sweetened with sugar and cocoa. After some trial and error, the duo scored sweet success by mixing 10 ounces of the milk with 2 ounces of the shop’s Birdseye espresso blend. “It was a perfect match,” Edmundson says. The sweetness and creaminess of the milk blends with the big-bodied espresso that has been roasted just 30 miles away in Burton. “This latte is a crowd-pleaser,” Edmundson says. “For someone without a palate for coffee, it is a good way to come in to it.” 46 Ravenna St., D-2, Hudson, 234-284-2555, heartwoodroastery.com