Winter might be halfway over, but round these parts it seems like things are just beginning to get really cold. We love our hot drinks around here, and if you're feeling really lazy (who isn't on a cold winter's day?), you can do worse than snuggling up with a cup of boiling water, a packet of Swiss Miss, and a bottle of rum. Go ahead and do it—we won't judge you. But if you feel like fancying things up a bit, here are a baker's half dozen easy ways to spike your hot chocolate, complete with fancy-pants garnishes and measurements to boot! More

"I almost always find hot drinks disappointing," says Martim Smith-Mattsson, beverage director at New York's Vandaag in the East Village. "So many just taste like they've been sitting on a warmer all day. I wanted to make something fresher, more vibrant." Check out his unusual recipes for hot cocoa, hot cider, and a very loose interpretation of a hot buttered rum. More

Grounded in the West Village is known as an especially tea-friendly coffee shop, even selling their own line of loose leaf teas. Keep an eye out for their Rose Tea Latte ($4.75), in which a strong brewed, brisk black tea replaces espresso in a silky, extra-frothy latte. More

Part drink, part dessert, the Happy Jack is a well-executed latte steamed with spoonfuls of fragrant honey. A generous sprinkle of cinnamon tops it off. More

A warm cup of hot cocoa is hard to beat, especially when it's homemade or one of our favorite mixes. But spiked hot cocoa is even better on a cold night. Here are three combinations we're loving right now. More

For those unaccustomed to consuming alcoholic drinks that taste like, well, alcohol, the toddy can be a bit of a challenge. To those who genuinely like the taste of whisky, rum, or almost anything except vodka (I can't recall coming across a tequila toddy, but such a thing is not without potential merit), the hot toddy is the way to go. More

Since hot chocolate/cocoa is one of our favorite insides-warmers this chilly time of year, we set out to find the best. We tried 17 brands total. Find out how Swiss Miss compared to Ghirardelli and Jacques Torres, and which was like drinking pudding. More