In the toniest hotels in Vail Village, hot chocolate isn't just for kids. The grown-up version served here is as much about presentation and drama as it is about taste and texture, an unforgettable melange of flavors. Introducing the two most elevated cups money can buy.

At the Four Seasons, a porcelain coffee cup capped with a latticework of hand-spun dark chocolate and a marshmallow cube arrives with a traditional French chocolate pot on a silver platter. After being churned tableside, a mixture of Valrhona chocolate and hot steamed milk is poured over the marshmallow, which melts through the chocolate lattice. The final touch: a dollop of whipped cream sprinkled with chocolate shavings ($16/cup, $28 for two).

At The Sebastian, a golf ball–size, gold-dusted sphere of handmade Valrhona milk chocolate arrives in a clear glass cup. As dark hot cocoa spiced with cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and star anise is poured from a porcelain pot, the sphere melts, adding marshmallows and pearls of chocolate to the decadent mix ($18).