Some of Montréal’s best hot chocolate

Mayssam Samaha

Mayssam Samaha is a food and travel writer and blogger and the founder behind the blog Will Travel for Food. She travels the world in search of the next culinary discovery. From Iceland to South Africa, she’s already visited over 30 countries and there’s nothing she enjoys more than wandering around a farmers’ market in a foreign city. She is also the founder of the SAISONS intimate dinner series highlighting Québec products and chefs.

This article was updated on January 26, 2023.

Nothing says cozy and comforting like a steaming mug of hot chocolate. Luscious, warm, rich and sweet, the beverages listed below are the perfect mix of premium ingredients and creativity. From classic to completely decadent and utterly funky, dive in and enjoy!

Juliette & Chocolat

3600 Saint-Laurent Blvd. (and other locations) | Website

Juliette is the doyenne of all things chocolate in Montréal. Her stores are so popular it’s often hard to find a table at any time of day or night. Several hot chocolates are on this institution’s menu, including the latest, a marshmallow madness hot chocolate with velvety thick hot chocolate topped with fluffy toasted marshmallow and a drizzle of melted white chocolate.

 

Cacao 70

2087 Sainte-Catherine Street West (and other locations) | Website

Cacao 70’s Montréal chocolate factory as well as all its stores are beacons of chocolatey goodness for all dessert lovers. In addition to all the regular flavours, try the Cacao 70 Factory Hot Chocolate: a snifter of melted 70% dark chocolate is served with a side of milk or dark chocolate base on the side for the clients to mix their own drink.

 

La Diperie

68 des Pins Avenue East (and other locations) | Website

La Diperie may very well be known for its ice cream cones but it also makes great hot chocolate in the cold season, which it offers in 30 flavours! From salted caramel to Oreo, dark or classic milk chocolate and more, you’ll certainly find one (or ten!) flavours to your liking.

Au Festin de Babette

4085 Saint-Denis Street | Website

Au Festin de Babette is a classic go-to spot for great hot chocolate in Montréal. Its hot chocolate selection is separated into three categories: dark chocolate, white chocolate and Valrhona Grands Crus. In all, twelve different flavours for you to enjoy, from a classic mix to comforting brews flavoured with spices, orange, nuts or piment d’Espelette.

 

C’ChoColat

1255 Bishop Street | Website

C’ChoColat takes toppings to a whole new level! Its crazy and fun concoctions include hot chocolates topped with salted caramel, Oreo bits, marshmallows, and more! Pick from one of its five hot chocolate flavours (including a vegan one) and add some extra toppings for a more decadent drink.

 

Café Reine Garçon

611 Duluth East | Website

Les Chocolats de Chloé, a much beloved chocolate shop, is now only selling its hot chocolate mixes to go. Don't fret however, because you can enjoy a cup of their vanilla, chaï or mint hot chocolate across the street at Café Reine Garçon. Don’t miss out on this rich and delicious brew. 

 

Le Butterblume

5836 Saint-Laurent Blvd. Website

In the Mile End, the Butterblume has become one of the most popular in Montréal from day one. Its take on the tartine made on its homemade sourdough bread is now legendary. Its hot chocolate concoction is made with 65% Cacao Barry chocolate, some cocoa and love. Oh, and milk of course, regular or plant based.

Marius et Fanny

2006 Saint-Hubert Street (and other locations) | Website

Half a dozen flavours of hot chocolate await you at Marius et Fanny: white, caramel, milk 38%, Ghana 40%, Guayaquil 64% and Tanzania 75%. The intense flavours include some single origin chocolates. Marius et Fanny also serves special seasonal concoctions.

 

Automne Boulangerie

6500 Christophe-Colomb Avenue | Website

The Scandinavian-inspired Rosemont bakery serves some of the best bread in the city. Its pastries are also delicious and so is its hot chocolate. Automne uses 64% dark chocolate, cocoa powder, a sprinkle of local St-Laurent salt. You can get yours with regular or plant-based milk. Either way, it’s delicious!

Ernestine

1827 Mont-Royal Avenue | Website

In this Plateau Mont-Royal shop, owner Véronique Ethier pays homage to her grandmother Ernestine who introduced her to the world of desserts and chocolates. The Ernestine hot chocolate is good, classic hot chocolate that is as smooth as can be, combining milk, cream and 64% dark chocolate. Simple and deeply comforting.

Chocolats Geneviève Grandbois

162 Saint-Viateur Street West (and other locations) | Website

Geneviève has been one of Montréal’s foremost artisanal chocolate purveyors for several years now, thus contributing to the happiness of her young and mature clientele alike. Her European-style hot chocolate is prepared from her homemade blend of 70% chocolate and vanilla cane sugar. Several other flavours and origins are also available. Note that the hot chocolate is only served at the Geneviève Grandbois Mile End boutique on Saint-Viateur Street West.

Sophie Sucrée

3770 Saint-Laurent Blvd. Website

Vegan bakery Sophie Sucrée specializes in pastries and cakes that are dairy free and/or allergy friendly. Its hot chocolate is served all winter long and is a scrumptious mélange of chunks of Belgian dark chocolate melted in the client’s choice of (plant based) milk and finished with a pinch of salt. The beverages can then be topped with homemade vegan marshmallow or whipped cream.

Hof Kelsten

4524 Saint-Laurent Blvd. | Website

This Mile End Jewish-style bakery has garnered a loyal following since its opening. Hof Kelsten’s flakey pastries and scrumptious breads are some of my favourites, hands down. Its hot chocolate is made by preparing a thick Valhrona chocolate ganache, which is then thinned out with hot steamed milk, in the same manner one would make a latte.

Café Dei Campi

6201 Rue Chabot | Website

Everything at Café Dei Campi tastes delicious. Its vegan pastries are some of the best in town, regardless of their butter and egg content. Its hot chocolate is no exception and is prepared with extra brute cocoa with vanilla and sugar and your choice of soy or homemade almond milk.

Avanaa

309 Gounod Street | Website

The little Villeray chocolate factory makes its exceptional bars from beans that it sources, roasts and prepares in house. Avanaa’s classic hot is a rich mix of two 70% chocolates, a little sugar and oat milk. Don’t forget to top yours with a homemade marshmallow. The classic and 2 other mixes available for purchase to make at home.

Janine Café

3900 Wellington Street | Website

The popular brunch and lunch spot also serves several hot chocolates made with a variety of beans, including white chocolate. Try one of Janine Café’s most popular drink made from 58% chocolate or its spiced one, created by adding a warm spice blend and topped with a cinnamon stick. Janine also serves a deconstructed hot chocolate that includes a small teapot with melted chocolate, a pitcher of your choice of milk (cow or plant-based) and homemade marshmallows.

 

MELK Bar à Café

1206 Stanley Street and 5612 Monkland Avenue | Website

With two coffee shops across the city, MELK Bar à Café is slowly expanding its coffee empire through Montréal. The MELK hot chocolate is made like a latte with a dark or milk Cacao Barry chocolate base and an addition of steamed milk. It can be topped with their homemade marshmallows.

Pikolo Espresso Bar

1635 Rue Clark | Website

This little café in the McGill University ghetto has been a coffee lover destination since its opening. Pikolo’s hot chocolate base is a dairy-free, homemade chocolate syrup made with 54% Callebaut chocolate. A milk of your choice is then added to the syrup base. That same chocolate base is also used in its mochas.

Arhoma

15 Place Simon-Valois and 1700 Ontario Street East | Website

The Hochelaga-Maisonneuve bakery and pastry shop is one of the most loved in Montréal for its baked goods. Arhoma’s hot chocolate is made with Camino, a fair trade and organic semi-sweet chocolate. Clients also have the option of having their hot brew made with Arhoma’s house brand of 70% chocolate.

 

Fous Desserts

809 Laurier Avenue East | Website

This popular Plateau Mont-Royal pastry shop is a destination for lovers of all things sweet. Fous Desserts offer 7 different hot chocolate mixes, 3 made with 64%, 66%, and 72% Valrhona chocolates and 4 house blends. Try their Chaï mix with Valrhona chocolate, cocoa powder, spices from local shop Épices de Cru and black Assam tea.

Barley, cereal bar

2613 Notre-Dame Street West | Website

This Little Burgundy “cereal bar” serves smoothie bowls, breakfast and brunch items and, of course, cereal. Barley’s hot chocolate is a rich concoction that can be topped with a handful of cereal for that extra sweetness and crunch.

Alice & Theo

3870 Wellington Street | Website

Located in Verdun, charming Alice & Theo is named after the owners' children. It specializes in artisanal ice cream and puff pastries, among other treats. Alice & Theo offer a few hot chocolates, one with 65% dark chocolate and another, lighter one made with 40% chocolate. They also offer a matcha latte made with their green matcha sourced directly from Japan.

L’affaire est chocolat

2350 Rue Beaubien East | Website

Beaubien Street L’affaire est chocolat offers a “hot chocolate bar” where you can customize your hot chocolate. Choose a chocolate (anything from a house brand to a “prestige” gold with different cocoa content), then choose a size and milk percentage, add some “character” in the form of spices, aromas or syrups, and finally, top it off with some extras such as whipped cream or marshmallows. It’s the perfect drink every time! They have 18 chocolates to choose from, including some from Vietnam.

Café Chez Téta

227 Rue Rachel East | Website

At Café Chez Téta, the beloved Plateau spot, specializes in Lebanese delicacies. One of their brews is made by expertly combining a homemade 70% cocoa chocolate ganache infused with anisseed and caraway, for a drink that is reminiscent of sundrenched faraway lands.

M. & Mme Chocolat

273 Rue Beaubien East | Website

This Petite Patrie chocolate shop prepares three kinds of hot chocolates. The first, their Classic, is made with a house mix of 64% dark chocolate, cocoa and oat milk. The second, their Boréal mix, is made with a mix of 64% chocolate and some local spices such as Gorria pepper (our local Espelette), Sweet Gale, and Québec juniper berries. The third is a oure 70% Guanaja chocolate from Valrhona. The three mixes are also available to go in addition to a chocolate bomb that contains a marshmallow.

Café Ferlucci

432 Rue de Castelnau East | Website

Cute Villeray Italian coffeshop Ferlucci has had a loving following since day 1 due to their excellent coffee, their friendly attitude, and their cozy ambiance. Their regular hot chocolate with marshmallows is available all year round. To get into the Holiday spirit, they serve a peppermint hot chocolate available all season. And in February, a spicy hot chocolate with dark chocolate, plant-based milk and notes of cinnamon, chili and ginger makes an appearance for a few weeks.

Mayssam Samaha

Mayssam Samaha is a food and travel writer and blogger and the founder behind the blog Will Travel for Food. She travels the world in search of the next culinary discovery. From Iceland to South Africa, she’s already visited over 30 countries and there’s nothing she enjoys more than wandering around a farmers’ market in a foreign city. She is also the founder of the SAISONS intimate dinner series highlighting Québec products and chefs.

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