© Juliette & Chocolat (Plateau)
Juliette & Chocolat
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 our fluffy toasted marshmallow and a drizzle of melted white chocolate.
© Cacao 70
Cacao 70
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
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, ginger, spicy pepper 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 Lounge
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 six hot chocolate flavours (including a vegan one) and add some extra toppings for a more decadent drink.
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 Weiss chocolate (a bean-to-bar French brand), cocoa and love. Oh, and milk of course, regular or plant based.
© Patrice Pâtissier
Patrice Pâtissier
2360 Notre-Dame Street West | Website
Patrice Demers and his lovely, sweet-laden store don’t need an introduction anymore, but did you know that they serve one of the best hot chocolates in Montréal? Their classic version contains Araguani chocolate, cocoa, vanilla and a light infusion of spices. For a small supplement, you can get a caramel mousse topping, and yes, you’ll want the caramel mousse topping.
Marius et Fanny
Close to a dozen flavours of hot chocolate await you at Marius et Fanny. The beverages are divided into two categories: soft for milk or white chocolate-based drinks and intense for drinks with darker chocolate (anywhere from 65% to 75%). The intense flavours also include single origin chocolates. Marius et Fanny also serves special seasonal concoctions such as a coconut-flavoured one.
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 58% dark chocolate, cocoa powder, chai spices and a sprinkle of salt. You can get yours with regular or plant-based milk. Either way, it’s delicious!
Ernestine
1827 Mont-Royal Avenue | Website
NOIR Chocolat has become Ernestine and moved to Mont-Royal Avenue. With this new incarnation, owner Véronique Ethier pays homage to her grandmother Ernestine who introduced her to the world of desserts and chocolates. The Ernestine hot chocolate is as unctuous as the one that used to be served at NOIR with a comforting combination of milk, cream and 64% dark chocolate.
Les chocolats de Chloé
546 Duluth Street East | Website
This adorable Plateau-Mont Royal shop is among the most loved in Montréal. Les chocolats de Chloé’s basic hot chocolate is made up of cocoa paste, dark chocolate and organic cane sugar. It’s the same hot chocolate mix it sells in the store for you to enjoy at home. It also serves an alternate weekend choice that is either a chai, coffee or mint-flavoured brew.
Chocolats Geneviève Grandbois
Geneviève has been one of Montréal’s foremost artisanal chocolate purveyor 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. It’s 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 dark chocolate, spices, cinnamon and a mix of coconut and soy milks. It can be purchased in store to make at home.
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
1360 Rosemont Blvd. | 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 cow, 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 chocolate is always available as well as a second seasonal option. The classic 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 hot chocolate mix will soon be available for purchase.
Café Bazin
380 Victoria Avenue | Website
Westmount’s Café Bazin is the chic destination for brunch, lunch or an exquisite pastry date. Its classic hot chocolate is a mix of 64% chocolate, a little bit of sugar and some milk. This makes for a light yet creamy drink that you can top with one of its homemade marshmallows.
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 with 68% chocolate or its 70% spicy mix created by adding several warm spices and topped with a cinnamon stick. It also serves a deconstructed hot chocolate that includes a small teapot with melted chocolate, a pitcher of your milk of choice (cow or plant-based) and homemade marshmallows.
© Alison Slattery - Two Food Photographers
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. Its coffee is exceptional and the latest spot in Old Montréal is Instagram famous for its funky design. The 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 MELK’s homemade marshmallows.
Pikolo Espresso Bar
3418B du Parc Avenue | 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 70% 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.
© Alison Slattery - Two Food Photographers
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 made with Valrhona chocolate. Try their Chaï mix with 72% Venezuela chocolate, cocoa powder, spices from local shop Épices de Cru and black Assam tea.
Barley
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.e
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.
Ratafia
6778 Boulevard Saint-Laurent | Website
Little Italy’s dessert destination Ratafia has concocted a great warm drink to go with their Sweet Date dessert box to go. They melt two kinds of Barry Callebault chocolate then add frothy hot milk and top with sweet maple whipped cream sprinkled with maple sugar. Absolutely decadent!
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!
Café Chez Téta
227 Rue Rachel East | Website
We are unveiling in this article the new hot chocolate that will be available as of the beginning of February at Café Chez Téta, the beloved Plateau spot specializing in Lebanese delicacies. Their new brew will be 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 two kinds of hot chocolates. The first, their Classic, is made with a house mix of 66% dark chocolate, cocoa and oat milk. The second, their Boréal mix, is made with a mix of 67% chocolate and some local spices such as Gorria pepper (our local Espelette), Sweet Gale, and Québec juniper berries. The two mixes are also available to go in addition to a chocolate bomb that contains a marshmallow.
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.
