© Juliette & Chocolat (Plateau)
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
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 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 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.
© 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. 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.
© 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, 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.
