Hot Chocolate Festival 2013 : Schokolade !

Me & Snowball in front of Schokolade last year (photo: Jerkface).

Schokolade Artisan Chocolates
2663 E Hastings Street
M Closed | T-Sat 10a - 6p | Sun Closed

#45 - "MOUNT FUJI"
36% white chocolate with fresh ginger and matcha served with four pieces of artisan chocolate.
Available: January 25 - February 9 Closed Sundays and Mondays

#46 - "BOMBAY SPICE"
Chai spice with 70% single origin dark chocolate served with four pieces of artisan chocolate.
Available: January 25 - February 9 Closed Sundays and Mondays


#47 - "SWEET N' SINFUL"
100% B.C. wild flower honey with 100% dark chocolate served with four pieces of artisan chocolate.
Available: January 25 - February 9 Closed Sundays and Mondays


#48 - "CANADIAN CLASSIC"
100% pure hazelnut with 38% milk chocolate served with four pieces of artisan chocolate.
Available: January 25 - February 9 Closed Sundays and Mondays


#49 - "ESPRESSO"
Espresso served with four pieces of artisan chocolate.
Available: January 25 - February 9 Closed Sundays and Mondays

#50 - "TEA ROSE"
Rose tea and 36% white chocolate served with four pieces of artisan chocolate.
Available: January 25 - February 9. Closed Sundays and Mondays.

After our little adventure at French Made Baking (and Kingsgate mall), we headed over to another favourite of mine, Schokolade. Their chocolates are some of my very favourites and their shop is a small and cozy one. Feeling very satisfied with the Lord of Hot Chocolate from French Made Baking, we decided to try one drink: the Canadian Classic and this is not just because we are Canadian, but because I have an adoration for hazelnut. It was quite foamy, and if you like then that`s great, but you really get that pure hazelnut taste when you sip this. I mean, you can pick up chunks of hazelnut with your spoon to give you an idea of what I mean by pure hazelnut. Another safe drink for the day because I love hazelnuts and I love milk chocolate: very little could have gone wrong and it was everything I expected: scrumptious!

The Canadian Classic with four pieces of chocolate was around $11, the chocolates are optional though.

With our drink came four pieces of chocolate that you got to pick. We chose the Mah-Jhong Orange Cream (fun fact for those who don`t know, I do in fact play mahjong, and the 红中 happens to be my lucky tile), the Mokka, the Sea Salt Caramel and the Hazelnut Crunch. All besides the Hazelnut Crunch which was made with milk chocolate, were made with 70% dark chocolate.

(CW starting on L) Hazelnut Crunch, Mah-Jhong Orange Cream, Mokka and Sea Salt Caramel.

I`m always returning to Schokolade for their chocolates, they`re delicious and quite unique. The lighting inside was not amazing, so my point-and-shoot camera did not feel like focusing for a good part of our visit... But there is a wide selection of other chocolates including chess pieces and Chinese chess pieces. All of their chocolates are made with very little to no mechanized equipment, which I think makes these quite impressive. I enjoyed the dark chocolate of the Mokka, and the orange cream in the Mah-Jhong chocolate. I would have liked the Hazelnut Crunch a little more if it didn`t taste exactly like my drink, which meant I didn`t find it standing out among the other three. My favourite chocolate of the bunch was definitely the Sea Salt Caramel, which surprises me because I don`t even like caramel. Apparently I like it with sea-salt!

Oh yum yum yummy Sea Salt Caramel!

I enjoyed my walk down memory lane, having been to both French Made Baking and Schokolade before. I do recommend them both, Schokolade in particular has a very cozy shop. French Made Baking is a little smaller which leaves less space for sitting but they always have amazing art on their windows (which I forgot to snap a photo of on my way out again, I`m sorry!) Again I wish I had had more time to sit and take nicer photos at French Made Baking (You can really tell I found parking at Schokolade because there are actually photos!) because I really do enjoy their drinks and little pastries. So far the people who are serving drinks at all the chocolate shops and cafes that I`ve been to have been extremely friendly, and willing to chat about what they do. So don`t be afraid to ask questions!

Thank you J for spending the day hot chocolate hopping with me :) We actually spent quite some time considering these really cute Korean agendas at the dollar store inside Kingsgate Mall (where I parked), and picked up a couple each before heading over to French Made Baking. I really enjoyed the day!








*Find French Made Baking on their main website here: click. 
*Find Schokolade Artisan Chocolates on their website here: click.