Home Vancouver Events Calendar Festivals and Events in Vancouver in 2024 Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival

Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival

Vancouver Hot Chocolate FestivalThe Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival is a local excuse for people to treat themselves to mugs of gourmet hot cocoa from some of the city’s best cafes.

In 2024 the Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival ran from January 13th until February 14th.

See below for information about the event, including a list of participating venues and menus. And, if you like jogging and cocoa, then see our article about Try Events to learn about the Vancouver Chocolate Run (which takes place in March and is unrelated to the Hot Chocolate Festival).

 

Vancouver Chocolate Run

 

Hot Chocolate Festival

2024 marks the 14th anniversary of Vancouver’s Hot Chocolate Festival. The event ran from January 13th to February 14th, so up until Valentine’s Day. This year, there were 162 flavours from 105 different locations.

Close to 36 cafes, bakeries and chocolatiers throughout the region usually participate in the event. They offer extra special gourmet cups of hot chocolate on their menus. Even a few gelato and specialty ice cream shops join in too!

Each place offers a special selection of hot chocolate creations during the festival. Ingredients include everything from white chocolate to dark chocolate, Belgian chocolate, exotic whipped creams, cookie crumbs and even ice cream!

 

BC-Made Food Producers

 

It’s not really a “festival …”

The festival isn’t so much a “festival” as it is an excuse to indulge, warm yourself up and try different cafes around town. In fact, often when you go to a venue you have to look around for their Hot Chocolate Festival menu. It’s a pretty subtle “festival,” but the drinks are good and usually somewhat out of the ordinary.

At the Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival don’t expect parades, balloons, live entertainment, fireworks or even craft activities and face painting for children. It’s not that kind of festival. Again, it’s an excuse for a unique cup of hot chocolate, but a good one!

Given that Vancouver’s winter can start to get dreary by the end of January and early February, any excuse to indulge in something like hot chocolate is a welcome opportunity!

 

BC Family Day

 

Festival Participants

Some venues participating in the 2024 festival include those in the lists below.

(Note: Venue and menu details are subject to change.)

 

Downtown Vancouver Locations (in 2024)

  • Cadeaux Bakery – at 172 Powell Street in Gastown. It offered four special drinks in 2024. One was a mix of butternut squash, white chocolate and caramel served with a pumpkin cake (January 13th to 27th). Another had a warm colour scheme and included mulled wine reduction, caramel, marshmallow and a mini panforte (January 13th to 27th). The third was a dairy-free dark chocolate drink with a chocolate banana ice cream bar (January 30th to February 14th). The last option featured lemon, guava and white chocolate (January 30th to February 14th). It was served with a mini croissant scroll.
  • East Van Roasters – an artisan chocolate and coffee shop that uses organic fair trade beans. The place is in Gastown at 319 Carrall Street in Gastown. 2024 festival treats included a pineapple coconut drink with a cookie, as well as a mascarpone ganache drinking chocolate served with a biscuit.
  • Mink Chocolates – at 863 West Hastings Street not far from Canada Place. There were two different drinks on offer throughout the 2024 festival. Each beverage featured a different type of chocolate. All were served with a Troodle dessert.
  • Thierry – a chocolatier patisserie and cafe with three different locations. In 2024 one hot chocolate was a Carupano chocolate with black pepper whipped cream and a tropical florentin. The other included milk chocolate with nutmeg whipped cream and a coffee marshmallow cookie. One beverage was available during the first half of the festival and the other during the second half.

 

Valentine's Day Activities

 

Elsewhere Within the City of Vancouver (in 2024)

  • Gem Chocolates – at 2029 West 41st Avenue (near Kerrisdale Park). Its 2024 drinks included a chai-theme (January 13th to 19th), banana hot chocolate (January 20th to 26th), rare chocolate (January 27th to February 2nd) and an apple flavour (February 3rd to 9th).
  • 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters – with four different locations, including one in Mt. Pleasant and another in Kitsilano. 2024 flavours wer dark chocolate infused with rosemary (January 13th to 28th) and chai-inspired beverage (January 29th to February 11th).
  • Beaucoup Bakery & Café – with a location at 2150 Fir Street in Kitsilano. Its Hot Chocolate Festival specials had a Star Wars theme. The first included an Oreo crunch (January 13th to 20th). Next was a creamy mix of chocolates with a KitKat (January 21st to 27th), as well as mocha fondue maple crumble (January 29th to February 14th). All three came with biscuits shaped like characters from the movies.
  • Bel Café – at 801 West Georgia Street. Its 2024 drinks were inspired by apple pie  (January 13th to 29th) and the flavours of cashew and maple (January 30th to February 14th). The first came with an apple tartlet and the second came with a macaron.
  • Butter Baked Goods – at 4907 MacKenzie Street (at 33rd Avenue). In 2024 it offered a hot chocolate with dark chocolate, one with cookie crumbs, and another with white chocolate.
  • Eternal Abundance – an organic vegan grocery store and cafe at 1025 Commercial Drive (a couple of blocks from Venables). It served cinnamon rasberry with coconut cream (January 13th to 28th) and sesame white hot chocolate (January 29th to February 14th). The first came with caramel chocolates and the second was served with a cookie.
  • Koko Monk Chocolates – a chocolatier at 1849 West 1st Avenue in Kitsilano. In 2024 there were three hot chocolates on offer at different times of the festival. For example, there was one with strawberry and cinnamon and another with dark chocolate and coconut.
  • La Glace – an ice cream shop at 2785 West 16th Avenue. It offered three different drinks throughout the festival. One of the options featured candied peaches and cream with white chocolate.
  • Uno Gelato – at 2579 West Broadway and 1055 Canada Place. Festival menu items for the 2024 season were a blackberry hot chocolate, a cheesecake fusion and a Mexican ponche.

 

Space Explorers: The Infinite

 

Elsewhere in Metro Vancouver (in 2024)

  • BjornBar Bakery – at 3053 Edgemont Boulevard in North Vancouver. It served orange dark hot chocolate as well as cayenne and caramel hot chocolate.
  • Caffe Artigiano – a coffee and pastry shop at both 4010 Main Street in Vancouver and 3154 Highland Boulevard in North Vancouver. Its 2024 hot chocolate flavours included rosemary vanilla and torched marshmallow, each with a different treat.
  • Chez Christophe – at 4717 Hastings Street in Burnaby and 1558 Johnston Road in White Rock. In 2024 it served a milk chocolate with cinnamon and cereal (January 13th to 27th) as well as a dark chocolate with Fleur de Sel (January 30th to February 10th).
  • Glenburn Soda Fountain & Confectionary – at 4090 Hastings Street in Burnaby. In 2024 year it served four different drinks, including a mint hot chocolate and a non-alcoholic whisky-flavoured hot chocolate.
  • Mon Paris Patisserie – at 4396 Beresford Street in Burnaby. 2024 treats included your choice of a dark chocolate drink with lavender flavours or a milk hot chocolate with hints of caramel and apple.
  • Thomas Haas – a chocolate and pastry shop with locations at 2539 West Broadway in Vancouver and at 128-988 Harbourside Drive in North Vancouver. 2024 offerings were a white hot chocolate with raspberry and shortbread, as well as a milk hot chocolate with toast and marshmallow.

 

Dine Out Vancouver Festival Restaurants

 

Cooking Classes

A few years ago, in addition to participating venues adding extra special drinks on their menus, there were a few cooking classes too.

On January 23rd and 30th in 2019, there were Italian Hot Chocolate Throughout The Ages classes that featured different styles of regional Italian hot chocolates. The events took place in the early evening at the Trattoria at the Italian Cultural Centre at 3075 Slocan Street. The cost for each was $60.

On February 6th there was also a Hot Chocolates of the World cooking class at the Trattoria restaurant at the Italian Cultural Centre. This time the class was about hot chocolates from Italy, Colombia, the Philippines and Mexico. The cost for this event was also $60.

The cooking classes did not take place in 2021 or 2022 due to COVID-19 restrictions. As of early January, they didn’t happen in 2023 either. 2024 details were to be confirmed.

For the most up-to-date information, see the Italian Cultural Centre‘s calendar of events.

 

Tips & Advice

Below are some tips and suggestions to help you make the most of your Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival experience.

TIP #1: Remember, it’s a season of exotic drink specials more than a festival. Don’t expect anything flashy – just mugs of extra-delicious hot chocolate.

TIP #2: Don’t drive across town for your hot chocolate and then drive immediately back. That would be silly! The drinks are good, but not that good! Instead, if you happen to be in an area and you love exotic chocolate treats, check out a participating place nearby. Or, if you see something you definitely want to try, then explore the surrounding area either before or after or combine it with a trip somewhere else.

TIP #3: Note that some places offer a choice of “official festival drinks” throughout the full festival season. Others, though, offer just one drink per week, so you don’t get a choice. That being said, however, of course all venues offer regular menu items every day of the week too.

TIP #4: Most places serve their drinks with a biscuit, macaron, scoop of gelato or other small treat, but not all.

TIP #5: Depending on your tastes, most of the drinks offered each season are delicious and decadent. Others, however, are arguably a bit weird (or at least not for everyone). Personally, for example, I think I’ll leave the flower-scented hot chocolates to others (who I’m sure will appreciate them more than me).

TIP #6: Don’t just visit the above places during the Hot Chocolate Festival and just for their festival specials. Participating venues are some of the region’s finest cafés, chocolatiers and bakeries. Check out their full selection of menu items any time of year!

 

Other Information

Visit the Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival website for more details and for the full list of participating coffee shops and restaurants.

For a list of other things to do in the region, check out the January or February Calendars of Events, or Vancouver’s Festivals & Events Calendar.

For a list of great restaurants, click Lower Mainland Places to Eat and Drink.