We had hot chocolates 18 and 19 out of 21 at the Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival at East Van Roasters. They make coffee and chocolate from beans they source globally. I can’t say anything about their coffee, but the chocolate that they make, using only cocoa beans and sugar, is delicious and beautifully made. Their café is little, but charming and warm and the tables perfectly positioned so that you can sip your drink while watching the chocolate and coffee making room.
East Van Roasters is also a social enterprise that provides meaningful employment opportunities for women living in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. It started as a programme to give employment to the women residing in the building above them, a building funded by the federal government to provide care for women in treatment for addiction. . Today it is part of the Atira Women’s Arts Society that provides economic opportunities for women through teaching, making and selling of arts and crafts in Vancouver.
The first of the two hot chocolates that we tried here was called Italian Kiss and was a coffee spiked sweet mascarpone ganache drinking chocolate topped with whipping cream and dusted with cocoa powder. This was served with a lady finger. The second was called Pinachocolada; a caramelized pineapple coconut milk chocolate ganache topped with coconut whip and pineapple caramel drizzle. This is served with a vegan cookie bar made with tropical dried fruits.
On a normal, none hot chocolate festival day, given their expertise in both coffee and chocolate, there would seem to be no better place to order any drink on offer that mixes the two (or create your own by buying one of each and asking for an empty mug).
East Van Roasters: 319 Carrall Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada Open Tuesday to Saturday 10am-5pm eastvanroasters.com
