With hot chocolate season in full force, it's important to know your options available outside of a standard grocery store shelf. What started out as a small chocolate tasting bar in Montreal has now grown into an almost coast-to-coast operation for Cacao 70. Owning a small chocolate bar factory, a variety of shop concepts, as well as having some franchises in other provinces like B.C. and Alberta, Cacao also recently added a whole line of retail products to their arsenal; just in time for our cool, Canadian winter, no doubt.

"Most hot chocolate mixes, including those you would find in grocery stores, are made with a cocoa powder base because it has a greater solubility. These tend to be a bit thin, but still flavourful," says Gaiia Kim, head chocolate maker at Cacao 70. "Our quest is to reacquaint people with how hot chocolate was consumed in the past. Our drinking chocolate, made with shavings from our 'bean to bar' chocolate bars, is richer and creamier and crystalizes quickly because of the cocoa butter content."

In terms of the hot cocoa powders, Cacao 70 is offering milk chocolate, dark chocolate and sesame-infused flavoured powders, in addition to chocolate fondue packs and two types of drinking chocolate (one pictured above) which are, essentially, a combination of chocolate shavings and their signature sweet cocoa powder.

Now, for some house-made marshmallows...