Calgary hot chocolate festival returns in Feb with more than 100 participants

The Bullet Coffee House's Birthday Bliss hot chocolate (left) and Snowcapz Cafe's Honeycomb S'mores & Oreo S’mores hot chocolates (right).

More than 100 different specialty hot chocolates will be sold throughout Calgary next month as part of a charitable competition dubbed YYC Hot Chocolate Fest.

The annual event sees cafés and restaurants sell innovative hot chocolates, some boozy and some not, for all of February, with a portion of the sales donated to Calgary Meals on Wheels.

There are even dairy-free, gluten-free and vegan hot chocolates available.

Officials say 2023 marked the most successful year yet, with more than 70,000 hot chocolates sold and some $100,000 raised for the charity.

After the event wraps up at the end of February, awards will be handed out for the city's best hot chocolates.

Last year, the winners were:

• Master Chocolat, which was the top-rated hot chocolate;
• Hexagon Café, which had the best-selling hot chocolate, and
• Amato Gelato, which had the top-rated spirited hot chocolate.

This year, participating vendors include:

• 1600 World Bier Haus
• 722 World Bier Haus
• 8 Cakes
• Abbey's Creations
• AGGÜDO
• Alforno Bakery
• Amato Gelato
• Analog Coffee
• Apprentice Café
• Approach Cafe and Bar
• Aroma Cafe Bar
• Barrow Coffee Roasters
• Bell's Cafe
• Bike and Brew
• Black Sheep
• Bono Coffee
• Boogie's Burgers
• Bragg Creek Bakery & Cafe
• Brekkie
• Bridge15
• Bubblemania Cafe
• Cacao 70
• Cafe Jindo
• Caffe Beano
• Calgary Climbing Centre
• Calgary Heritage Roasting Co.
• Canela Vegan Bakery & Cafe
• Canyon Meadows Cinemas
• Chocolate Lab
• Choklat
• Cococo
• Coffea Café
• Community Natural Foods
• Congress Coffee
• Cornerstone Music Cafe
• Cravings Bistro
• D6 Tabletop Café
• Deane House
• Deville Coffee
• District48
• Edelweiss Village
• Element Café
• Euphoria Café
• Flower & Wolf
• Fonda Fora
• For Goodness Bake
• Free House
• Fringe Coffee
• Good Bread
• Good News Coffee
• Good Trade Coffee Company
• Gringo Street
• Heritage Park Historical Village
• Hermana Chocolate
• Hexagon Café
• Hey Sugar
• Hutch Café
• Kaffeeklatsch
• Kitamba Java Café
• La Creperie the Bakery
• Ladybug Bakery and Cafe
• Lazy Loaf and Kettle
• LIC's Ice Cream Shop
• Light Cellar
• Little Chief Restaurant
• Loophole Coffee Bar
• Love at First Scoop
• Made by AKB Bakeshop & Cafe
• Master Chocolat
• Maven
• Milpa
• Mollie's Pet Market and Cafe
• Monogram Coffee
• Mr Sun Tea
• Neighbour Coffee
• Odyssey Coffeehouse
• Ollia Macarons & Tea
• Oolong Tea House
• Our Daily Brett Market & Cafe
• Pablo Cheese Tart Calgary
• Paradigm Spark
• Patisserie du Soleil
• Peanuts Public House
• Phil and Sebastian Coffee Roasters
• Pie Junkie
• Pixie's Candy Parlour
• Platform Cafe
• Pocket Coffee
• Primary Colours
• Prologue Cafe | Cocktail
• PZA Parlour
• RE:GRUB
• Regal Cat Café
• River Cafe
• Rosso
• Sammie Cafe
• Seasons of Bowness
• Sharetea Bowness/Montgomery
• Shoe & Canoe Public House
• Sips Avenida and Sips at the Market
• Snowcapz Cafe
• Snowy Village Dessert Café
• Stable Tenth Avenue Café
• Stoneyslope Brewing Company
• Sucre
• T2722 Luxury Barista Experience
• Telus Spark
• The Bullet Coffee House
• The Cheesecake Café
• The Coup
• The Pharm Drugstore
• Thomsons Kitchen & Bar
• Tiger Sugar
• Tops Pizza South
• Velvet Cafe
• Vendome Cafe
• Yann Haute Patisserie Ltd.

For more information on the type of hot chocolate each location is selling, you can visit the YYC Hot Chocolate Fest website.