XOXOLAT (pronounced sho-sho-la) is an edible gallery of all things chocolate. We cater to the consummate foodie, the ravenous and indiscriminate chocolate lover, or the chocolate pupil wanting to know, discover, and taste what all the buzz is about.

We carry some of the world’s finest chocolates, including many award-winning single origin and estate chocolates. We also make our own chocolate treats, including our line of bars, nuts, and truffles featuring unique pairings of your favourite gourmet fare.

Join us in:

• cherishing the values of organic, fair and equitable trade
• exploring the richness of cacao beans from the finest tropical plantations
• delighting in award-winning artisan chocolate from around the world
• experiencing the unique pairings of your favourite gourmet fare
• savouring the pleasure of pure chocolate, free of chemicals and additives
• embracing a passion for life that a true love for chocolate can bring

Shop Hours:
Tuesday to Saturday: 10:30 am – 6:00 pm
Sunday: Noon – 5:00 pm

2391 Burrard Street (at 8th Ave) Vancouver, BC, Canada

Telephone: 604.733.CHOC (2462)

Email: xoxo (at) xoxolat.com

At a sold-out Hopscotch event last week, we did one of the most unique pairings – Scotch, chocolate, and cheese.  In case you want to try this at home over the holidays, here are the pairings, courtesy of Van Albrecht and Associates, Benton Brothers Fine Cheese, and all of us at Xoxolat:

* Finlaggan Old Reserve Islay Scotch with Comte Arnaud Reserve, one of the most widely eaten cheeses in France, and Amano’s 70% Ocumare bar from Venezuela.

* Ileach Single Islay Malt 40% with vintage three-year-old Dutch gouda and our 71% blend of fine Forrastero cocoa with blueberry bits.

* Laphroaig 10-year-old Scotch with Cashel Blue cheese from Ireland and Pralus’ magnificent 100% bar from Madagascar.

* Ileach Single Islay Malt 58% with five-year-old raw milk Ile-Aux-Grues cheddar from Quebec and our private blend of 60% cocoa from Terra Nostra.

Special thanks to the ever-spectacular Eagranie Yuh, the Well-Tempered Chocolatier, for sharing her indepth knowledge and love of fine chocolate with the guests at this seminar.

XOXO,

Pam & Hodie

Mark your calendars: On Friday, November 20th, artisan chocolate meets wine, beer, cocktails and canapes at one of the year’s best chocolate events! Joe Whinney, CEO and founder of Theo Chocolate, will make a rare appearance in Vancouver for this special evening.

Theo Chocolate is a fair-trade, certified organic bean-to-bar chocolate producer in Seattle. The company’s values, philosophy and transparency is matched by the passion of the people who work there.

This unique event will feature canapes from the Refinery, the mixology stylings of Lauren Mote, fine wines selected from the Farmstead Wines collection, and the opportunity to taste some amazing chocolate. And that’s not all. There’s more stuff coming down the pipe, so stay tuned.

Date: Friday, November 20th, 2009
Time: 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Location: The Refinery, 1115 Granville Street, Vancouver
Tickets: $50 | Buy tickets

One of the things that we’re committed to is environmentally friendly packaging.  We want our chocolates presented in a beautiful way, but in packaging that is as green as possible.

That’s why we chose a range of gorgeous bamboo boxes for our truffles and chocolates.

Bamboo is not only nice to look at, but it’s durable, versatile, and washable! And although it feels like wood, it’s actually a grass that grows to full length within a few months and becomes durable enough to harvest within three years – all without the use of pesticides that are harmful to the environment.

We also use a range of  glassware in our gift collections, so that once you’ve enjoyed the chocolates, you can make a toast to your good health!

XOXO,

Hodie

On Friday night, we were co-sponsors of the West Coast Chocolate Festival’s “Single Malt Scotch and Chocolate” at the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts. It was a beyond-sold-out event led by Chef Marcus von Albrecht of Mava Foods and The Well-Tempered Chocolatier Eagranie Yuh.

Eagranie Yuh and Chef Marcus von Albrecht

Chef Marcus eloquently introduced all of the Scotch while Eagranie presented the chocolate notes on the following pairings:

Laphroaig 10-year-old was paired with the Pralus 100% and the Cluizel 99%. The Pralus is created from the highly respected Criollo cocoa from Madagascar. It has a flamboyant character with many fruit and acidulous top notes from raspberry to red wine, continuing through more caramelised richer flavours to a treacle-like finish. The Cluizel is beloved by connoisseurs for its deep and bitter chocolate taste.

Finlaggan Old Reserve Islay was paired with the award-winning Amano Ocumare, a Venezuelan Criollo with natural flavour notes of red fruit (such as plum or cherry) and slightly smoky or woody notes with a hint of raisin.

The Ileach Single Islay Malt 40%  was paired with our 71% dark, a blend of fine Forrastero beans featuring an uncommonly smooth texture with rounded cacao notes, slight delightful acidity upon entry, with earthy notes throughout, followed by light and clean exit floral notes. For an extra bite, we teased the palate by adding bits of dried blueberries.

And last, but certainly not least, the Ileach Single Islay Malt 58% was paired with a Terra Nostra private blend crafted by a 5^th generation Vancouver-based chocolatier, Karlo Flores. His 60% chocolate has subtle vanilla/floral entry flavour notes, distinct and consistent cocoa notes throughout, with a beautiful finish with lingering cocoa and leathery notes.

To cap it all off, we created a piece de resistance, thanks to Chef Marcus’ recent trip to Italy. Breathtaking black truffle shavings danced across dark milk squares, freshly made that afternoon by Hodie, our resident queen of gourmet blends.

Special thanks to our gracious hosts, the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts, and their talented team: Chef Julian Bond, Bali Mann, Tim Ellison, Maitre d’ Adam Butler, Chef Johannes and his crew.

Chef Johannes thanks his crew

And hats off to all of the volunteers from the Chocolate Festival!

XOXO,

Pamela

Last week, Hodie and I went to Seattle to meet with one of our suppliers, Theo Chocolate, the only organic, fair trade, bean-to-bar chocolate factory in the United States.  The passion that their entire team has for their chocolate is contagious.

They’re dedicated to “changing the definition of quality” by making sure that their award-winning chocolate also meets the highest ethical and environmental standards.  They’re all about “passion and integrity in every luscious bite.” Couldn’t have said it better myself!

If you’re going to the Seattle area, be sure to sign up to tour their factory.

On our tour, we were treated to a ganache table-tempering demonstration by one of their chocolatiers, Rebecca. She made it look so easy…

Cooling the chocolate ganache

Checking the temperature

Into the form for setting

Ready to cool overnight

She could tell that the chocolate was done by the light in it, the taste, and a final check with a thermometer. It was 70-72 degrees Fahrenheit in the room, which should also be the final temperature of the ganache. After rolling it into the form for setting, the ganache sits overnight.

All of their confections are handmade. They have only one guitar for slicing the ganache into cubes, which are then run through an enrober machine to be coated with chocolate.

Of course, we had to sample their work. Their original line includes burnt sugar, lemon, peanut butter & jelly, fig fennel, mint, and Ivory Coast. And we were lucky enough to catch the last of their seasonal basil ganache – herbs with dark chocolate are a favourite of mine.

XOXO, Pamela

One of our goals is to make sure we know exactly where all of the bars that we carry in the shop come from. Yes, that means touring chocolate factories around the world… I know, I know, it’s a rough job but somebody’s got to do it.

Last month, I went to the Zotter factory just outside of Graz in Austria. Wasn’t sure what to expect; after all, they’re known for their wild blends, whimsical illustrations, and intense devotion to having ethical and environmentally friendly chocolate bars. 

In their brochures, they describe themselves as a “family establishment.” Very true! I was trying to find the corporate office when I nearly walked into the home of the senior Frau Zotter. She lives in the original family home just beside the beautiful modern factory. She was outside gardening so fortunately she stopped me before I accidentally scoped out her personal chocolate collection inside the farmhouse.  (I’m only assuming that if you live next door to a chocolate factory, you must have a kitchen full of samples and products-in-process.)

My guide was from their international sales team – Katharina Frauwallner (no, she’s not Frau Frauwallner.)  She said that everyone at Zotter feels like they’re a part of a family, and they live the corporate values. For example, all of the food in the company cafeteria is local and organic, most of it sourced from just out the back on the acres of farmland in this beautiful village near Riegersburg.

It was mid-August so everyone was busy getting back to work after the factory had closed for six weeks during the summer.

 What I love about Zotter is their commitment to creating hand-crafted ethical chocolates: “Organic and fair are prerequisites for an ethical and sustainable economy which will enable us to continue to enjoy chocolate in the future… With the purchase of z o t t e r chocolates you make a contribution to the improvement of the living and working conditions of the farmers and plantation works from the producing countries.”

Closer to home, Zotter partners with regional suppliers. The fresh milk for the milk powder, the butter and cream are from Tyrolean farmers (”bio vom Berg”).

The result? Hand-scooped delights such as: Almonds with Grappa Raisins; Black Cherries with Vanilla; ButterCaramel; Cashew and Pineapple; Celeriac, Truffle and Port Wine; Cheese-Walnut-Grapes; Goji Berries in Sesame Nougat in soy chocolate; Lemon Polenta; Marc de Champagne; Schilcher and the Pumpkin; Schonberger Red Wine; Scotch Whisky; White Poppy with Cinnamon and Apricot Spirit.

Sehr Gut! Auf wiedersehen. 

XOXO, Pamela

We really do have some of the most amazing customers! A gal came into the shop a couple of weeks ago.  Her entry started a bit oddly. Most people come in, gaze in awe at the array of chocolate and often say something about the amazing chocolate aroma. Instead, she was hesitant, almost reluctant to stay. She slowly squeezed by a customer and started to look around. Eventually, it all became clear (we’re a chatty group and she’s a friendly gal, after all).

Let me digress for a moment. I believe we are all gifted in some way or another and that there are some who are more gifted than others. (I could go on for pages on how I think we, and by reflection our education system, do ourselves a huge disservice by dummying ourselves down. Is it to fit in? Another day, another Oprah Show…)

At any rate, one of the super powers I have come to admire most, especially since having the shop, is the sense of smell, and by extension, taste. Oh, to be able to differentiate each of the sooo many ingredients that make up our whole world is magic to me. And when I read that the cacao bean is considered to be the highest absorbent of the environment around it, I knew I had some learnin’ to do.

So then in walked a super hero, Super Sophisticated Palate (we’ll call her SSP). After some chitchat, it came out that she didn’t just smell chocolate when she came in… there was so much more. OMG, SSP has the best super power ever.

She’s just started her own interior designer biz. Not just making spaces beautiful, but wanting to make them fit the personality of the owner; to bring out their best energy. Of course, I want her to hone her olfactory super power for the betterment of mankind, but her passion is spaces and even though she’s just starting out, I’ll bet we read about her in Vancouver Magazine, Western Living, and then the world! (Our Super Hero’s real name is Helen Mucci & Time to Transform is her biz name.)

XOXO, Hodie