Published 22 / 12 / 2022 Reading time: 8 min
While the cold is already present on the territory, what better than to warm up with a hot chocolate. Here is my selection of places in the Roannais, to taste the best.
Today, hot chocolate is no longer relegated to the rank of children's drinks. Real hot chocolate can be intoxicating and powerful and therefore rival good coffee.
I still remember the sweet comfort that hot chocolate gave me after many toboggan runs with my brothers and sisters. We stayed outside for hours until we no longer felt the extremities of our bodies.
Marion
Our return home was always epic, our clothes soaked like soup. Spread out on the backs of the chairs, they dried next to the wood stove, while we enjoyed our hot chocolates, often accompanied by a waffle or a homemade apple turnover. Today, as an adult, I still enjoy it as much. Each aroma, each flavor brings me back to this period of my childhood.
Amai Tea
Against the background of zen music, this shop, rue Maréchal Foch in Roanne, is a perfect place to relax and enjoy a good homemade hot chocolate with chocolate powder made on site. For the milk, it's up to you to choose either cow or vegetable!
Jean-Claude will offer you different hot chocolates: classic, Viennese (with whipped cream) or flavored with vanilla, caramel, hazelnut, spicy pumpkin (spicy pumpkin).
He also suggests that you drink this comforting drink with a dark chocolate banana bred, gluten-free & lactose-free pecans.
The little extra: the possibility of tasting a hot chocolate made from vegetable milk
Open Wednesday to Saturday from 13:30 p.m. to 19 p.m.
Black Pearl
Located on Place George Clémenceau in Roanne, this coffee shop and its cozy atmosphere offers you, in addition to tea and coffee, several hot chocolates:
- Hot chocolate in a Monin tube based on dark, white or hazelnut chocolate,
- Hot chocolate powder from the classic Fabrikathé brand or flavored (banana, caramel, pear-chocolate, etc.) with the possibility of adding a topping.
As an accompaniment, the chef offers gourmet formulas with donut, cannelé, macaron or muffin. If you come with friends, you can ask for the "cookie box" which allows you to have eight cookies to share. You can also enjoy your hot chocolate with local biscuits from Biscuiterie de la Loire.
The little extra: possibility of personalizing your hot chocolate with a topping (initials, drawing, etc.)
Open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 8am to 12pm and from 14pm to 30pm, Saturday from 18am to 30pm and from 8pm to 12pm and Wednesday from 14am to 30pm.
Titus and Suki
The retro chill style and atmosphere of this café, rue Alsace Lorraine in Roanne, is a perfect place to have brunch with friends, come to work while sipping your coffee or relax and enjoy a good homemade hot chocolate with homemade chocolate powder. square. The master word ? Good vibes.
Titus and Suki will offer you different hot chocolates with a base made by the famous chocolatier François Pralus.
Titus and Suki suggest that you accompany this hot drink with the unbeatable banoffee pie which capsizes hearts.
The little extra: You can enjoy your hot chocolate accompanied by a brunch between 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. (by reservation).
Open Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 18:30 p.m.
La Boulangerie
Opened this year, this cultural café, located in the heart of the historic city of Charlieu and called "La Boulangerie" welcomes you in a cozy atmosphere and in an atypical setting with stone walls, exposed beams and comfortable armchairs. Depending on the news, you can discover exhibitions of paintings, sculptures, writing evenings, reading workshops...
On the menu, a large selection of local and/or organic drinks: Fabrikathé teas, Ninkasi and Sornin beers, Weiss chocolates, biscuits and pastries. The great house specialty remains the "hot chocolate" made the old-fashioned way with real chocolate drops from the Weiss house (Saint-Étienne), good whole organic milk, all topped with a nice milk froth. A simple recipe without artifice to keep only the essential: "the good taste of hot chocolate from yesteryear".
This chocolate can be declined in Viennese chocolate with a beautiful whipped cream but also with vegetable milk! Peter suggests accompanying your chocolate with a delicious little biscuit (madeleines, shortbread, gingerbread, almond tiles, etc.) made by Charlieu pastry chefs.
Five varieties of chocolates are available:
- 64% - dark chocolate (Origin: Vietnam – vanilla notes, dried fruit aromas),
- 64% organic dark chocolate (Origin: Dominican Republic – organic and fair),
- Ceiba 42% - organic milk chocolate (Origin: the north of the Dominican Republic – fruit aromas and a good level of acidity),
- milk chocolate caramelatte 35% (without aromas and colorings, creamy, delicate and refined chocolate. A harmonious balance between smooth milky notes and the delicacy of an elegant caramel),
- Oryola 30% - hazelnut white chocolate (smooth white chocolate with real Italian hazelnut, a combination of the regressive sweetness of notes of cooked milk with the intense freshness of a hazelnut just shelled).
The little +: grow while having fun!
Open Tuesday to Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 19 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 20 p.m.
Coffee color
As a secondary activity, this roaster, present for more than 30 years on the Place du Marché in Roanne, has opened a tasting area with a few tables where you can drink coffee, tea and hot chocolate.
You will find hot chocolates from the Monbana brand, classic or flavored with caramel, orange or morello cherry. Not to mention the special Christmas hot chocolate flavored with gingerbread.
The little extra: special Christmas hot chocolate flavored with gingerbread
Open Tuesday to Saturday from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 14 p.m. to 19 p.m. – 04 77 72 93 88
DID YOU KNOW ?
Hot chocolate prepared with quality ingredients has many benefits. It is, for example, antioxidant and fights against aging. It also reduces heart related problems. It is also a good ally against fatigue, anxiety and stress.
Drink hot chocolate at home
Le Roannais also offers good products for concocting a hot chocolate at home and enjoying it by the fire under a plaid.
The Révillon chocolate factory offers a smooth and tasty chocolate drink, ready to drink, with 17,5% chocolate. Chocolate power and velvety texture guaranteed!
La Fabrikathe, located in Pouilly-les-Nonains, presents more than 10 cocoa powders on their website. This large choice allows you to make a hot chocolate with blueberry, pistachio, hazelnut or even pear flavors. The hardest part is choosing.
And be careful, do not abuse the whipped cream too much…
![Le petit choco saveur noisette de la Fabrikathé]()
© The Fabricathe ![Boisson chocolatée Celaya de la marque Valrhona]()
© Révillon chocolatier
The history of hot chocolate
The Maya civilization (600 years AD) cultivated the cocoa tree and used its beans to prepare a bitter and red drink made from cocoa, pepper, vanilla and achiote. For the Maya, cocoa was a gift from the gods. They consumed it for its therapeutic (energizing, aphrodisiac, etc.) and divinatory properties, especially during religious ceremonies.
You may have heard the legend that Christopher Columbus discovered cocoa in 1494 but mistook them for goat droppings!
It was only in 1519 that the cocoa bean was introduced to Spain by Hernando Cortès.
At that time, chocolate was a very precious commodity and was reserved for European royal courts and elites.
This changed drastically in the 19e century, because industrialization made chocolate more accessible.
In 1828, the first cocoa powder was developed by Coenraad Johannes van Houten using a hydraulic press. This is the beginning of hot chocolate as we know it today !
