The 5 best spots for hot chocolate in Toulouse
Artisan chocolatiers, gourmet cafés, and beautiful salons de thé: we list Toulouse’s best spots for hot chocolate
One of my favorite activities in winter, spring, and fall is to enjoy an afternoon in one of Toulouse’s many salons de thé, sipping on a hot chocolate. This being France, it’s relatively easy to find good hot chocolate. However, there’s good hot chocolate, and then there’s heavenly hot chocolate. I’m talking about the deeply flavorful, rich chocolat chaud that comes closer to a religious experience. Just close your eyes, take a leap of faith (don’t ask about the calories), and sip, letting peace and happiness settle around you like a warm blanket. I don’t know about you, but good hot chocolate certainly has the power to change my outlook on life!
The following are my 5 favorite spots for hot chocolate in Toulouse. Below, I’ve also included a handy Google map with these locations and a few other honorable mentions, because you can never have too many places to get hot chocolate! If you have a favorite spot, let me know in the comments so I can check it out.
Criollo Artisan Chocolatier Place Saint-Étienne
2 Place Saint-Étienne, 31000
Criollo is known as one of the best chocolatiers in Toulouse and their boutique on the Place Saint-Étienne also features a light-filled and lovely salon de thé where you can indulge in a variety of hot chocolates, artisan teas, and coffee. Get the chocolat chaud Bao dai (with lime and a hint of red chili). You’ll thank me. For those who are lactose intolerant, they have a version made with corn flour instead of milk, in the traditional way of the Aztecs.
Cacaofages
27 Rue Reclusane, Place de l’Estrapade, 31300
Opened in November 2017, Cacaofages is already making its mark with youthful energy (and delicious chocolate). Run by the two brothers Fages (thus the name), this chocolate boutique and salon de thé boasts innovative flavors like hot chocolate infused with jasmine tea (one of my favorites) or passion fruit (with a marshmallow flower that slowly opens as it melts into your cocoa). They also have a vegan option made with almond milk. You can take your hot chocolate at counter with windows looking into their workroom, to watch them at their latest creations. Extra points for the originality of the decor – when you enter, you feel like you’re walking into a sculpture gallery, but all the sculptures are made of CHOCOLATE!
Bello & Angeli – Le Lounge
4 Rue Victor Hugo, 31000
Bello & Angeli has been a fixture in Carmes since 2013, but they just opened a new boutique/salon de thé on the Place Victor Hugo in December 2018 that gives them space to offer mouth-watering, deceptively simple single-origin hot chocolates (staff can explain the difference and help you choose) that you can sweeten to your taste with a sweet syrup made from the juice given off in the first hours of the cacao bean fermentation process – a unique and delicious taste experience.
Racine Café
64 Rue de la Colombette, 31000
This lovely new café near Saint-Aubin opened in Fall 2018 and has become a fast favorite – for a “coffee” date or lunch. My favorite thing is get is a chocolat chaud viennois, which is hot chocolate with whipped cream, served in beautiful ceramic cups on a wooden platter.
Bapz
13 Rue de la Bourse, 31000
When someone says “chocolat chaud” in Toulouse, one of the first places that comes to mind is Bapz, the classic English-style tea room. Here, they serve hot chocolate in your choice of style: thin, medium, or thick – the last being almost pudding-like. It’s rich, but not overwhelmingly sweet.
Can’t get enough of that sweet stuff? Check out the Chocolate & Pastry Tour where we discover and taste the best chocolates and pastries in Toulouse in just 3 hours!
Photo credits: Barth Photographie, Taste of Toulouse
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