Tuesday, April 4th on Pacific Palate, I introduced two young entreprenurial chocolatiers who have a great new chocolate shop in Vancouver’s Yaletown. Brandon Tam and Themis Velgis have opened Chocoatl at 1127 Mainland Street to great acclaim, and I know why. Their hot chocolates are to swoon for. Made from chocolate from one of 15 different countries, they 
also can infuse the hot chocolate with natural flavourings from choices such as lavender, hazelnut and rose. I also spoke with Dr. Jordan LeBel about the health benefits now being attributed to dark chocolate. He was speaking on behalf of Poulain chocolate. Poulain chocolate bars, imported from France, are now available in mainstream retailers such as IGA, Shoppers Drug Mart and Save-On Foods. For chocolate pairing information from Dr. Jordan LeBel, click here to download a Word document with the details.
I enjoyed your piece on cbc this a.m., but wonder about what Chocolatl’s priorities were in sourcing their chocolate.
Much African chocolate has a bad reputation for its use of child labour, for example.
Companies like Green & Blacks and Coco Camino, on the other hand are producing wonderful chocolate that is organically grown and ethically produced.