2nd annual Okanagan Hot Chocolate Festival begins

Warm up this winter with something delicious, like a hot chocolate, while you tour around the Okanagan.

The second Okanagan Hot Chocolate Festival makes it much easier to do just that by challenging 24 local coffee shops to create something special for the festival that runs from Jan. 14 to Feb. 14.

“It’s in the in-between busy seasons, it’s right after Christmas and right before spring,” said co-organizer Taryn Shalapata.

“We wanted everyone to have something to do and another reason to support local.”

One of the many coffee shops up for the challenge is Kelowna’s Bright Jenny, where the baristas are setting themselves apart by adding every colour of the rainbow to their white chocolate creation.

“We are making a rainbow white hot chocolate,” said Chandler Fasoletti, barista.

“Last year for the Pride event, we did rainbow latte art, and it was a huge hit and everyone loved making it. It’s super fun.”

If you are looking for something more classic, you can get a little taste of France at Sandrine’s French Pastry and Chocolate shop in Kelowna. There, the owner Sandrine Raffault has dreamed up a chai hot chocolate with espresso chantilly.

“The chocolate is from Cacao Barry, that’s a French brand, and the chai spices we use are actually French ground by a local company called The Paisley Notebook. The coffee we are using is from a local company called Tug6,” said Raffault.

There are plenty more specialty-made hot chocolates to discover until Valentine’s Day. To taste every option offered, you can take a look at the Flavour Map at www.okanaganhotchocolatefest.ca.

by Global News