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Avanaa Chocolate
Take Your Teens Behind the Scenes of Montreal's Own Bean-to-Bar Chocolate Maker!
Avanaa Chocolate is a Montreal-based, award-winning craft chocolate maker founded by Catherine Goulet, a former geologist whose travels brought her to small cacao farms across Latin America, Indonesia, and beyond. The cacao beans are sourced from small farms and cooperatives, shipped to Montreal, and then transformed entirely on site in the Villeray workshop, from sorting and roasting through to grinding, conching, and tempering. The result is a single-origin, bean-to-bar chocolate that reflects where each cacao bean was grown. The workshop boutique at 309 rue Gounod is open to the public year-round, with a boutique section, seasonal confections, and a tasting bar where visitors can explore how origin and roasting influence the flavour of chocolate.
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When:
Regular boutique hours vary by season. Check the Avanaa website for the most current schedule before your visit.
Where:
309 rue Gounod, Montréal, QC H2R 1B2
🚇 Jarry
Highlights:
- A Chocolate Tasting Workshop Unlike Anything Else in the City: Avanaa offers a ticketed tasting workshop, held on Saturdays, that takes participants through the bean-to-bar process from start to finish. The workshop walks through each step of how the chocolate is made, and finishes with a guided tasting session exploring a range of flavours. Tickets can be purchased directly through the Avanaa website.
- Single-Origin Chocolate Bars Made Entirely In-House: Every chocolate bar sold at Avanaa is made from scratch on the premises, using cacao beans sorted by hand, roasted in small batches, and stone-ground for days. The bars highlight the distinct flavour profiles of cacao from different origins, including Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, and Colombia, and the dark chocolate bars contain only two ingredients.
- A Boutique Full of Things Worth Bringing Home: Beyond the bars, the workshop boutique carries a range of chocolate-derived products including hot chocolate mixes, cacao husk teas, cacao nibs, cocoa powder, and seasonal confections. Limited edition chocolates also make an appearance, particularly around the holidays and special occasions.
- Tasting at the Counter, No Workshop Ticket Required: Visitors to the boutique can taste the chocolate bars at the counter as part of a regular drop-in visit, with no booking required. It is a lower-pressure way to discover how origin and roasting affect flavour before committing to the full workshop experience.
Recommended Audience:
This is a great outing for parents with teens and young adults in Montreal who love chocolate and want to discover what sets a craft, bean-to-bar chocolate maker apart from anything they would find on a grocery store shelf.
What to Expect:
A working craft chocolate workshop and boutique in the Villeray neighbourhood, with optional ticketed Saturday tasting sessions that walk through the bean-to-bar process from cacao sourcing through to guided chocolate tasting.
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Some things to consider during your visit:
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Book the Tasting Workshop Early: The Saturday tasting workshops run on a fixed schedule and sell out in advance. If your visit is centred on the workshop rather than the boutique, checking the Avanaa website ahead of time and booking early will save you disappointment, especially during the holiday season and around special occasions.
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The Workshop Is Compact: Avanaa is a small, working production space rather than a large event venue. If your group is on the larger side, confirming capacity and logistics directly with Avanaa before booking is a good idea so there are no surprises on the day.
- The Workshop Is Conducted Primarily in French: Based on our visit, the workshop was led in French with some translation into English. Given the amount of information covered, a full bilingual delivery is not always feasible, so if your teens are not comfortable in French, it is worth reaching out to Avanaa ahead of time to ask about language options for the session you are booking.
Disclosure: We received complimentary passes to the chocolate tasting workshop in exchange for our coverage.
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