ChocoSol is a local horizontal trade chocolate and coffee company with an emphasis on ecology and direct sourcing from Mexican forest gardens tended by Indigenous farmers.

The project got its start at farmers’ markets, and ChocoSol’s modular bike or mini-truck can still be found at many in the summer.

The shop is as modular as their concepts and relatively small, though there is a sidebar where drinks and chocolate can be enjoyed.

Shelves of chocolate and coffee products in no-frills, eco-friendly packaging take up an entire wall, and all bean-to-bar chocolate production takes place in the back.

There’s a museum-like upstairs area where tastings take place every Friday, and events and live music can be hosted up here too. You can also book the space for private tastings and events.

All chocolate here is made from a blend of organic shade-grown cacao from regions such as the Lancondon Jungle in Chiapas and the mountains in Oaxaca. The “horizontal” aspect of their trade includes providing local small batch chocolatiers like Some and Soul with cacao.

ChocoSol built a lot of the machinery used here all by themselves. They slow roast their cacao as opposed to doing it at a higher heat like most.

It’s then ground with a custom-built primary grinder made from volcanic silica based on Oaxacan-style molinos. It then goes through secondary artisan-grade machinery, and finally tempered to give it snap and shine.

Cacao is ground for eight hours for Rustico Line bars ($10) like dark chocolate, Luscious Coconut and Vanilla Sea Salt, 14 to 20 hours for specialty bars like Jaguar crunch made with rare albino cacao.

When it comes to eating chocolate, they don’t just do bars here. There are also specialty items like white chocolate coconut butter cups and vanilla sea salt chocolates with coconut butter filling.

Drinking chocolate ($10) is molded into pucks, which you’re intended to chop up and emulsify to make your own beverage at home.

In this way you can also mix different chocolate varieties like spicy Aztec blood and Oaxacan cinnamon. Rich and frothy, it can be served hot or cold: the secret ingredient is the air you whip in during the emulsification process.

In the same puck shape as the drinking chocolate but a whole different product is the cookie-like choco-alegria, based off an ancient nutritious Mexican snack.

They’re also serving a stunning vegan chocolate hominy milk. Way creamier and frothier than soy, it’s made with Ontario purple corn, lightly floral rose of cacao and blended with ice.

Though they’ve been around for years, this is their first storefront operation where bars, drinking chocolate and coffee can be purchased.