Ahead of World Chocolate Day 2025, we follow the South Indian chocolate trail for a decadent trip!
On the foothills of the Anamalai hills near Coimbatore, chocolate grows in the shade of banana trees and black pepper vines. Here lies Regal Plantations, home to Soklet, India’s first tree-to-bar chocolate brand, where our journey begins. At this family-run estate, visitors can walk through dense cacao groves, learn how the pods are harvested and fermented on-site and taste bars that reflect the terroir of Tamil Nadu’s tropical belt — bold, earthy and faintly nutty. Their 85 percent intense dark chocolate and Indian-origin spice blends have made waves in the craft chocolate scene, with exports now reaching Europe and Japan.
We circle the South Indian states, this Chocolate Day!
From here, the trail winds to Auroville, Tamil Nadu, where Mason & Co is quietly redefining India’s chocolate vocabulary. Founded by Jane Mason and Fabien Bontems, the brand champions bean-to-bar sustainability with cacao sourced directly from organic farmers in Kerala and Karnataka. Their flagship café, Bread & Chocolate, serves everything from cacao granola to vegan mousse, while the chocolate studio offers curated tasting experiences. With sleek design and single-origin purity, Mason & Co’s bars — like the 70 percent with sea salt or coconut milk — are crafted for discerning palettes.
Then there’s Hyderabad, where the chocolate revolution has gone fully experiential. Opened in late 2023, the Manam Chocolate Karkhana in Banjara Hills is unlike anything India’s seen before — a sprawling chocolate factory open to the public, complete with live chocolate-making stations, aroma tunnels, bean-roasting demos and a buzzing café. Operated by Distinct Origins Private Limited (DOPL), Manam offers chocolate made exclusively from Indian cacao beans and has pioneered concepts like single-estate bars. Their aim? To turn India from a milk chocolate consumer nation to a bean-to-bar connoisseur country.
Over in Kochi, Kerala, you’ll find Paul & Mike, a brand that’s racked up multiple medals at the International Chocolate Awards. Their philosophy is bold: use only Indian cacao, experiment widely and make chocolate that tastes ‘more fruit, less sugar.’ While their production unit is not open to the public, the company’s HQ and select outlets often host limited tasting events and collaborative pairings with mixologists and chefs. Their Sichuan Pepper & Orange Peel bar is a bestseller, but flavours like sitaphal, jamun and even chilli-cumin are a testament to India’s diverse flavour palette finding a new home in chocolate.
Hopping over to Idukki, explore one of the oldest cacao-growing regions in the country. Here, initiatives like GoGround Farm and collectives such as Vanamoolika work closely with indigenous farmers to grow heirloom cacao in biodiverse, forest-fringed lands. Some plantations allow visitors to witness cacao harvesting firsthand — tasting sweet, lychee-like pulp straight from a pod or observing the crucial fermentation process under banana leaves. This is chocolate in its purest form — unprocessed, untampered and intimately tied to the land.
Round off your sojourn in the south with two final stops that embody chocolate as craft, culture and experience in Karnataka. In Bengaluru, step into Craftery by Subko, the city outpost of Mumbai’s cult roastery-meets-cacaoféria. Housed in a leafy bungalow, this thoughtfully designed space offers limited-edition Indian-origin chocolate bars, fresh cacao pastries and slow-roasted coffee — all rooted in provenance and storytelling. The tasting menu here is seasonal and collaborative, often featuring single estate cacao from the Western Ghats paired with origin-specific coffee or rare ferments.
A few hours away you can also check out Naviluna in Mysuru, one of India’s earliest bean-to-bar chocolate makers. Set inside a 120-yearold heritage house with sun-dappled courtyards and gothic windows, this is no ordinary chocolate shop — it’s a sensorial deep-dive into chocolate and dessert making. Naviluna works only with organically grown Indian cacao and infuses its bars with ingredients like gondhoraj lime, chilli and mango ginger. Visitors can also sample their latest batches.
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