ChocXO Coffee & Cacao

I tried to stop by ChocXO but it is gone now. I do not understand why they take ChocXO’s reviews, they need to start from the scratch and earn the reviews. I’m very disappointed.

Met some friends here for coffee and to check out the new ownership/​shop
Walking in was very awkward, it felt like they rushed to get the shop open and furniture was just kind of moved around
The menu is extremely limited and only has one price listed
I ordered an almond milk latte with an extra shot, 5.50?!
Ok this is going to be a good latte?! Nope
It was ok, not great but not terrible and in a paper cup
There was a lot of people working on their computers inside so we sat outside only to find cigarette ash and butts on the table and ground
I know they cant control what happens outside their shop ²⁴⁄₇ but if a table is touching your store you might want to take a sec and make sure the areas presentable?
I love supporting small businesses but I’m not in a rush to return here

Hidden House Coffee has moved into what was Chocoxoxo. Their other location is in SJC, in the Los Rios district. It is quite a happening place there. HHC tends to be on the lighter side, but it’s not to bright that you won’t be able to do anything about it, of course I’m talking about their coffee beans. What I really like is the apricot pear smoothie, it’s fruity & not too sweet, very refreshing. They have kombucha on tap at SJC, did not see it on the menu here. Hopefully they will make kombucha available here as they settle in. At the moment they are selling the residue of Chocoxoxo chocolate, not sure if they will continue carrying that. Anyhow, glad that they are much closer to us now.

This is no longer ChocXO!!! They do not deserve to take ChocXO’s reviews, they need to start back at zero and earn the reviews. I’m quite upset. They’re selling the last of the ChocXO chocolate, it’s so bare in there. The menu is ridiculously simple, it shows only one size and no prices for adding shots or syrups. My small latte with soy milk and sugar free caramel was $ 5.50! More expensive then ChocXO. I bought a one inch by one inch chocolate and it was $ 1.50, geesh! I won’t be back! The service was mediocre. The espresso was pretty good.

Yes! I don’t have to drive down to SJC anymore to enjoy HHC. Hidden House Coffee is a very cozy and friendly coffee shop in San Juan Capistrano, and their new café in Lake Forest has the same amazing coffee but with a very different feel. The SJC location is extremely small and cozy with limited indoor seating and pretty much no outlets, but the Lake Forest location is much larger and has plenty of outlets (bless, I have a 6 year old laptop that relies on being plugged in). Pricier than other coffee shops but it’s good quality and I don’t mind paying more to support the business, they’ve worked really hard and deserve it.
I really hope as they transition, they rearrange the space a bit to accommodate a whole range of coffeeshop goers. At the moment, there are a lot of tables arranged so it feels like a restaurant, which is nice for people who come here to work, but now that they have this large space I’m really hoping to see some couches/​lounge area for people who want to relax and read or just hangout for a bit without having to sit in those uncomfortable metal chairs. With high ceilings and many windows, the space is very open and clean, but it would be nice to have a little reading nook corner. They have a few armchairs, but they are awkwardly shoved in the corner way too close to the other tables for anybody to comfortably sit there without being all up in other people’s business. There is a nice outdoor seating area, though and parking is easy. Best of luck to HHC! Hope Lake Forest treats you well.

so sad ChocXO is gone now :(Also gone is pretty much all of their amazing chocolate, and coffee too.
Prices however are up! $ 3 now for a small iced coffee…

Best coffee I’ve ever had and I’m a coffee snob from Seattle. Very knowledgable barista. I had an Americano. The roast was sweet and tropical without sweetener.
My only negative comment is in regards to the music. As a lifelong DJ I know how music affects people’s mood.
Today the music sounded like underground rap. It really was a bit unsettling and not conducive to a comfortable hang out with a friend, reading a book or working or studying. That might not be the vibe they are going for though.
Knocked off one star for the music. The coffee however is 10 STARS!

Best mochas I’ve ever had, hot or iced. I prefer the white chocolate, but they’re all delicious and smooth.
The lattes are great too, I get the el Salvadorian single origin espresso. Haven’t tried the others.
And the chocolates are dank too haha

Upon first glance you think it’s a typical Starbucks, but this little café is actually a Chocolate lovers dream house. Serving a wide array of chocolate concoctions, this small shop brews all of their cocoa’s in-​house. For first time visitors they give you an opportunity to sample a few and I ended up choosing the 72% dark chocolate. They also give patrons an option of non-​fat milk, whole milk, almond and vegan to compliment the cocoa mixture. Great drinks and most certainly will return again :)

I freakin love this place. their coffee is SO GOOD, their staff is always super awesome and helpful (and patient because I’m know of those annoying people who stare at the menu deciding if I should get something unhealthy or be good and stick with a coffee or tea haha), and their teas are suuuuperrrr gooood. Like super good.
I’m not a chocolate person, so I don’t know about their chocolates other than the fact that they’re super adorable and sound yummy.

Amazing chocolate! I had a mocha 70% chocolate– I love that I can choose the chocolate I want in my drink! My kid had a hot cocoa– he says its «so good».
Very informative, helpful staff. Let us try the various chocolate ganache.
I will be returning!

I was first alerted to ChocXO Coffee & Cacao by my friend, Allison, who proclaimed, «You need to go to ChocXO in Lake Forest by you. They have the best hot chocolate I have ever have. Go get it.» OK, so Al and I have been friends for a very long time, so I trust her. You can get white chocolate ganache, milk chocolate ganache or dark chocolate ganache hot chocolate. These are all blends of their hand made chocolate plus cream. They finish it off with whippped cream, also. We have ordered the milk chocolate version and WHOA, it is rich chocolately goodness. It is worth the two Lactaid I have to take to partake in this heavenly drink. My niece and fiancé have ordered it with whipped cream, but I would probably do without in the future as it is pretty sweet and rich on its own. I am definitely going for the dark chocolate ganache hot chocolate in the future.
ChocXO makes all their own chocolate in their Bean to Bar Chocolate store/​factory in Irvine. They have a small sampling of their chocolate bars and confectionery here in this Lake Forest location, but I highly recommend going to the chocolate store in Irvine and definitely take the factory tour, if you can, if you enjoy chocolate. It is awesome. I have reviewed that location, also.
They roast their sourced coffee beans, here, also. I enjoy the fact that you can buy their coffee beans to enjoy at home. I have had iced and hot coffee drinks here. It is nice to have the option of soy milk and almond milk here as dairy alternatives.
This is a four star review not five as I think the prices are a bit on the high side for coffee drinks here. Also, service has been very inconsistent for me here. Staff has been really friendly and helpful at times but also then kinda just there in the past. I do like the fact that is a small run coffee/​chocolate business competing with the Starbucks and Peet’s of the world. I always want to see businesses like this succeed, especially since this has been a location of death for coffee places in the past with a Tully’s and Green Earth Coffee Roasters failing here. Let’s hope ChocXO can be the coffeehouse that can shine in this location.

I have to say I do like this place. Very rich chocolate and it’s a little pricier than all the other coffee shops. I go when there’s special promos so keep an eye out on social media.
It’s just not the fastest service around. They are friendly but you just have to wait for it.

I like how I can choose milk to dark and even origination of cacao to make my hot chocolate here.
I picked 80% dark chocolate with a choice of non fat milk, (they also have soy or almond milk options) and a maple oatmeal scone.
The hot chocolate is probably one of the best I can find at any other bakeries, even better than Ghiradelli’s.
It has a depth in the rich, dark chocolate flavor with a very slight hint of sweetness. It is one of the least sweet hot chocolate out there.
Maple oatmeal scone is very thick, dense and not too sweet.
I would love to buy their hot chocolate mix, but it only comes in one kind, that has sugar and other «hard to pronounce» ingredients. The best way to enjoy their hot chocolate at home will be buy their chocolate pieces and melt it in your choice of milk, that’s actually how Choxo make their hot chocolate as well.
I love their chocolate selection and ambience in two of their locations I have visited.

Regardless of what I’ve ordered, Cappuccino or Chai Latte or anything else for that matter. This is a place that takes a great deal of pride in their products and service. Plus it’s a great place to hang out. EXCELLENT

I give ChocXO five stars for its originality, concept, ambiance and product. All around a great visit with great customer service, quality product and comfortable place to hang out for a cup of coffee or chocolate enjoyment.
I found ChocXO on Unilocal while visiting relatives in the mission viejo neighborhood. I was visiting from Phoenix and was interested in discovering a good local coffee house. I was in luck with finding this place and even came back the morning before the six hour drive back! The concept is novel as far as I am aware. You can pair your espresso with handcrafted drinking chocolate. This is not your typical mocha found at Starbucks though. This is quality dark chocolate well blended with espresso. I tried the flat brown (flat white with added chocolate) with the 70% chocolate the first visit and then tried the 75% the second time. Both were great! The baristas are very welcoming and can recommend you good options. I didn’t have the chance to try their plain espresso which would be good in diagnosing the quality further, but I will visit every time I am in the area.

2015 Unilocal 100 CHALLENGE — ⁰⁶⁷⁄₁₀₀
Discovered this place on a whim while getting lunch at the Jimmy John’s next door. It’s located in this plaza that is mostly taken up by a large Home Depot, with ChocXO, Jimmy John’s, and some other stores hidden at the end on the side of the building. I had never heard of this place before, but the name intrigued me so I wanted to check it out!
This place was AWKWARDLY silent/​quiet. I walked inside and literally NOBODY was talking in the entire store. The employees were busy away making coffee, etc. and all of the customers were sitting quietly reading books, surfing the web on their laptops, or sipping away at their cold brewed coffee.
For how many employees they had working there, I was surprised nobody acknowledged me when I came in. I walked around for a minute or so, checking out the displays. It’s kind of like a Starbucks, but focusing more on chocolate and fresh coffee. They had mugs, and other items for sale on various stands/​shelves, and then there was a case full of a few types of chocolate bark and truffles.
I finally got the attention of one of the employees, and I will have to say that he was very friendly and helpful! He allowed me to try almost all the different types of bark, although unfortunately I didn’t really LOVE any of them. They also had some truffles in the display case, which looked very pretty, but I wasn’t about to shell out several dollars for a tiny piece of chocolate.
I was kinda disappointed in the small selection of chocolate. For a place called ChocXO, I expected there to be a LOT of different kinds, but they had maybe 6 – 8 flavors of bark, and maybe 10 truffle flavors. That was pretty much it. There were other things prepackaged, but I just glanced at those and didn’t find anything too interesting for me.
I’m not a huge coffee drinker, so I didn’t pay attention to what they had to offer. If you are really into coffee, though, you might like this place!
Overall, not sure if I will be back. Cool to check out for a few minutes, but it wasn’t what I was expecting. Didn’t like it as much as I wanted to.

Having grown up in the suburbs of Mission Viejo, I recognized the Starbucks, Diedrich’s, and The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf logos by the time I went to kindergarten. To my well-​trained little brain, coffee meant Starbucks, and you could find one on any route you wove through the county. Twenty years later, it was with extreme pleasure that I was informed about ChocXO from my mom who still lives in the area. Now that my coffee tastebuds have matured from my frappucino high school days, I was looking forward to some quality I could savor and appreciate.
Onto the stage of this era of my coffee-​filled life came the mocha of ChocXO, the drink that the barista told me was the most popular. You can customize the size, type of espresso, and chocolate. Espresso options list the varying qualities of each blend. There are different percentages of dark chocolate. I told the barista I liked strong espresso and dark chocolate and asked him to choose a good blend for me. He came up with this pairing: Papua New Guinea espresso with 72% chocolate. A 16 oz mocha is $ 4.75 and some of the espresso options cost a little extra.
As I sipped the mocha, I tasted chocolate. Lots of chocolate. It’s as if my 16 oz cup was primarily hot chocolate, and I couldn’t really taste the espresso (which I love the taste of). So just beware that depending on the strength of your chocolate, your drink might be altered a bit. The chocolate did taste delicious though! I love the bean to bar philosophy. My husband got an Americano and he said it was definitely better than Starbucks. Also, my mom loves this place and her go-​to drink is a decaf mocha with almond milk and milk chocolate. Every time she comes, she orders the exact same thing, so that’s saying something for consistency and pleasant taste.
They do have some delicious-​looking pastry options and beautiful chocolates. The café’s style and seating is very open, and there are large and small tables available. You can also sit outdoors. There’s way more seating than a typical Starbucks and this place has a cute, unique feel.
Props to ChocXO for standing out amongst the green umbrellas of Starbucks in Mission Viejo/​Foothill Ranch/​Lake Forest. When I come next time, I’ll go lighter on the chocolate and hopefully be able to savor the espresso!

I’m always excited about walking into this place… two of my favorite things… coffee & chocolate!!! These chocolates come real close to Christopher Michael’s chocolates in Costa Mesa, to bad he closed up shop!
Anyway…I always enjoy the double mint mocha with a extra «black eye» in it.
One thing though, I remember reading a fellow Unilocaler’s review and him saying something about the roasting machine by the door… never seems to give off that roasting beans smell?
I really wonder if it’s just for looks?
The Irvine location, they tell me at Lake Forest is where I was told I could see the delicious chocolates being made. Gotta get down there soon!
This will always be on my «Coffee Hit List» as one of the ones to go out of my way for!

Unilocal challenge 2015 ²³⁄₃₆₅
Very modern chic coffee and chocolate shop in south OC, brewing and melting the best of both worlds to intice your senses. A marriage sent from heaven. Plenty of parking, and plenty of chocolate. And plenty of mmmmmmmm.
The milk chocolate iced mocha was delicious. It had simple hues of sweet milk chocolate and expresso combined with milk and topped with some chocolate froth. Simple and delicious. The hubsters said it was yummy. The iced coffee had a distinct taste to it, but required some cream and sugar to hide the after taste. Once I stirred my magic potion and made it my own, it was heavenly. Their cream and sugar bar had chocolate powder, which is a must at a chocolate bar. Both drinks cost about $ 7.50 total.
Chocolate prices are a little pricey. A small bag of cocoa coffee toffee with a few big pieces was just over $ 7.00. The toffee was just okay, not something I’d rush back in to buy. They also sell .25 chocolate squares, which were pretty good. No, I take it back, those squares were chocilicious. They also sell a huge selection of chocolate specialities. Im more of a solid milk chocolate girl, they sell chocolate hearts that satisfy that.
Service was just okay. Not very welcoming, or informative which was disappointing. I would of liked to see more excitement from the staff and passion for the coffee they brew up and a little more information on their specialties and engagement with the customers. Drinks were prepared at a slower pace, as others mentioned, so I was prepared for that. Maybe it was just an off day for them.
Im kind of torn here. The coffee was solid, some of the chocolate was delightful, the shop was cool but the service could of been better. For me the service is what can make or break an establishment. Here, it broke it.
Solid 3.5−4 stars for now.
Review #531