From Bar to Beverage: Manam Gives Indian Craft Chocolate a New Avatar
At its new Chocolate Beverage Bar, Manam is turning craft chocolate into hot and cold drinks, shakes and plant-based blends, while letting customers choose their chocolate, milk and flavours. The new beverage bar at Manam Chocolate Karkhana takes Indian cacao beyond bars and desserts, with 26 drinks shaped by flavour, texture, temperature and customisation.
From guntur chilli and orange to matcha, banana and berries, Manam’s new Beverage Bar is using Indian craft chocolate to rethink what a chocolate drink can be. The new beverage bar at Manam Chocolate Karkhana in Hyderabad takes Indian cacao beyond bars and desserts, with 26 drinks shaped by flavour, texture, temperature and customisation.
Walk into Manam Chocolate Karkhana in Banjara Hills and chocolate is everywhere. But the latest addition to the space is not something you eat. It is something you drink.
The new Manam Chocolate Beverage Bar brings craft chocolate into a format that is familiar, but gives it considerably more room to experiment. The idea, says Ruby Islam, Head Product & Innovation, Manam Chocolate, was to extend the brand’s exploration of Indian craft chocolate into beverages.
“Chocolate is not just a bar,” she says, pointing to the many forms Manam has already explored, from pastries and gelatos to bonbons and truffles. The beverage bar is another extension of that thinking, allowing people to experience the depth and versatility of chocolate in a cup.
Chef Ruby Islam, Head Product & Innovation Manam Chocolate
The open bar is designed to make that process part of the experience. Instead of a conventional counter where a drink simply arrives after being ordered, guests can watch the chocolate beverage baristas at work and engage with them while their drinks are made.
The menu has around 26 beverages across hot chocolate, cold chocolate, plant-based drinks and shakes. The inspiration comes partly from mixology, with chocolate being shaken, stirred, layered, frothed and foamed to create different textures and experiences.
That approach also means chocolate is no longer being paired only with the usual suspects. The menu plays with combinations such as orange with dark chocolate, matcha with white chocolate, banana with chocolate, berries and even guntur chilli.
“We wanted to show people what it looks like,” says Ruby, referring to the idea that chocolate drinks do not always have to be the familiar brown cup of hot chocolate.
The menu is built around the chocolate itself. Guests can choose from different couvertures, ranging from creamy white chocolate to 100 per cent dark chocolate, and taste them before deciding what they want in their drink. They can then choose the temperature, milk and additional flavours.
For those who prefer plant-based options, there are almond, oat and coconut milk choices. The drinks do not have added sugar in their base formulations, with the sweetness coming from the chocolate itself. A 100 per cent dark chocolate version is also available for those who want a drink without sweetness.
The combinations are often rooted in ingredients that have an association with cacao and its origins. Spices, fruits, flowers and herbs find their way into the menu. A blueberry oat iced chocolate, for instance, brings together compote, milk, a chocolate shot and foam. Other drinks draw from Manam’s desserts, including a tiramisu-inspired drink and combinations based on its Basque cheesecake, which is a must try.
The process of developing these drinks was not quick. Some combinations took months of trial and error. Ruby says the team started working on the menu in December and spent around three and a half months testing and refining the drinks before the launch.
The starting point was always the chocolate. The team looks at its top, middle and bottom flavour notes before deciding what ingredients would complement it. That is how combinations such as orange and coffee with chocolate came together.
The beverage bar is also an example of how customer feedback can shape a new offering. According to Ruby, customers who were already visiting Manam frequently for hot chocolate began asking for more combinations, smaller portions and alternate volumes.
“People wanted shots,” she says. Those conversations eventually led to greater customisation and the beverage bar format.
That customisation is perhaps the biggest difference between the new concept and a standard chocolate drinks menu. The idea is not simply to offer more flavours, but to let people decide what kind of chocolate experience they want.
There is also a larger philosophy behind it. Ruby sees chocolate as an ingredient that can move comfortably between formats and cuisines. “There is not a single book or culinary that chocolate can’t find its way into,” she says.
That explains why Manam’s experimentation has moved from cakes and brownies to gelato, drinks and now even savoury applications. The brand is also exploring ways to use cacao in food that is not necessarily sweet.
For the Beverage Bar, however, the focus remains firmly on the cup. And even within that relatively familiar format, Manam is asking a simple question: what else can chocolate become?
At the new bar, the answer could be a dark orange chocolate, a matcha and white chocolate drink, a Manam’s signature Chakkarakeli banana blend, a berry-layered creation or even a chilli-spiced hot chocolate. The intent is not about making chocolate unusual for the sake of it but about showing how much range there is within the ingredient.
As Ruby puts it, the vision is to keep evolving the preparations and the chocolate itself. For Manam, the beverage bar is another step in that ongoing experiment with Indian cacao.
