In January 2025, Amy Perotti, owner and founder of My Original Coco, also known as MOCO, found herself at the Barre City Auditorium, on the day of the Governor’s Inaugural Ball. She was dropping off 800 single-serve packets of MOCO Classic Hot Chocolate, which were included as part of a made-in-Vermont gift bag for the ball’s attendees.
While this wasn’t the first accolade she’d received for her products—MOCO Mexican Hot Chocolate is a Chocolate Alliance and Good Food Award Winner, and Peppermint Hot Chocolate won a Specialty Food Association Award—it was a distinct honor. “The 800 Vermonters there got introduced to the product,” says Amy with a smile. “And I got to shake the governor’s hand.”
Like many of us, Amy’s love of hot chocolate dates back to childhood. “Going to visit my grandparents in Pennsylvania, we’d always stop at a restaurant on the way, the kind with vinyl booths,” she reminisces. “I ordered hot chocolate every time.” Fast forward to November 2013. Amy moved to Vermont with her own family, and hot chocolate was still her beverage of choice. She ended up drinking more hot chocolate than ever to weather the cold—and it didn’t take long for her to get tired of what was available on the shelves. “What was out there had more sugar than I wanted, and fillers I felt were unnecessary,” she says. And so, she started mixing her own, with four simple ingredients: cacao powder, sugar, vanilla powder, and maca, a superfood root known for its nutritional benefits.
She kept perfecting the recipe and soon started gifting it to family and friends. In 2017, at a friend’s suggestion, Amy founded MOCO.
She started with the Classic mix, selling it at Upper Valley Co-op in White River Junction, near her home. She has since added Mexican Hot Chocolate, perfectly spiced with cinnamon and chipotle powder, and Peppermint Hot Chocolate, which includes ground organic peppermint candies. All of MOCO’s products are made with pure, organic ingredients, so customers can celebrate the vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants intrinsic to cacao and maca, with less sugar than the average hot chocolate.
MOCO’s products are available on their website, shipped by Amy herself. Customers in the White River Junction area can also pop in to the Lebanon or Upper Valley Co-op to get all three varieties.
While a lot of people add it to their morning coffee, MOCO can also be used to make spiced nuts, granola, or chocolate syrup. “I discovered that if you refrigerate a cup of it, that’s enough to flavor two milkshakes,” says Amy. “Two very large, really good milkshakes.”
Today, Amy strives to provide her customers, of all ages, with the comfort and nourishment that hot chocolate has always given her. “I meet so many parents who are appreciative that I created a hot cocoa that feels like a treat but is also a healthier choice.”
All of MOCO’s products are made with pure, organic ingredients, so customers can celebrate the vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants intrinsic to cacao and maca, with less sugar than the average hot chocolate.
