My passion for chocolate was born of a love of adventure. That spirit took me to Venezuela, led me to buy Hacienda El Tesoro high in the cloud forest, and remains with me as my quest to make great chocolate takes me on the cacao trail around the Equator into the forests of the world, in search of the finest beans. My chocolate is all about flavour. Great cacaos are like fine wines, each one with its own stunningly individual flavour born of its specific genetics, soil and climate. One might taste naturally of nuts, another of summer fruits. It is to capture these subtle notes and unique flavours that I make all my chocolate from the bean- which is called bean to bar chocolate! I buy single estate cacaos direct from the farmers, roast them in antique ball roasters and make them into chocolate using just raw cane sugar and natural cocoa butter – no soya lecithin, no vanilla, nothing that gets in the way of the flavour of the bean. The first thing I made with my own cacao was hot chocolate. Adding water and a little hot chocolate made with single origin cacaohoney, it blew my mind. I want everyone to experience some of the awakening I did. Few things give me more pleasure than watching someone gasping with delight as the chocolate melts and the realisation dawns that all that flavour comes simply from the cacao. ‘MELT INTO A WORLD OF ADVENTURE’
