Q & A with Amelia Rope

Q. How do you pick which beans to use for your chocolate?

A. I don’t do bean to bars. I choose a couverture, which for the plain unflavored bars has character, a clean taste, balanced and uses top quality beans correctly fermented, dried, roasted and so on. All the chocolate I use is ethically and sustainably sourced and of single origin.

Q. Any unusual flavors you’re experimenting with?

A. I never feel I am unusual, but I use different variations probably due to my aromatherapy/herbal medicine head. For example, I use mandarin rather than orange, as mandarin is delicate, subtle and has incredible powers to it, when used for aromatherapy purposes. I use spearmint rather than peppermint and Maldon sea salt.

Q. Is there a flavor that you had high hopes, but it just didn’t work?

A. I tried mandarin and sea salt and it was absolutely disgusting!  Then I saw some people doing tequila slammers and I thought it was so obvious and launched my lime and sea salt bar.

Tips & Advice

The Best Way To Taste & Enjoy Chocolate

I love my chocolate cold from the fridge (a sin!). Really, chocolate should be eaten at 60 to 65 degrees F and allowed to warm in the mouth for all the flavors and true character to come forth. The Dark Mandarin bar that I make is a gem with curry or hot spicy food, the oil just shoots out of the chocolate!

4 Things To Look For When Tasting Chocolate

1. There should be no film coating your mouth at the end, it should be clean. Cheap milk chocolate will leave you wanting more and give you a sugar rush. My aim is for the final end note to be the flavor of the bar.

2. There should be a good shine on the bar.

3. It should have a good healthy sounding snap to it when a chunk is broken off.

4. There should be no hydrogenated fat, 'natural' flavoring and any other junk on the labeling. It should read cocoa solids, cocoa butter, sugar, perhaps vanilla and the flavor of the bar, which should be as pure as the driven snow and then an emulsifier: soya lecithin.

A Chocolatiers Recs

Find | Chocolate

AMMA Chocolates | Diego Badaro

From Bahia -- Diego's family had a cocoa plantations for hundreds of years and he has devoted his time and energy to bringing it all alive and he’s now producing his bars in Bahia. He is my inspiration and fellow chocolate soul. He is passionate about educating everyone about good chocolate, why you have to pay more and how important it is to preserve the smaller plantations like his.

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Find | Chocolate Books

The True History of Chocolate

By Sophie and Michael Coe

It’s an accurate history of chocolate.

Sweet Dreams: The Story of Green and Blacks

By Craig Sams and Josephine Fairley.

Chocolate Wars

By Deborah Cadbury

Both of these were an inspiration from an entrepreneurial view and how hard work really can one day pay off.

The Chocolate Tree

By Allen M Young

A chocolate classic.

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A Chocolatiers Recs | London

Find | Book Shops

Books For Cooks

The best cookery bookshop in London.

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Find | Candy

Liberty's Chocolate Shop

For chocolates.

Selfridges

A large store and full of candy.

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Eat | Sweets

Borough Market

For all food.

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Monmouth Coffee Shop

They’re in Borough Market. They have a long communal table where you get fresh French bread and dollops of jam for your breakfast with their delicious coffee. 

Exeter Street Bakery

For the best coffee, incredible Italian pizza, rosemary shortbread and hazelnut meringues.

Troubadour

It has incredible character that you won’t find anywhere else in London.

La Bottega

Teeny little Italian pastries and fab coffee. 

Ottolenghi

Yotam Ottolenghi is an inspiration.

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Recommendations

Details of Amelia Rope’s recommendations for chocolate and where to eat and shop in London, UK.

City Guides

- London, UK: Download