Exe Chocolate – Cuba – Baracoa 71%

Nicola Knight is the founder and owner of Exe Chocolate, a craft chocolate brand based in Devon. Her passion for chocolate began during a visit to a cacao plantation in the Caribbean in 2011, sparking an idea that she couldn't let go of. Nicola became a certified chocolate taster and educator, and eventually taught herself to become a chocolate maker.  At Exe Chocolate, Nicola takes great care in every step of the chocolate-making process to bring out the best flavors from the beans. She sources only the finest quality cacao and uses her expertise in chocolate tasting and cacao evaluation to select beans with outstanding flavor profiles. Each batch of chocolate is made in micro-batches of 2kg or less, reflecting Nicola's dedication to hands-on, small-batch production.

Exe Chocolate focuses on simplicity, using only two ingredients - cocoa beans and sugar - in their chocolate bars. By using natural and simple ingredients, they enhance and showcase the unique flavor and personality of each bean. The chocolate is made in a tiny home chocolate factory in Exeter, allowing Nicola to closely oversee the production process. Nicola is committed to sustainability and ethical sourcing. She works with a speciality cacao importer who prioritizes relationships based on respect, trust, and transparency with cocoa farmers. Together, they work towards a better future for chocolate.

Nicola's clean square chocolate mould is a testament to her skills as a chocolate maker. Extracting chocolate bars without any "release marks" in a plain mould is a challenging task. Nicola has mastered this process with impressive consistency.