Did you know that in a factory in Bermondsey they are making chocolate from scratch, with each batch taking three days to make?
Owner Amarachi Clarke tells us about the tasty Bermondsey chocolate.
Lucocoa makes delicious bean-to-bar chocolate, we hear all about the process and Bermondsey’s influence on the business.
What inspired you to start Lucocoa?
Lucocoa became London’s first bean-to-bar chocolate maker back in 2015 (not to be confused with a chocolatier) and was founded under three principles of disrupting the chocolate industry:
- To show that you don’t need child and slave labour in the chocolate supply chain. We want to show that you can make incredible chocolate tastings without unethical practices.
- Make great chocolate without refined sugar. We don’t use white refined sugar but coconut sugar and a superfood fruit from Peru called Lucuma.
- Change the narrative of chocolate. You often get told that dark chocolate is supposed to be bitter, that milk chocolate is too sweet, and that white chocolate isn’t chocolate. None of this is true. Chocolate is actually like wine and coffee. Different regions create different flavours; all this is based on where the beans are grown.
What is the best part of your job?
Having people try our chocolate for the first time and watching their faces light up because they have never tasted chocolate like we make before.
We work with many other brands and companies, and sometimes they want a bespoke recipe and to play around with different flavours. How the cocoa bean can complement other flavours is really fascinating.
If you could pick, what is your dream flavour combination?
We do like to experiment, but I really love the flavour of the chocolate to speak for itself. To be honest, I really love nuts in chocolate. We have two in our range, and I would love to have more – I’m thinking of a nutty milk chocolate.
How does Bermondsey play a role in your business?
Oh, a massive one. Look where we are, surrounded by incredible food producers.
Not much manufacturing happens in London anymore, so it’s great to be surrounded by businesses that take their craft seriously. It can be tough sometimes, but you can always rely on someone having something you need.
And finally, as it’s Christmas, what is your favourite way to spend the season?
I really do embrace it. I love the Christmas season, the food, the music, seeing family and having the annual friends’ Christmas lunch. I even wait for Mariah Carey’s annual “It’s Time!” to officially trigger the Christmas season. I just love getting into the whole Christmas spirit.
