Hello and welcome!

Hello, and welcome to Exe Chocolate. Thanks for stopping by! This is my first blog post (of many I hope), and it seems fitting to introduce myself and the concept behind my little business in more detail.

My name is Nicola Knight, I make chocolate bars in small batches from incredible cacao beans in my kitchen in Exeter.

I started my business in May 2022, solely because I could no longer justify buying multiple kilos of cocoa beans and turning it into delicious chocolate which I would then proceed to eat all by myself!

I started to dabble with chocolate making around 2017, at around the time I started my sensory chocolate tasting journey with the International Institute of Chocolate and Cacao Tasting. Since then I have certified as a Level 1 and 2 Chocolate Taster, and am currently studying for my Level 3. I have also taken lots of other courses in Cacao Evaluation and Sourcing and the bug for chocolate knowledge and information keeps growing!

I am a teacher, and I love to teach in schools about where chocolate comes from and how chocolate is made. If you’d like to know more about this side of my business you can visit my other website www.celebratecacao.co.uk.

I made many many batches of awful, inedible chocolate along the way. Chocolate making isn’t easy and the only way to really learn is to just do it, over and over again! Eventually I started to get it right, and from there I started to focus on finding the best origins that offer amazing flavour potential that I could develop and create my own range.

My products will always come from a place of outstanding flavour first and foremost. And of equal importance (although secondary in my sourcing decisions) comes the provenance of the beans. I only buy beans from a specialty cacao importer, so I know without question that they have been ethically sourced and traded with respect for the growers and their livelihoods.

I very much hope that you will enjoy my chocolate. Chocolate making is a real passion project for me, it gives me purpose, a sense of calm in my busy family life, and every sale gives me great joy!