Maker meets Growers in Amazonas and Piura, Peru

Chocolate Week UK: Meet three of the best using our chocolate.



June 02, 2025

To celebrate Chocolate Week, we’ve asked chefs and chocolatiers to tell us more about their love for chocolate. At Original Beans, our goal is to bring out the unique flavour of each cocoa bean and create smooth, flavour-rich couvertures for our food professionals to work with. From bonbons to ice cream to chocolate cake, let’s hear from our chefs how versatile chocolate can be.

 
Supporting Strong Women

Terri Mercieca, ice cream maker, dessert chef and founder of Happy Endings


As a woman, Terri of Happy Endings is especially proud to support other women by using Femmes de Virunga couvertures for her creations. Not to mention that the caramelly notes perfectly fit her luxurious ice cream sandwiches. Knowing where the chocolate comes from and having this direct connection to the farmers who produce the cocoa is what makes a product special to Terri. What a great way to celebrate chocolate by celebrating the people who grow the beans!

Terri uses our Femmes de Virunga 55% and Cusco 65%. 
 
Great Flavours, Great Ethics
Paul Stradling, head chocolatier at Adam Handling Chocolate Shop

Paul discovered his love for chocolate while training as a pastry chef. This was when he decided to focus on chocolate and has never looked back since. He crafts his beautifully delicious bonbons with Original Beans chocolate not only because of the taste but also because of shared values and ethics: regenerative farming, beyond fair wages, and support for local and indigenous communities.

Paul uses our Piura 75% and Beni 66%.
 
We're All Chocolate Mad
Ravneet Gill, Pastry Chef, author and owner of Gina

Ravneet – pastry chef, restaurant owner, cook book author, judge on Junior Bake Off and founder of Countertalks – was introduced to Original Beans by none other than Terri Mercieca. And we’re glad that she did! Otherwise we wouldn’t be able to enjoy her luscious steamed chocolate cake with ice cream and cream on top. Ravneet describes herself as chocolate mad, like any pastry chef she knows, and just loves eating chocolate and using it for her creations.

Ravneet uses our Femmes de Virunga 55% and Virunga 70%.

At Original Beans, we’re just as mad about chocolate, cocoa beans, and the ecosystems in which they grow. Our farmers who work in regenerative agroforestry systems can rely on fair wages. We ferment and process our beans with great care to bring out the unique flavour of each origin. Let’s savour these special treats together.


Featured products: 
Terri uses Femmes de Virunga 55% and Cusco 65%

Paul uses Piura 75% and Beni 66%

Ravneet uses Femmes de Virunga 55% and Virunga 70%