Our Story
The cultivation of cacao tells a powerful story.
Similarly to coffee, every cocoa bean has different expressions, based on its locality. In the UK, it’s common to think that chocolate tastes the same - that generic word, ‘chocolate’. But gone are those days.
My vision is twofold -
to create small batch chocolates for the purest expression of perfection, utilising sustainable chocolate that really showcases the essence of that fruit
to work with other chocolate makers with the same ethos as us and promote their skill and craft
The flavour of our chocolates is representative of the soil, the air and the hands that nurtured them. So, it’s easy for us to create stunning, hand painted chocolates in Britain, as we already have the foundations of excellence to play with.
I hope you enjoy what we’ve created.
Love,
Adam
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Our Chocolate Vision
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Chef Adam Handling MBE started out at Gleneagles 16 years ago, where he was the first ever apprentice chef.
Adam has received some incredible awards including Restaurateur of the Year in the British GQ Food and Drink Awards and Restaurateur of the Year – Independent at the Cateys. In 2022, he was appointed Ambassador to the UK Government’s GREAT campaign, promoting Britain’s hospitality talents on an international scale. Adam was also crowned BBC TV’s Great British Menu ‘Champion of Champions’.
Born in Dundee, Scotland, in 1988, Adam’s love was never food. It was being outside and causing mischief… like any young boy.
He lived in Germany for 5 years, before coming back to Scotland to start his first role in the kitchen – an apprenticeship at the prestigious Gleneagles Hotel, in Scotland. Adam still says to this day that, because of the rigorous training he had there, it was the best place he ever worked and the reason for him being the way he is as a chef now.
After years at Gleneagles, he ventured to London as any starry-eyed professional does. This was when his love for The Big Smoke arrived… the opportunity, the fun, all the amazing restaurants.
He then needed a little break and got his backpack on and spent a year learning, in all corners of the world. It was the eye-opening teaching from Japan, where his passion for zero-waste really came into play. The sheer passion from across the world genuinely inspired Adam.
When he came back to London, he brought this zero-waste ethos back with him and he started to create The Frog restaurant. This is pretty much the history of his career (minus a few boring details) but the exciting times really started in June 2016, when the Adam Handling Collection first started.
The new age of chocolate-making
How history intended
Grafting
Grafting is an ancient Roman horticultural technique that enables replication of a variety. You take part of a plant and graft it to the base of another tree.
Pruning
Looking after the trees is incredibly important, so they can focus their energy into producing cacao fruit with the highest quality of flavour.
Single Variety
The method of grafting creates a new tree that produces fruit, preserving the natural flavour of the fruit of its mother tree, creating single variety chocolate.
Origins
From Nicaragua and Honduras to Vanuatu and the Philippines, every origin brings its own character.
Our chocolates tell the story of the soil, the air and the hands that nurtured the cacao.
Explore Our Chocolates