We last looked at Niko B Organic Chocolates back in June 2020. With some new products in stock and Christmas around the corner, we decided to get an update from the man behind Niko B. Organic Chocolates, Anthony.

My background

I’ve been making handcrafted, artisan chocolates since 2003 when I started my first chocolate business in San Francisco. That was a major career change for me as I transitioned out of the intense Silicon Valley tech world into the artisan food world on the heels of 9/11, another ‘once in a lifetime’ global moment that mirrors in some ways what we are going through now with COVID-19.

Back then, when I met a new audience, I’d spend a lot of time talking about how I went from an aerospace engineer with master’s degrees in electrical engineering and business administration to small batch chocolate making. That was a couple of lifetimes ago. The summary: burn out in the corporate tech world and a dearth of opportunities post 9-11 led to a strong desire to reignite my creative spirit and that came in the form of chocolate.

I trained at a chocolate research institute on the University of California at Davis campus. It was led by famed British confectioner and member of the Candy Hall of Fame (yes there is such a thing), Terry Richardson.

The inspiration and ethos

But in 2008, five years later, my world was moved by a force greater than any I’d experienced to that point and that was the birth of my son, Nikolas Bahari. My first true love and the inspiration of pretty much everything since including Niko B. Organic Chocolates. We moved to London before his first birthday to be closer to my ex-partners parents, his grandparents.

Whilst San Francisco exposed me, an industrial midwestern (near Detroit – aka Motown) born black American, to so many creative and interesting ways to prepare food and approach life in general it was the birth of my son that really opened me up. The world, in my eyes, became a very different place. The future mattered in ways I had only narrowly considered. My role in the future of our planet and its environment took on new meaning.

So as I looked to restart in London, I re-envisioned my approach to business: it had to be done in a way that would be as positive as possible for the future of my son and his contemporaries. That meant clean, organic ingredients, fair trade chocolate, thoughtful packaging and fair wages. Staff are paid above the London Living wage plus holiday bonuses. All of this coincidentally aligned perfectly with the values of the first market I approached to launch here in East London – Growing Communities Stoke Newington.

Meeting Get Loose

The Stoke Newington Farmers’ Market has been our base market for more than 10 years running (we now also trade at Victoria Park and Brockley markets). It’s where I met Jacki, Get Loose’s founder. We got our first order from Get Loose in September of 2018 (hard to believe it has been over 3 years). It was for a few chocolate fish and chocolate Olmec masks. The Olmec of Central America were the first to cultivate cacao some 3500+ years ago!

Chocolates and treats stocked at Get Loose

The orders became regular and have expanded over time to now include many of our most popular chocolate treats and desserts, such as:

Stegos (vegan): we take a whole luscious medjool date, replace the pit with a whole roasted cacao bean, add a couple of almonds..hand dip in organic, fairtrade dark chocolate and sprinkle with a touch of sea salt…Yes, it is as good as it sounds. The cacao bean, dark chocolate and sea salt perfectly balance the sweetness of the date. These are a favourite amongst our vegan and non-vegan regulars.
Peanut butter cups (vegan): we roast, grind, salt and lightly sweeten (with coconut nectar) organic peanuts to make our own peanut butter as a filling for dark chocolate cups. A classic and these are another of our fav treats for both our vegan and non-vegan regulars.
Sea salted caramels (vegan): we don’t often boast, but this is one where we feel confident in saying that they are as good as any salted caramel you’ve tried, anywhere. At least that is what we’ve been told countless times in our markets and amongst our online following. What makes our classic salted caramels different is that we start with a unique blend of two types of organic unrefined sugars. The complexity of the sugars, caramelised to perfection, carries all the way through to the end product. You will, undoubtedly, taste the difference.
Flapjack (vegan): our vegan and gluten-free Chocolate-Hazelnut Flapjacks are our take on the classic English traybake (did you know Flapjacks date back to the 1600's?). Made with gluten free whole rolled oats, roasted whole hazelnuts, toasted coconut, 73% organic and fairtrade chocolate and a touch of cinnamon and ginger and the baked to perfection with a crispy edge and chewy centre.
Rotating spot (vegan): with so many yummy options Get Loose are rotating a couple of vegan ganache offerings. Speak to volunteers about what they have in this week.
Wheat Flour-less browned butter brownies: the browned butter brownies are a balance of a crunchy exterior and gooey, melt in your mouth interior. Delicious and they just happen to be gluten-free too.
Chocolate dipped gingerbread men: the gingerbread men are spiced slow baked and crunchy biscuits dipped in at least two, and sometimes three, different chocolates – dark, milk and/or white.
Salted chocolate chunk cookies: the lightly spiced salted chocolate chunk cookies are full of massive dark and milk chocolate chunks and studded with sour cherries and raisins. They bring an exciting burst of flavour with each and every bite.
Chocolate fish: and finally, even after nearly 3 years we are still supplying the little chocolate fish that started it all. They are a simple but perfect treat for when you just need a little for yourself or a little to share. Just solid chocolate in dark, milk and/or white chocolate patterns. Both kids and adults snap these up at our market stalls and apparently at Get Loose too.

A thank you to Get Loose customers

Thank you so much for reading about the Niko B. Chocolates journey….

We appreciate and greatly value our relationship with Get Loose and through them with you. If you are intrigued and interested in trying some of our other handcrafted gems from our range of truffles, caramels (we offer up to 13 different varieties), nougats and snacking chocolates please visit us at one of our weekend markets, or order online at www.nikobchocolates.co.uk .

You now have the option to have your purchases collected from Get Loose. Choose this at the checkout.