Ben Axford has chocolate running through his veins. He spent most of his childhood growing up in Brussels and raiding his parents' stash of luxury chocolate. But a law degree, headhunting, a cheese & wine business, and getting to the final of Masterchef all came before he finally decided to stop pinching other people's chocolate and make some of his own.  

Benjamin Chocolatier is the first artisan UK chocolatier to use vintage chocolate to make filled chocolates. We use only natural ingredients. Every chocolate is handcrafted and individually decorated before being placed into luxury handmade gift boxes.  When planning his artisan chocolate company Ben wanted to create not only a unique and exceptional flavour experience but also to present the chocolates in stunning gift boxes that made the recipient feel special.  As a chocolate gift they are designed with one thing in mind - to put a huge smile on the lucky person who receives one.

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Vintage chocolate is chocolate made with cocoa beans from a single year’s harvest, typically from a single plantation.

Similar, in a way, to vintage port, only in the best years are cocoa beans selected for this chocolate. The cocoa pods are processed in the usual manner to extract the beans, which are then matured and made into chocolate when deemed at their optimum. This will be somewhere between 2-5yrs after harvest.