DeRosier Chocolate And Coffee
Guest Chocablogger and sustainable chocolate consultant Simon Wright takes a look at a new chocolate shop in South West London.
Opened in August 2012, my local coffee shop DeRosier Chocolate And Coffee is coming up for its first birthday so it seemed a good time to talk to founders Leona and Andrew.
Named after Leona’s maiden-name, DeRosier offers gourmet eats and drinks to the residents of Southfields and Wimbledon Park. The selection is based on artisan coffee, Hot Chocolate (praised by Time Out), home-made cakes and of course, handmade chocolates.
DeRosier is a second career for Leona, whose interest in fine chocolate was inspired by not being able to find anything locally she really liked to give on Mothers day four years ago. The Barry Callebaut Chocolate Academy Course and a long search for premises followed. Initially Leona looked for a small shop but she and Andrew decided to combine chocolate with coffee to reach a wider audience.
All the chocolates are hand made by Leona using couvertures from Grenada, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador and Venezuela. She tends to eschew “wacky flavour combinations such as bacon and egg” in favour of more traditional products such as Gianduja, honeycomb and Champagne truffles. The most popular filling is passionfruit, with customers buying her entire production for dinner parties. Cocoa bean origin is not yet a hot topic in leafy SW18, although customers do ask about their single-origin hot chocolate.
Considering DeRosier’s proximity to Wimbledon a range of tennis-related items makes sense, and Leona has also been commissioned by the All England Club to make over 1000 small boxes of chocolates which will be offered to guests in the Royal Box during the Championships.
So if you are coming to the tennis this year or if you just want to check out Wimbledon Park’s new Beach Volleyball courts, DeRosier is well worth a visit. And with Leona and Andrew already looking at other locations DeRosier is a name to watch.
DeRosier Chocolate And Coffee
81 Revelstoke Road
Southfields
London SW18 5NL
www.derosierchocolates.com
What a great looking cafe. I would love to own a place like that giving people quality chocolates and cakes.