Chocolate knows no boundaries; speaks all languages; comes in all sizes; is woven through many cultures and disciplines ... it impacts mood, health, and economics, and it is a part of our lives from early childhood through the elderly years.    

Herman A. Berliner

In the very beginning, the humble cacao bean in its purest form was traded like gold and revered by nations. Over the centuries, it has been harvested, processed, combined with all sorts of ingredients imaginable, and mass produced. For the longest time, many of our experiences with chocolate were dictated by large conglomerates who developed homogenized recipes that could easily be replicated at scale. This has sadly resulted in the evolution of an unnatural product, void of distinct and diverse flavor. When we were just kids, chocolate was generally the same – brown, nauseatingly sweet, and stripped of history and traceability.

Today, we are in the midst of a major food revolution. A major paradigm shift has been going on with foods of all sorts – beer, wine, coffee, cheese, proteins. All of them have enjoyed the benefits of passionate and innovative people revisiting, refining, and reinvigorating each of the markets by emphasizing small batch production. It is a nascent but rapidly growing industry with chocolates. Chocolate revolutionaries have spearheaded the movement to strip back these sweet brown blocks right to their cradle, to consider only natural ingredients of the highest quality. This revolution is called the bean-to-bar movement and is a concept that is being reinforced in all corners of the world, to flip the negative connotation tagged to the once venerated and healthy delicacy – chocolates.

Hello Chocolate is our contribution to this revolution. We have made it our mission to discover the best of this new generation of chocolate makers and bring their creations to the world in a lovingly curated collection. We want to make it easier for the chocolate lovers to find their nirvana! This has been a journey for us in more ways than one. Bringing us and our daughter, Varvara, from Ukraine to sunny Singapore and taking our taste buds on a global tour filled with education and enlightenment. Along the way, we have built a community consisting of chocolate lovers and friends who share our passion, and we’ve had a lot of chocolate related fun in doing so!

The chocolate lover’s community is fundamental to Hello Chocolate’s mission. Whilst only the best chocolates pass the discerning palates of the chief tasters and make the cut for the store, we know that tastes differ through culture, age, and experience, and we rely on the community to tell us what they love. We are constantly seeking feedback and collaboration with chocolate lovers to bring you what you want.

We have the greatest respect for our suppliers; the real genius men and women who make the magic happen and produce the chocolates we love. Most, if not all the makers we carry, strive to produce their chocolates with utmost ethics and sustainability, also contributing to local cacao-growing communities worldwide. As such, we endeavor to spread the stories of these wonderful people and their creations.

The best chocolates in the world, sourced and curated for a chocolate loving community with respect, love, and fun! Goodbye sweet, brown, tasteless blocks of yesterday - Hello Chocolate!

Nina & Dmitry Minkov | Co-founders