Poplight: One One Cacao
Meet Nick Davis of One One Cacao!
What is One One Cacao?
We make chocolates from Bean to Bar, in this age of mass produced, cookie cutter food, we hunt out the best and rarest chocolate from heirloom trees and combine it with Caribbean super foods like coconut sugar, coconut ash, soursop, cashews, Jamaican sea salt, naseberry, callaloo, wild mountain berries,vanilla pods, cinnamon and nutmeg or we keep it simple with 70% cacao and cane sugar.
Who are you?
Nick: My name is Nick Davis. I am a chocolatier and former journalist for the BBC. As a child with extremely Jamaican minded parents, I always heard about many Jamaican locations such as Bogwalk in St. Catherine and Mahogany Hall in Trelawny. Very agricultural places. With me growing up in the UK, my dad always dreamed about coming back to Jamaica and he eventually did in the early 90’s. It took me some more time. It would be when I came to Jamaica to do some work for the BBC that it hit me how amazing this country is and I always wanted to have a business here since. I am glad and thankful that I am able to.
Where did the idea for One One Cacao come from?
Nick: I once heard an amazing story about Jamaica Cocoa and Highgate chocolate. It turns out that the quality of Jamaican cocoa is so high that it isn’t very feasible to really make mass market chocolate. Imagine taking wine quality grapes and limiting them to solely homemade juice. In another instance, I interviewed someone in Grenada about their renowned chocolate company, the Grenada Chocolate Company and the founder told me that all the equipment he used came from Jamaica. This greatly surprised me! He then challenged me to do something like that here. And that was the seed that started One One Cacao. Unfortunately, by the time I had made my first batch of chocolate, he had passed away. Nevertheless this inspired me to continue the work and make award winning chocolate here in Jamaica.
We started working with the Farmer’s Association and the Cocoa Board to get Cocoa from different parts of the country. I like to think of Cocoa production as a bit of alchemy. It’s creating incredible food from what exists. The company’s name itself is based on the premise of moving forward, little by little. Maybe it’s to be slightly better for the next generation. We have to start thinking beyond ourselves.
How long have you been in business?
Nick: We started the groundwork work for the business in 2015 and launched in 2016 :)
What does customer service mean to you?
Nick: Customer Service is giving back what you would expect to get. How you would want to be treated. It is not servitude, it’s not being subservient, it’s just service. Not negative. It goes both ways. I think very few businesses have a concept of what they are truly capable of. You have to treat every customer as if they are gold because they are. They feed us. They make us.
In the works? Excited about?
Nick: I am really excited about providing cocoa butter here in Jamaica for a wide variety of things. Its a way to empower other businesses in Jamaica.
Favourite buttery treat?
Nick: A really nice crusty french bread, freshly toasted but not too crusty, just soft and and melty, Combine this with a really nice thin piece of dark chocolate and a thin spread of butter.
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Follow Nick and OneOneCacao at:
Tw: @oneonecacao
IG: @oneonecacao
