A NEW Kendal café is showcasing its delightful selection of cocoa beans and hot chocolates.

Kakaw, located in the Elephant Yard Shopping centre, is owned, and operated by Tomas Hornak and Miska Dolinayova.

The two business owners met while working in hospitality in East Sussex after moving to England from their native Slovakia.

They came to the Lakes to work at the Drunken Duck, near Ambleside, before opening artisan hot chocolate shop Kakaw, on Library Road, in December.

The shop’s name, Kakaw, comes from the native American word for the cocoa bean.

Miska said: “We are both from the north of Slovakia, which is quite mountainous, so maybe that’s why we moved up here from East Sussex because we both love the mountains.

“Everyone is so friendly here and we’ve had massive support from businesses nearby in Elephant Yard.”

Tomas said they decided to focus on artisan chocolate as it was something new for Kendal.

He said: “Chocolate is not as popular as coffee at the moment, but 20 years ago coffee was nowhere near as popular as it is now.

“There are so many options and variations with hot chocolate and we want to help people learn that there is a lot more to it than just powder with hot water or milk.”

Kakaw serves drinks using everything from white chocolate to 100 per cent cocoa, with customers able to choose from a variety of different milk types and add in everything from marshmallows, to salt, chilli and even herbs like rosemary.

“When it comes to finding different flavours and sources of hot chocolate, we are only really limited by the size of the shelf we can keep them on,” said Tomas.

“The way the cocoa beans are grown and roasted also makes a difference and, of course, the kind of milk you use is important too.

“Most of the chocolate comes from South America; so, Venezuela, Ecuador, Brazil, but there are some from Africa and another from Java. We work with a couple of small companies who source direct from the farmers and make sure they get paid fairly for the product.”

As the weather improves, he says they may begin serving cooling milkshakes alongside hot chocolate, which has proved popular during the winter months.

"I think to run a place like this successfully you need to offer a quality product and if you do that then people will come,” said Tomas.

“You can have something interesting and it might get people to come once, but if it's not quality then they won't come back again. We're getting busier and busier all the time; people enjoy quality hot chocolate and we've had lots of families with kids come for a weekend treat.”