about cacao

How Rosemary started her journey

How it all started

Once upon a time, a girl named Rosemary fell in love with chocolate. She came to be known as the proud benefactor of a little artisanal chocolate shop in England. Our founder, Rosemary Ndukuba, grew up on a cacao farm in Nigeria, with the warmth of a family that introduced her to the wonders of chocolate. Soon, she started exploring the vastness of flavours and textures, and the love for chocolate was ingrained in her psyche. Things took off from there and soon began the quest for turning her admiration for chocolate into a business.

In the Spring of 2017, Cenu Cacao was born. Located in a quiet corner on Regent Street in Royal Leamington Spa, UK, Cenu Cacao is a “bean to bar” chocolate shop. Therefore, as you walk in, not only will you be welcomed by a fresh aroma of chocolate, but you can also watch it being prepared right in front of you. Our chocolates are baked using Aztec methods, making Cenu Cacao one of the first chocolate bars to do this in the West Midlands.

Our freshly selected ingredients

Our Carefully Selected Ingredients - Fresh, and Never Better!

Our wide-eyed dream of making chocolate commenced in Venezuela and Panama, making it our trusted source of fully-certified, freshly grown cacao beans. Our treasured cacao beans are crushed in stone grinders in the shop itself, followed by the creation of exclusively handmade batches. These batches then make their way to the bar in the form of pralines and truffles infused with a novel taste for you to relish. Speaking of the delicacies we offer, we have to mention our remarkable hot chocolate and cacao tea that is made with a flavour unique to our brand.

To find a “bean to bar” chocolate shop in the UK is a rare occurrence. Why? Most chocolate manufacturers make their desserts with premade cocoa liquor. But not us. We believe in individuality, and like to do things our way. And that is to give you the chance to witness the sweet miracle of chocolate, right in front of your eyes.

Every bite of our chocolate is heavenly

Enjoy our special chocolate with your friends!

As we make our way into the third year of Cenu Cacao, we are proud to tell you that we remain in complete charge of the chocolate-making process. Each and every step, from sorting, roasting, cracking, winnowing, grounding, and conching to finely ageing the chocolate before chilling, is handled by us. The artisanal value of our chocolate is deeply rooted in the process we follow, making particularly rare chocolates and drinking chocolates with authentic flavours. With our unique chocolates, you will be able to taste the subtlety of cacao clearly, because it shouldn’t be any other way. Furthermore, you can rest assured that our chocolate doesn’t have even a hint of palm oil or Lecithin.

With the goodness of chocolate and the earthy texture of cacao, our chocolates make for a beautiful blend of delightful and organic extracts.

SHOP OUR PRODUCTS

Whether it’s distance or time, nothing should stop you from having these delicious chocolates. Hence, you can shop these fresh mouth-watering chocolates online at Cenu Cacao: The Classic Chocolate Makers. Your options are a wide variety of dark chocolates, classic truffles, selection boxes, coffee that’s inspired from the Southern region of India, organic cacao beans, and roasted cacao nibs.

Be a part of our world of chocolate

Contact us today!

At Cenu Cacao, we firmly believe in letting our customers inside our little chocolate- making them watch as the best chocolate-eating experience of their life takes place. We make our chocolates right here at Royal Leamington Spa, down to the careful grinding of organically grown cacao beans. Our work has given us the liberty to meet and greet several people every day, and we would love to have you.

You can contact us via email, call, or better yet, drop in for a quick chat at our humble chocolate bar!

Our customers satisfaction is our top priority

Few words from customers

An absolutely amazing hot chocolate made with melted chocolate. If youre craving anything chocolatey, this is the placeAlly BrunsdonOctober 5, 2025

Heavenly delight 😊MarinaSeptember 20, 2025

Highly recommend the new shop in Lillington opposite Tesco. Been a few times now and its a much needed little shop for sit in / takeaway hot and cold drinks and chocolate!Luke DoddsSeptember 14, 2025

hannah warwickAugust 24, 2025

The smell as you walk in here is divine and the chocolate does not disappoint. Rich and delicious, and you can definitely taste the cocoa. The iced drinking chocolate was perfect and the ice cream was some of the best we’ve tasted. Pair that with lovely, friendly staff and we will definitely be returning.Amber FlowerAugust 23, 2025

If you do yourself just one favour in life, make it picking up a dark ginger-filled date and a hot chocolate!Michael MorehouseAugust 16, 2025

Very polite staff, service was great and the white chocolate was top notch, ill always visit!beneth ndumnegoAugust 9, 2025

My first visit, taken in by my daughter. I had five large, chocolate wrapped dates with various fillings, ginger, coconut, pistachio, walnut etc and a rum and raisin truffle. This chocolate contains no additives and is made from their own ground cocoa beans. It's delicious and I could become addicted!! It is not cheap but it is worth it. Staff are lovely and helpful too.Susan WigginsJuly 29, 2025

You've got to look this place up, walked in to get a smoothie (seemingly the only place to get smoothies in Lem) walked out with some superb handmade chocolates, knockout hot chocolate and the pleasure of meeting the owner, very very funny, charming and really knew her stuff. I'd come back just for the craic and a hot chocolateRob Priestley-FennJuly 5, 2025

I was lucky enough to receive the dark chocolate box selection for father's day. Not only do they look beautiful, they taste out of this world.Stephen DinkeldeinJune 16, 2025

Genuinely the best ice cream I’ve had in England. Great taste in general. Didn’t have a chance to try any of their chocolate goodies but they looked impeccable too. They have the sort of stuff you won’t see anywhere else, and it’s all made in house. It’s also run by a lovely lady who is always very welcoming. Gem of a shopALL- CAPSJune 14, 2025

You can forget about Costa, Starbucks or Nero for hot chocolate! These guys make the best tasting hot chocolate! Definitely worth trying! Amazing!E19DYYJune 14, 2025

Loved itGary’s Removals of Royal Leamington Spa Lawlor (Mr Mover)June 12, 2025

Visited here for the first time today. The best hot chocolate I have ever tasted! Also tried some handmade chocolates which were delicious. Staff are also really lovely. Would definitely recommend if visiting Leamington. We will be returning!Rachael HaydenApril 30, 2025

Cenu Cacao is such an amazing independent chocolatier! Rosemary the owner is usually there and is clearly very passionate about her product. We've been buying from them for about 2 years now and we're always really excited to see the dark chocolate creations she has come up with. This mornings visit was no different to others we've made, a lovely new selection of delicious looking chocolates to choose from and service with a smile and a laugh. I ended up choosing 23 (I had eaten one before taking the photos!) We'll definitely be back for more soon 😋AntonApril 27, 2025

Hands down the best chocolate I’ve had 🍫George DaviesApril 4, 2025

You'll never have had a hot chocolate like this. It is gert lush. Staff were excellent too.Tom MablyMarch 31, 2025

The best chocolate I've had! Pistachio praline was fantastic. It's like taking a little bite of happiness each time.Ross LeechMarch 22, 2025

People are so friendly, the service is great. The shop is small but full of different kinds of chocolate and smells amazing. We tried mango coconut praline and pistachio praline, both were unbelievably good. I will go and try all the others every weekend now, this is my new mission.Deniz Yasar AslanMarch 15, 2025

Teodora StoyanovaFebruary 22, 2025