Cacao and Chocolate Quilt – original quilt design by Annika Kornelis
Even though Rotterdam is a major city, even on global scale, we did not have a decent chocolate shop until recently! Sure, there were already some shops and department stores who sell filled chocolates. But most of them use the same base chocolate (by Callebaut), and the makers are often trained in the same way, so to me it all tastes more or less the same. There is one organic supermarket with a nice selection of great bars. But for the rest, it was online shopping for me in between trips to Paris.
But, since March or so, we have a real chocolate boutique, focusing on the very best artisanal and sustainable bars! They also serve great coffee, tea, matcha and of course hot chocolate! I love, love, love their chocolate shot with just hot water! It is how I drink my hot chocolate at home, although Florentina’s is much richer, thicker and fruitier in flavor.
Yes, Florentina has quickly become a fixed stop on our city walks! And I can show you the shop now, because Florentina has been chosen as Rotterdam’s hottest ‘starting entrepreneur of the month’. The video is in Dutch only, but you can see the charming owner Fleur, the bar stools I sometimes hang out on, the pastry case, and barista Gennaro in the background.
The chocolate that Fleur is holding in the opening shot ‘Heinde en Verre‘ is very special. It is a Rotterdam brand, and it tastes great, too. You will see some more Dutch chocolate brands, like Krak, and Original Beans. All of them are delicious and have a great, very commendable mission, of sustainable cacao and fair pay for the farmers (which is actually a lot more than ‘certified fair trade’ prices).
And to celebrate all of that I created a chocolate quilt design (top of the post). The chocolate bunny and mug blocks are in EQ. I drafted the branch with cacao fruits that I used in a wreath in the center, and stretched in rectangular border blocks. I also drafted the center C, by tracing a picture of a letter.
The color brown is out of my comfort zone, but very fitting for the kind of weather we are having. Real hot chocolate weather!
Enjoy!
XXX Annika
Stof Genoeg 
I am glad that you finally found a chocolate shop worth visiting over and over and over, Annika! And what a great quilt design to celebrate it! :)
Thank you Laura!
And it’s really not that I have selfish greed to buy more chocolate. Of COURSE not!
It’s just that feeling of doing something good for a poor cacao farmer and the environment…😉
Hugs, Saint Annika