There is a new café in Oxford – selling almost, but not quite exclusively, hot chocolate.

The Turl Street branch is the seventh in the chain for Knoops. The brand was set up in Rye, East Sussex, in 2013 by German-born Jens Knoops.

The cafés claim to offer chocolate to suit every mood, ranging from the sweetest of white chocolate to dense dark chocolate drinks with 70 per cent plus cocoa content.

Inside the Oxford branch, which opened on Friday morning, the décor is all Scandi-cool – layers of beige, stripped back wood and straight lines.

READ MORE: New Knoops hot chocolate store is opening in Turl Street

Behind the counter, on which are stacked trays of glistening pastries, a flight of clipboard A4 posters advertise the different types of chocolate you can try, ranging from white to dark, vegan and non-vegan.

This is ‘proper’ hot chocolate. What look like chocolate buttons, stored in clear glass jars, are melted into your milk of choice.

 

Knoops has opened a new hot chocolate café in Turl Street

Knoops has opened a new hot chocolate café in Turl Street

 

I opt for a 54 per cent, a middle-of-the table milk chocolate in a small takeaway cup. With squirty cream on top it comes to £3.55.

It’s not even 8.30am but already there is a steady line of customers coming into the shop. One tells the barista she’s a fan of white chocolate – but wants to try the whole menu over the coming weeks.

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The drink takes a couple of minutes to make. It comes in a takeaway cup, a flat spiral of cream over the purply-brown chocolate.

Is the chocolate any different to the powdered variety you could buy from the supermarket? It’s certainly richer, with the stronger chocolate giving it a velvety earthiness that a pot of Cadbury’s Bournville lacks.

 

Knoops has opened a new hot chocolate café in Turl Street

Knoops has opened a new hot chocolate café in Turl Street

 

Will it set me up for a day of reporting from Oxford Crown Court?

Well, there’s print from the 1880s advertising Cadbury’s cocoa, a bewigged barrister with a pair of pince-nez balanced precariously on his nose holds a steaming cup of hot chocolate and purses his lips.

 

Knoops has opened a new hot chocolate café in Turl Street

Knoops has opened a new hot chocolate café in Turl Street

 

The drink in his cup ‘Sustains against Fatigue – Increases Muscular Strength – Gives Physical Endurance and Staying Power’. It is, the advert concludes, ‘absolutely pure’.

By 9.30am I’m still craving caffeine. So I think I’ll stick to my morning tea or coffee for now. Luckily, Knoops sells those drinks as well.

Knoops, Turl Street, is open 7.30am to 8pm Monday to Saturday and 10am to 7pm on Sunday. For more, visit: knoops.co.uk.

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