Dark chocolate and fresh roses: two things that have been saying 'I love you' longer than words have.
The pairing of chocolate and roses is so old it no longer requires explanation. Cacao was a currency of the Aztec empire, offered at temples and exchanged between lovers. Roses have carried coded messages since at least the Roman empire, when different colours signified different devotions. By the time the first chocolate box was tied with a ribbon in nineteenth-century Europe, the language was already ancient.
Koko's chocolate-dipped strawberries have become her most-requested order — not just for Valentine's Day but for anniversaries, apologies, and the kind of Tuesday where someone you love just needs to know they are seen.
Dark chocolate and fresh roses: two things that have been saying 'I love you' longer than words have.
The process is deliberate. Dark couverture chocolate is tempered until it snaps cleanly and gleams. Each strawberry is dipped, held until the drip slows to a stop, then set on parchment to cool. White chocolate is piped in diagonal ribbons across the dark — the contrast is not just visual but flavourful, the sweetness cutting through the bitterness in every bite.
The roses in this image were not arranged for a photograph. They were a gift from a customer who came back the following week to say thank you. 'You made my night,' she said. Koko kept the roses until every petal had dried and fallen.