The world of Indian chocolate is undergoing a quiet and decisive renaissance. As noted in the Godrej Food Trends Report 2025, a growing awareness of nuances like single-origin, micro-batch, and bean-to-bar is encouraging a new wave of small-batch chocolatiers.

When the panel was polled to predict which chocolate propositions would find most traction in the market, these were the results.

For this edition of the culinarian’s take, we’re diving deeper into this trend. With exclusive insights from Prateek Bakhtiani, the creative director of Mumbai-based luxury chocolaterie EtherAtelier Chocolat.

We sat down with the chocolatier to explore his creative process, his take on terroir, why it matters more than anything, the form of ‘Chocolate’ and then going into Ether Atelier’s latest offering for Raksha Bandhan.

Why Ether?

For Prateek, the name had to encapsulate the core tenets of his approach: balance and a sense of place.

"I like Ether because it spoke to two of the most important things that I wanted. Given its provenance of representing fulfillment, the combination of all four fundamental elements, I like its reference to this idea of balance. It also speaks to light and permeability... it's ethereal but it still speaks to a geography. And I wanted to tie that idea of location, of terroir, into the name. So, I would say if there's two big things that I wanted to reference with that name, one would be divine balance and geography, a sense of a place."

This reverence for balance and perfection is perhaps what drew him to chocolate in the first place.

"One reason that I like chocolate... is that it is very simple, right? There's just one bite... It’s very singular. And with that singularity comes technicality, there's no place to hide. And things need to just technically be perfect."

The Form

"With all the finery I was losing the reference to the terroir, with all the glitz and the glam, I was losing the reference to the earth from which the chocolate came, the people and the climate. So, when you actually approached the product itself, I wanted it to harken back to that sense of terroir. That's why I created this mold that is actually a condensed, stretched out version of the Everest twin peaks... The reason that I also didn't do the conventional bar is because one thing that I wanted to walk away from is how a traditional chocolate bar suggests a serving size, and for me, it's always been eat as little or as much as you want."

The Terroir

"Once I have that picture in mind, the different terroirs and the different regions that chocolate grows in... form a palette. For example... for my Stone tablet, which I wanted it to be sort of light and airy... I went for a Peruvian chocolate whose notes are very floral and light and ethereal almost. Whereas for my Sierra tablet, which I wanted to have an almost vegetal character, I went with a Venezuelan chocolate... Similarly, Madagascar will give you red fruit notes and Vietnam will give you these grassy, nutty notes. The more chocolate you have available to you in terms of the terroir, the wider your palette is to be able to paint the correct picture."

A Rakhi inspired by Keshi Pearls

All of Prateek’s creations are as he says, how he interprets the brief. So, for Rakhi, Prateek’s interpretation of the significance of sibling bonds brought him to "Keshi”

"For this collection what we worked out as most true is not the relationship itself, but the fact that that relationship is unique to the two people... and no two happy people are alike! I found a parallel to that in Keshi pearls."

Keshi pearls are rare, naturally occurring gems formed without a nucleus, celebrated for their organic shapes and one-of-a-kind character, no two are ever the same. Inspired by this natural rarity, the collection features a sculptural, 3D-moulded chocolate pearl bark, hand-gilded in 24-carat gold or silver. It’s a tribute to a bond that is, as the collection notes, "imperfect, precious, and infinite."

The collection features two distinct expressions:

Golden Kinstone: Macadamia, Salted Caramel & Seaweed

Platinum Pearlveil: Tahitian Vanilla, Coconut & Sel de Mer

A twin pearl box and two exclusive offerings. The kinstone bracelet and the pearlveil earrings.

Our take

For Prateek, Chocolate represents, more than anything, a scientific precision, in its most objective sense, over even its artistic quality. So, in its truest sense, the process of making it, has a certain alchemical quality to it. It is simple, he compares it to the functionality of a chair, where craftsmanship is not subjective. One bite is all it takes to know if it’s made right. And in that precision, we find his artistic ability to experiment and set an example for many chocolatiers to come.

What are your thoughts on this concept? What other Culinarian Take would you like us to feature? Let us know in the comments!