By Alison Freeman BBC News, London

Hannah's sessions including making your own chocolates

And now a west London woman is offering lessons in making your own.

Hannah Saxton, 25, runs her chocolate-making workshops which include the history of the sweet treat, from her home in Ladbroke Grove.

She admits that in this health conscious age she was worried that people would be cautious of learning about the popular vice.

Hannah said: "I did think it might be a problem, but you do have the salad and chocolate people.

"That's what I call them. They spend their time going to the gym, eating healthily - then they eat chocolate.

I chose chocolate because I love it, because I eat it everyday Hannah Saxton

"And women in restaurants always get a dessert with two spoons, something for them to share and not feel so guilty about."

Hannah gave up her art degree to concentrate on something more creative.

"I chose chocolate because I love it," she said.

"I eat it everyday and because I thought to myself no-one else does it in London and it's a really specialist field.

Internet course

"I'm the sort of person who, if I have five minutes at a Tube station, I'd go to one of the machines on a platform and buy a bar.

Having dropped out of university, Hannah was left with �2,000 savings to set up her business My Chocolate.

At first she worked as a waitress while she spent hours and hours studying the substance, learning its history and how to craft it.

The tools of the trade took up most of Hannah's budget

"That was the one good thing about university," she said. "It taught me how to study for long periods and learn quickly.

"I bought every book I could find on chocolate and took an internet course in it.

"You can go to France and study but there was no way I could afford that on my budget."

Hannah quite literally gives me a taste of her workshops when I visit her flat, where she hosts some of the sessions.

I am offered two pieces of chocolate and asked to fathom which is 'good' chocolate and which is 'bad'.

Different flavours

Considering myself to be somewhat of an expert on the stuff, it is fairly easy.

This is because, Hannah explains, cheap, or 'bad' chocolate, has the cocoa butter it should contain replaced with vegetable fat and has excess sugar.

Bad chocolate is brittle and lacks shine due to the way it is made.

Chocolate has been around for centuries, Hannah says, and was originally drunk by South American tribes.

CHOCS AWAY 'Good' chocolate: Shines Should snap cleanly Made with cocoa butter 'Bad' chocolate: Brittle Dull Made with vegetable fat and excess sugar Tastes of nothing

They did not have the tools to separate the cocoa solids from the butter then recombine them to make chocolate as we know it today.

And the health benefits of the bean were well-known with warriors consuming it before a battle.

It wasn't until 1828 that the first chocolate bar was produced.

The various implements and dipping tools used in the sessions are quite costly and Hannah says she spent most of her original budget on them.

She says chocolate is like wine, with every different type of cocoa bean offering a different flavour, and the way it is dried can also change the taste.

And when asked the question of how to find the ultimate chocolate she gave the answer all chocolate-lovers want to hear.