A drinking-chocolate shop is opening soon in a long-vacant storefront in Salt Lake City’s 9th & 9th neighborhood.

Knoops (Dutch for “button,” and pronounced “kuh-NOPES”) is opening its first location in the United States at 907 E. 900 South on Aug. 21.

Founder Jens Knoop — originally from Germany — is a longtime chocolate lover and a self-described “chocolate sommelier.”

“I have really strong memories of my chocolate-fueled childhood,” he said, “because I grew up with my grandmother a lot, and she always rewarded me with chocolate.”

Knoop said he had a “lightbulb moment” as he was walking in central London in the winter of 2012, and he “couldn’t get a decent hot chocolate.” He knew he had found his “niche,” he said.

Wanting to connect with people over high-quality chocolate and work directly with cacao farmers, Knoop opened the first location of Knoops on the south coast of England in 2013. He wanted to put the same level of craftsmanship and customization that is often associated with coffee into premium chocolate drinks (no chocolate powder here), the Knoops website says.

Knoops now has 27 shops throughout the U.K., two in Dubai and one in Abu Dhabi.

He said Knoops wanted to open its first U.S. store in Utah partly because of the many people who don’t drink coffee or alcohol. “Chocolate would be just so appreciated here as a different way to [come] together and [have] joy in a food environment,” Knoop said.

At Knoops, customers will be guided along a wall where they can read about the process and the chocolate, and will be able to see into the open kitchen where drinks are being made, Knoop said.

Once customers are ready to order, they’ll be able to choose from 18 different types of chocolate from around the world that vary in sweetness, Knoop said. The chocolate ranges from a sweet 28% white chocolate to 100% dark chocolate that isn’t sweet at all. The lower the percentage, the sweeter the drink, Knoop said.

From there, customers can pick their milk, and any ingredients they’d like to add to accent the flavor, like orange zest, sea salt and fresh mint. Customers can also add one of Knoops’ famous cube-shaped marshmallows, which are “huge,” Knoop said, and made with Madagascar vanilla.

Knoop described Knoops’ drinking chocolate as not like a dessert, and more like a “very chocolatey latte, so it’s a little bit more textured, the consistency is a little bit more aerated, but it still has quite a lot of chocolate in there.”

If it’s too hot for drinking chocolate, Knoops will also have cold options, in the form of milkshakes, iced chocolate (“like chocolate milk,” Knoop said), and frozen hot chocolate, which is made by blending ice cubes and chocolate until slushy.

Correction: Aug. 10, 10:57 a.m. • This story has been updated to reflect who inspired Jens Knoop to learn more about chocolate.