For centuries Venezuela set the standard for fine cocoa. It is a historic home of Criollo, the delicate, low-bitterness variety that Spanish colonists prized, and several of its villages and valleys are known to chocolate lovers by name.
Chuao, on the Caribbean coast, is reachable only by boat or on foot through the mountains; its beans are still spread to dry on the square in front of the village church. Porcelana, a pale-seeded Criollo from the Sur del Lago region near Lake Maracaibo, is one of the most sought-after beans in the world. Venezuelan bars tend towards nut, caramel and dried fruit rather than sharp acidity — a rounded, elegant style.
Venezuela chocolate to try
Sorted from mildest to darkest
