Chuao is a village in Venezuela, famous for its cocoa plantations. You can get there in two ways: by boat, over sea, or on foot over the mountains surrounding the village. Due to its remote loacation a unique cocoa bean variety has developed here. It grows under shadow giving larger trees, including banana, mango, lemon or cedar. Total production is 18 to 20 tonnes per year.

The cocoa farmers in Chuao designate their own cocoa as ‘the best in the world’ (and themselves as the least modest cocoa farmers). In the year 2000 their cocoa was given the ‘Cocoa de Chuao, Appellation d’origine’ label. An honour for the special terroir, like in wine.

The fermentation process takes 7 days, in wooden boxes, and the beans are dried on the village square in front of the church, which surely adds to their taste.