Chuao + Nibs

Nestled in the valley of the cloud forest lies the isolated village of Chuao in Venezuela. Only reachable by boat or on foot through the jungle, the village takes you away from the modern world to a setting of overwhelming nature and a 400-year tradition of cacao production, carried out by its native African American residents. Chuao's last-surviving aristocratic Spanish heir, Dona Catalina, gifted the plantation and her slaves to the Franciscan friars, who erected Chuao's iconic church, cacao drying patio, processing area, and a place for social and cultural gathering. In the 1960s, historical justice arose from the valley when the workers were given the farm. Today only descendants of the original slaves, mostly women, work the cacao plantation. The women sing while they work, "long live the Chuao cacao, founded by Dona Catalina, it's rich and tasty and harvested by all of us."Certificate of traceability issued by La Empresa Campesina de Chuao as the only farming association guarantees that cocoa was allocated to Chokola bean to bar.