Today I will be showing one of the most complete and sophisticated chocolate shops in Venezuela. But first, let's talk a little about the main cocoa item with which this candy is manufactured, which is recognized worldwide.

Let's start.

Historical background

The history of cocoa in Latin America and especially in Venezuela has nuances that go from the aboriginal customs of using the cocoa bean as a currency and then ending up as a ritual drink and for preparing gastronomic dishes, to the slavery of the Africans who were in charge of cultivating and collecting the cocoa harvest to prepare or send the beans to Europe to make chocolate.

For example in the Aztec empire they kidnapped the emperor called Cuauhtémoc, in historical accounts it is known that Hernán cortez representative of the Spanish invasion ordered Cuauhtémoc to hand over his fortune, when the emperor gave the coordinates to the army Hernán cortez received cocoa seeds, the Spanish invader thought that the Aztec emperor was mocking and ordered that his feet be burned immediately as a punishment.

This shows how the aboriginal peoples before the arrival of the Spanish held cocoa in high esteem as one of the most important riches, other currencies of exchange were bananas and corn. It is ironic the contrast between the European societies that had gold as their supreme exchange value. I will not go into detail on this subject but it seems to me more intelligent to have as a bargaining chip a foodstuff than a metal that cannot be consumed because it is toxic to human beings.

Chocolate

Although in many pages there are stories about the origin of chocolate, all peoples of America share cocoa as a food of vital importance, in most history books we will find that the origin of chocolate is Mexican and is attributed to a legend even in where the god Quetzalcoatl gives men the cocoa tree, the Mexican people called it tchocolatl which is the unification of two words in the Nahuatl language Xococ (sour) and alt which means water.

Globalized Chocolate

With the arrival of the Spanish invaders and after tasting the chocolate they saw the economic attraction, but the Portuguese invaders also present in Latin America appropriated for a good time the trade routes of cocoa and primitive chocolate towards Europe, after several years of experimenting with the cocoa they discovered the cocoa butter extracted by presses, and thus begins the production of chocolates a novelty that was already in the European palates during the 21st and 20th century when the chocolate stops being liquid to begin the long road of tempered techniques. Techniques that the Mesoamerican aborigines had already discovered 800 years before Christ, there are even records of the manufacture of alcoholic beverages based on the pulp that surrounds the cocoa beans.

Noble Chocolate

If you're thinking why I didn't talk about the chocolate store from the beginning of this publication, it's because there are historical facts that are extremely important to me to highlight since eating chocolate is a unique and delicious experience, so it's worth reading a few lines to get into context instead of showing a store that only sells chocolates.

In December 2019 I visited for the first time the chocolate factory Noble located in the historic center of the city of Caracas a few meters away from the birthplace of the liberator of America Simon Bolivar, on that occasion I was only a few minutes giving a tour of the store without paying much attention to all the brands offered by the store. However, I decided to leave it written down in my notes as a place to discover through the steem blockchain.

The chocolate factory was opened in October 2019, its owners had the goal of opening a store selling Venezuelan national brands of chocolate, this is very new since we are talking about Venezuela, the country with an inflation of 1,000,000 %, the crises are useful to undertake, and this seems to me one of the best initiatives as it brings together more than 40 brands of Venezuelan chocolate houses, some of them with more than a century of existence, other companies have just started in the chocolate business.

As I mentioned, the store is located in the historical center of the quality of Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, which has been founded by the Spanish invaders more than 450 years ago. Inside the store there is a wall that belonged to the original house and that is exhibited between the shelves as a unique piece of architecture dating back to the 17th century, a structure made under the masonry technique that is a mixture of stones, mud and wood that belonged to a Rafa and spilled door typical of the military and religious constructions made by the Spaniards in these lands.

The rest of the decoration is very modern with factory type lighting and counter type lighting to highlight the chocolates on the shelves for appreciation as if it were a library.

In Noble chocolates are sold more than 40 brands all Venezuelan, the percentages of purity ranging from 30g of pure cocoa to 90g of pure cocoa per bar of chocolate. Depending on the brand, we can find a great variety of techniques and ingredients used for the elaboration of the chocolate, such as citrus fruits, candied orange, coffee, chocolates mixed with different types of sea salt, chocolates with liquor, and even with hot peppers.

An important detail of this chocolate shop is that at the top of the shelves there are some illustrations inspired by the French encyclopedia where they explain in 9 steps the process of making handmade chocolate. It is worth mentioning that one of the most sought-after cocoa in the world by two artisanal chocolate factories like Noka and Delafee buys Venezuelan cocoa especially from a region called chuao according to these two expensive brands. The rest of the production is destined to low category and economic chocolates whose cocoa comes from the Ivory Coast in Africa.

Chocolates Noble also has a section of the richest chocolates you'll find in town with a variety of flavors such as: Nutella, Limoncello, Mora catara, cupid, cardamom, parchita murupi, almonds, dulce de leche, mocha cream, whiskey, cointreau, vodka, orange rum, punch cream, baileys enough to taste several times if you visit the store.

In spite of being a chocolate maker that sells artisan brands which indicates that prices are high you can buy with only 0.10 cents of a dollar a bar of chocolate, but if we look in general the prices can reach up to 100 dollars for a bar of chocolate of the Paria brand, a price not at all accessible for the average Venezuelan with a monthly salary of 4 dollars.

I'll leave two alternatives for the first one are more coordinates I found by Google maps, follow the link below: Chocolates Noble
Avenida Sur 1, Caracas 1012, Capital District
https://maps.google.com/?cid=15358055188938036590

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The second option will be the address I got from the @travelfeed map system. I admit that I have had problems with how to use the global positioning system.

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The noble chocolate shop is open from 2pm to 9pm, you will be attended by a group of very nice young people who will clarify doubts about the origin of each brand of chocolate as well as the different flavors and aromas they offer.

Another detail are two feedback I found from @travelfeed where they refer to it providing more interesting data that travelers are looking for, I hope this post is nourished enough to encourage travelers to know this amazing place full of tropical flavor.

Until a next tour of unique places, magical places.

Thanks for reading

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