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The founder, Javier Chavez, grew up with a delicate smell of chocolate in his nose. Because his neighbor had a chocolate factory. How lucky can you be to have a chocolate factory in your backyard, you might think? But the chocolate was not the sweet, light brown chocolate that most kids enjoy eating. It was the real thing. Dark chocolate, 70% chocolate which was not popular back then. His friends didn't like it, but Javier did.
Getting older Javier always ended up visiting chocolate factories and cafées when traveling abroad. One day he was in San Fransisco, USA, and he got to meet the owner of a famous chocolate factory called Dandelion. He was invited to see the entire process of making chocolate and then his eyes caught something. The cacao beans were from Peru! His home country. If they could make so amazing chocolate from Peruvian cacao beans in the States, why shouldn't he do it back home? That is how it all started.
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He bought a small grinder, roaster and a temperer for making the artisanal chocolate. It was all about experimenting, trying to learn and making treats for family and friends. One day he got invited to an Organic Fair in Yanahuara, Arequipa and he made 100 chocolate bars. They got sold out very fast. Javier was impressed and could really see an opportunity to do what he loved - making high-quality chocolate. His idea fused with his passion, and today he is proud to share the taste and knowledge about real chocolate at the factory and café he called Chaqchao.
A chocolate factory in the backyard
Chew on Chaqchao
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The word Chaqchao means chewing in the native language of the Incas.
So let's chew on Chaqchao Chocolate for a bit.
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Chaqchao Chocolates is an organic artisanal chocolate company located in Arequipa. But what do we actually mean by artisanal? The word ar·ti·san·al (ärˈtÄ“zÉ™n(É™)l/) refers to the traditional production of the chocolate. When chocolate is made from good cacao beans, and with care and respect for its origin, you get a high-quality product. That is why many of our products only consist of only three ingredients; chocolate, cacao butter, and raw sugar. We regulate the amount of cacao butter and chocolate to get the percentage of chocolate that we want. We don't need to add any white sugar, tons of milk, or fake vanilla.
Because chocolate should taste like chocolate.
