Belgian chocolatier goes 'bean-to-bar' for best taste

Chuao, Baracoa, Hacienda Rio Peripa: When it comes to cocoa beans, it turns out there are vintages just like there are for fine wines, says Belgian chocolate maker Benoit Nihant.

Ina country where chocolate is a source of national pride, Nihant is one of around a dozen "bean-to-bar" makers who go direct to the source in Africa, the Americas and Asia to get the best possible taste.

And it is the Chuao plantation on Venezuela's Caribbean coast, where the beans dry beneath the sun in the village square before a blue and yellow church, that produces the finest chocolate in the world, experts say.