I stopped by Californio Chocolate in Long Beach for their grand opening, and this little shop has a lot of character.
From the street, it looks like a small neighborhood chocolate shop, but walk through the door and the atmosphere takes you somewhere else. It feels like a little piece of old California and Mexico tucked into Long Beach. Mexican tile, warm wood, colorful cacao imagery, hanging plants and woven lighting fill the space. There are even traditional wooden molinillos, the Mexican whisks used to froth chocolate drinks.
And then there's the chocolate.
Californio is a bean-to-bar chocolate maker focusing on Mexican cacao and Mexican chocolate, with cacao sourced from places including Tabasco and Chiapas. Along the counter you'll find cases filled with freshly made chocolate bark: peanut, pistachio, macadamia and combinations like almond, date and chia seed. There are also plenty of chocolate bars to explore.
The drinks continue the Mexican theme, with flavors such as a Veracruz Vanilla Latte, Cacao Latte and Mayan Mocha. They even sell little bottles of Veracruz vanilla extract to take home.
One thing I especially liked is that this isn't simply a coffee shop decorated with Mexican imagery and selling somebody else's chocolate. Chocolate is actually being made here. They're working with Mexican cacao and producing chocolate in the shop daily. There's probably chocolate being made right now as you're reading this.
If you're in Long Beach and love chocolate, Mexican cacao, coffee, or just discovering interesting small local businesses, come give Californio Chocolate a try.
A little bit of Mexico, a little bit of old California, and a whole lot of chocolate. read more