Denver, COChocolatiers and Candy Shops

Patrick and Mara Tcheunou make Bibamba's chocolate from cacao grown on their own farm in Cameroon, Patrick's native country, and sell it from a small shop in Edgewater Public Market where burlap sacks of cacao nibs sit under the mixing machines. Expect about a dozen barks to sample, handmade truffles and ganache-filled bonbons, and a chocolate, hazelnut and almond spread made without dairy or palm oil. Order a few barks and a jar of the chocolate spread, its best-seller.

Silvia Valentoni, a former dentist, and her husband, Ronald Peach, both from São Paulo, run this Cherry Creek Shopping Center chocolate shop on cacao from Brazilian farms and Italian technique, making more than two dozen ganache flavors, from lemon pie and cachaça to cognac, at their Castle Rock factory. Valentoni hand paints the bonbons with colors drawn from fruits and vegetables, and the case also holds pralines and Brazilian brigadeiros. Order a custom mix with the lemon pie and cachaça, plus a few brigadeiros.

Stargazer is a small chocolate shop on Colorado Boulevard where its master chocolatier hand crafts European-style chocolates, truffles and artisan bars with a careful balance of sweetness, and it pours cafe drinks alongside, hot cocoa included. Order a few truffles and a hot cocoa.

Cultura is a Mexican American-owned bean-to-bar chocolate maker whose Westwood cafe on Morrison Road pours a range of drinking chocolates, from Mexican and Haitian drinking cocoa to champurrado, along with atoles such as blue corn and amaranth. Order a Mexican drinking chocolate, or the champurrado.

Piece, Love & Chocolate on Pearl Street in Boulder pours a thick, European-style drinking chocolate and frozen chocolate drinks, and the rest of the shop is filled with hand-crafted truffles, macarons and cakes. Order the drinking chocolate and a few truffles to take home.