Finding the best chocolate in Mérida (Mexico)
➕ a brief introduction to the history of chocolate according to MexicoCassie
Purely as a public service, I’ve been eating chocolate in Mérida since 2016. I make it my personal mission to try every interesting chocolate bar, artisanal or mainstream, so that I can help you, the slightly more discerning human that you are, enjoy only the very best chocolate there is on offer.
When I first wrote this article in 2018, Mérida was not the super cool and trendy tourist destination that it is today. The souvenir shops sold traditional Yucatecan souvenirs, the hip cafés hadn’t yet arrived and there was plenty of extremely questionable quality chocolate passing itself off as ‘artisan chocolate’. How things have changed (I talk a lot about the changes the city is experiencing in my main guide exploring Mérida)
In this article we’ll take a quick look at the history of chocolate before diving into the best chocolate Mérida has to offer – you might find your surprised by what I have to say.
There are affiliate links in this article. If you click and make a purchase I could make a small sum at zero cost to you. Thank you!
More MexicoCassie guides to delicious things for your mouth in Mexico
🍳 Understanding a Mexican breakfast menu and what to order
🌯 Everything you need to know about street food in Mexico
🍭 Everything you need to know about Mexican candy
🥃 Everything you need to know about drinks in Mexico (both alcoholic and non)
🚱 Can you drink the water in Mexico?
🧒🏻 Finding food for the kids in Mexico
🍫 Everything you need to know about chocolate in Mérida
🍦 Finding the best ice creams in Mérida
Mexico and chocolate
Who drank it first?
Did you know that chocolate is actually a Mexican invention, and that it was a non-sweet drink long before it was ever the sweet melt in your mouth goodness we love today? Seriously. I mean, not in the form of a delicious bar of Dairy Milk or anything, but chocolate really was discovered / invented in Mexico.
The word chocolate has two possible origins (as far as my vast and deep knowledge of Mesoamerican languages tells me): either from the Nahuatl word chocolātl or the Mayan word xocolatl.
Some people think it was the Olmecs (modern day Veracruz/Tabasco region) who first saw the potential of the cacao bean. It is known that they cultivated the cacao plant and there is evidence that they were mixing it with water, spices and herbs as early as 1500 BCE.
However, others believe the Mayas around Veracruz were already consuming chocolate by 1750 BCE.
How did they drink it?
Early consumption of chocolate was as a bitter and fermented beverage – boozy chocolate beer anyone? The cacao pods were fermented, roasted and then ground into a bitter paste which could be combined with other ingredients to give interesting flavours.
Why and when?
I imagine you’re aware that there is a serious threat to our favourite snack right now: we are eating so much chocolate that we could well end up with a global shortage. This stuff was never meant to be gobbled up at every opportunity, or pasted on to naked bodies only to be licked off again. It was a serious and luxurious substance to be used only during religious rituals, wedding and funeral rites, and during dedications to specific gods such as Quetzalcoatl and Chak Ek Chuah.
The Godiva website informs me that women of this period were not permitted to drink chocolate as it was considered an aphrodisiac. Feminist Mesoamericans where were you? I demand the right for ancient Mesoamerican women to have been allowed to be allowed to drink whatever they wanted.
A note on Oaxaca
If you’ve been to Oaxaca, you’ll know that they are pretty obsessed with traditional chocolate. You’ll see numerous chocolate shops and chocolate cafés. There are parts of the city where the smell of chocolate seems to permeate everything, and its even used in the cooking – have you ever tried a delicious chocolate mole?
If you’re in town, enjoy a traditional chocolate with bread for breakfast, or stop in at a Mayordomo chocolate shop for a drink as you explore.
→ Check out the MexicoCassie guides to Oaxaca
Mérida and chocolate
As I noted above, some of the very earliest users of cacao were the Maya.
→ A great place to get a better understanding of this is the chocolate museum opposite the incredible archaeological site of Uxmal.
👣 Take this popular tour from Mérida to visit Uxmal, a cenote and The Choco-Story Museum.
→ Read the full MexicoCassie guides to visiting the ruins in Yucatán and to visiting cenotes
→ Read the full & comprehensive MexicoCassie guide to exploring Mérida
So what are the chocolate options in Mérida?
Ki’Xocolatl
This is your absolute top option in Mérida if you want good chocolate either for yourself or to take home as gifts for friends.
Visit the incredible chocolate shop hidden away in the corner of Parque Santa Lucía. From here they have quietly been expanding across Mexico over the last twenty years but its home is here, in Mérida. There are three other locations in Mérida, too, as well as stores in Mexico City, Guadalajara and Tlaxcala.
You can pick up great bars of chocolate, hot chocolates, chocolate based beauty products and even coffees in the store’s cafe.
100% Mexican product
The chocolate is made from Mexican beans – they began using beans from Chiapas & Tabasco and now have their own cacao fields near Ticul.
Mina Kim Dulces Tradicionales
This is a small shop selling local sweets and a few chocolates, on calle 60, just off the Plaza Grande walking towards Parque Santa Lucia. As you enter you’ll be greeted by an incredibly friendly woman selling a truly beautiful array of local delicacies.
From here, the first time I visited, I picked up a sugar-free chocolate button (I guess this is the most authentic chocolate since there was no sugar in Mexico when chocolate was first used) and other traditional and delicious items.
CacaoMex
This is a small chocolate museum on Paseo de Montejo where, if you’re interested you can have a short explanation of how chocolate is made, or you can go straight into their small shop. The women in the shop are incredibly friendly and they’re happy to let you try the chocolate too.
Regular chocolate bars
Any OXXO, tiendita or supermarket will have a good array of internationally known chocolate bars, many of which you’ll recognise from home: there are Mars Bars, Snickers, Bounties, Milky Way, Kit Kat, Twix, etc.
→ Mexico goes all out on the candy front so don’t be scared to try a few excitingly new and spicy goodies while you’re in town
Other places you might like to consider
La Choco Mid
A ‘chocolate’ café on Paseo de Montejo. Actually, they serve totally normal food but it does apparently have an excellent hot chocolate on the menu.
Rosas Y Xocolate Hotel
This incredibly famous hotel on Paseo de Montejo is a great option for anyone looking for a little luxury in their life, chocolate-y or not. I’ve not stayed here but I’ve been fortunate enough to have a few wonderful cacao massages as well as non-chocolate based breakfasts/brunches here and every single one has been wonderful.
→ Read more about Rosas Y Xocolate Hotel
Other useful MexicoCassie Mérida guides
➡️ The MexicoCassie full & comprehensive guide to what to do in Mérida
➡️ Exploring Mérida with kids
➡️ How best to use yours 24 hours in Mérida
➡️ Finding the free things to do in Mérida
➡️ Sustainable tourism in Mérida
🚗 Everything you need to know about getting around Mérida
🚗 MexicoCassie guide to renting a car & driving in Yucatán
➡️ How to visit the Mérida cemetery
👣 Book your Mérida and beyond tours here
➡️ Finding the street art in Mérida
➡️ Cenotes to visit from Mérida
➡️ Best cenote tours from Mérida
➡️ Best beaches to visit from Mérida
➡️ Breakfast foods in Mérida
➡️ How to find the best chocolate in Mérida
➡️ Where to find the best ice creams in Mérida
✅ Read all about just how safe Mérida & Yucatán are
35 Comments
Martha · 01/02/2018 at 11:44 pm
I recently went vacationing in Belize and they also have delicious chocolate that’s derived from Mayan recipes. The chocolate in Latin America is some of the best chocolate in the world! What a fun assignment for your kiddos to participate in!
Tom · 02/02/2018 at 8:44 am
Haha how funny. I did not even know that Mayans were already using cacao back in those days. Neither did I know Mexico was famous for chocolate, so thanks for educating me on that. I googled how much a peso was and damn those prices are good. It would actually make me eat way more chocolate than in Europe! 🙂
Caroline · 02/02/2018 at 6:52 pm
Ok, you totally had me at chocolate 😉 What a great guide, loved reading more about how chocolate plays into the history and culture of Mexico. And I will have to get down there sometime to check all these places out!
umiko · 02/02/2018 at 7:25 pm
Mmm…. chocolate!!! I love chocolate and would like to try them all. Now, where can I find them in the U.S.?
umiko · 02/02/2018 at 7:25 pm
Mmm…. chocolate!!! I love chocolate and would like to try them all. Now, where can I find them in the U.S.?
Max | Dame Cacao · 02/02/2018 at 7:50 pm
Now THIS is what I’m talking about! ki’chocolatl got me through some tough times for the brief period I lived in Playa Del Carmen, and while it’s certainly not the best chocolate in Mexico, I’d give it my stamp of approval. Check out Oaxaca or Veracruz or Tobasco if you want some amszing aithentic chocolate experiences (for research, of course). The crumbly texture you didn’t like is the low processing that chocolate traditionally had, so that’s more old school and authentic in style, but way too easy to mess up. My guess is that a lot of the makers use low-qualit and badly-fermented local beans, the stuff that craft makers wouldn’t buy. Usually old school chocolate is made into a drink, so as with my solution for all sub-par chocolate, throw it in a pot with some milk and make old-style hot chocolate! Now you can thank ME later. ?
Alissa · 02/02/2018 at 7:59 pm
This is such a great post!! When I was in Merida I didn’t try any chocolate… now I feel like I missed out hahaha. Thanks for providing us with a history of chocolate as well. Learned a lot reading this post and also really enjoyed your tongue-in-cheek writing style. Thank you!
Cassie · 02/02/2018 at 8:08 pm
Thanks for stopping by. Hope you do get here someday.
Cassie · 02/02/2018 at 8:08 pm
Ha! I don’t know. I wonder if the good stuff has been exported.
Cassie · 02/02/2018 at 8:11 pm
I’d agree it doesn’t stand up necessarily against some European brands of chocolate but for me it beats anything I had in Oaxaca. Haven’t been to Tabasco or Veracruz yet though. Now I have to go…for research, as you so rightly point out!
I know the crumbly stuff is all authentic ‘n shit but i don’t necessarily think authentic means good! We have saved all the crappy stuff to add to cooking or to make hot chocolate.
Cassie · 02/02/2018 at 8:12 pm
Thanks! Sorry you missed out on chocolate so now you’ll just have to come back. And thrilled you like my style.
Michelle · 02/02/2018 at 8:14 pm
Definitely saving this for future reference! Looks like a lot of yummies!
Lena · 02/02/2018 at 8:42 pm
I love Chocolate, and while I have never been to Mexico, I have visited a cocoa plantation in Venezuela before. I wonder if there are plantations like this in Mexico as well, where visitors can learn how cocoa is harvested and made into chocolate. If you haven’t yet, I highly recommend you check it!
While visiting there I tried the best chocolates I have ever tried and we also bought a cocoa liquor that was just pure heaven for any chocolate lover.
I loved your review and will definitely try the ki’Xocolatl when I visit Merida in the future.
Cassie · 02/02/2018 at 9:27 pm
Good idea, I’ll look out for a plantation tour.
Josy A · 02/02/2018 at 9:55 pm
Wow. What a difficult and trying life you lead. You are soooo good to out yourself out on a limb and have a hard working holiday researching chocolate for us blog readers. 😉
This is brilliant! It sounds waaaay more fun than the tour of cadburys world in birmingham! Now your kids have tried the best, what do they think of chocolate in the UK!?
Cassie · 02/02/2018 at 10:31 pm
I know, it’s tough. I suspect my kids are still super happy with English chocolate tbh. We don’t give them much generally but they’re not super refined in their taste, oddly! Now if we could find Cadbury mini eggs here we’d all be over the moon!
Heidi · 03/02/2018 at 9:10 am
You had me at chocolate. I didn’t realize chocolate was first found in Mexico. I had kinda figured it was somewhere in South America or Asia. But YAY for Mexico and for you getting to sample so many different types and flavors. OMG, heaven on earth for sure. I don’t like the flavor of pure cocoa either. It’s just a little too bitter and chalky for me but still wow, I’m just a bit jealous. As a tip, don’t miss out on the Moroccan dark chocolate when you get there 🙂
Neha · 03/02/2018 at 1:35 pm
Wow, it must have been a really trying and difficult day. All that walking around, trying out different chocolates 🙂 My kind of day really. I always thought chocolate came from South America, so I guess I stand corrected now. You know i have nightmares sometimes about the chocolate supply drying up in my lifetime :-/
Melissa · 03/02/2018 at 2:29 pm
As a fellow chocolate lover, this sounds like an amazing day. I had no idea chocolate was invented in Mexico. One more reason, I guess, to love this beautiful country.
Cassie · 03/02/2018 at 2:36 pm
Indeed. Thanks should be offered for chocolate!
Cassie · 03/02/2018 at 2:37 pm
I know, I have a tough life. And yeah it would be awful if the chocolate is all gone. Let’s not let that happen.
Cassie · 03/02/2018 at 2:38 pm
Moroccan chocolate. Got it!
Erika · 03/02/2018 at 2:38 pm
I grew up on Abuelita so Mexican chocolate is close to my heart. lol Let’s be honest even if I hadn’t it’d be close to my heart because I LOVE dark chocolate. I’m eager to try some of the recommended bars you so kindly and arduously researched for us lol on my next visit to the region. Great post!
Theresa · 03/02/2018 at 4:33 pm
I’m a true history geek, so I loved learning the background on chocolate. I knew a bit, but not this much! Your writing is stellar, and now I want chocolate, so you’ve done your job. Thanks for taking one for the team.
Cassie · 03/02/2018 at 4:34 pm
Thanks so much. And, of course, you’re welcome. I’m here for all your chocolaty needs.
Carroll Aronica · 03/03/2018 at 12:36 am
I really loved the post. Very useful.Thank you for sharing it!
Travellingrhea · 24/10/2018 at 12:41 pm
The sugar free chocolate from ki’Xocolatl is the best sugar free chocolate I have ever had. I have tried many sugar free types, but this on is worth flying to Mexico for. There is some sitting in the fridge just now and I hear it callin. Got to go……yum.
Jen · 13/02/2020 at 3:31 pm
This makes me want to come to Merida even sooner than planned!
Cassie · 14/02/2020 at 7:51 am
Haha. It’s a good reason to move for sure.
Carol · 30/03/2020 at 1:44 pm
What do you think of Ah Cacao’s chocolate?
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