Garcia Nevett Chocolatiers de Miami: Taste of Venezuela

Fringed by tropical greenery a half hour south of Miami, you’ll find Susana and Isabel Garcia-Nevett’s chic chocolate shop tucked away in a well-heeled strip mall. Once inside, I’m greeted by a long case housing the sisters’ award-winning bon bons, barks and other chocolaty delights. Each creation has its own origin story, so I sit down with the duo to discover what makes the Garcia Nevett Chocolatiers de Miami chocolates so special.

Isabel, a former investigative journalist in her birth country, Venezuela, switched careers and began working with chocolate almost fifteen years ago in Caracas. The concept, then called Cacao Art, she says, was a totally different one to the pretty ecru-hued store the sisters own now. Susana, a former architect, moved to South Miami first, followed by Isabel in 2012. The rest is a story within a story of how they got to where they are today.

Creating Chocolate in Florida

Bonbon box from Garcia Nevett Chocolatiers de Miami — Bonbon box photo credit Mary Luz Mejia

Once settled in Florida, the sisters decided they wanted to bring a taste of Venezuela to their new home. Their first big lesson was learning how people in the US eat luxury chocolates. “If it’s luxury chocolates like ours, it’s more of a gift item, so you have to be careful with the presentation, with the box, everything has to be very beautiful,” says Isabel, adding that there was (and is) a second part to this trajectory: educating customers about what fine chocolate is.

The sisters say they’re riding the wave of the craft chocolate revolution in the US, which makes it a good time to be offering this kind of product. People are becoming savvier regarding fine chocolate, as evidenced by their well-attended “Introduction to Chocolate” classes held at the store, featuring tastings and a healthy side of cacao-based education. For those new to fine chocolate, the sisters say, they gain “converts.” To those who already understand the differences, they gain newly minted evangelists.

To help bolster their creations, the duo entered one of their first, local creations – the Tupelo Honey and Cardamom Milk Chocolate bonbon – into the 2014 edition of a popular US-based food competition. “We were lucky enough to win an award. It was our first foray into the world of awards and helped get our names out there with a bit of publicity and that got the ball rolling,” explains Isabel.

Chocolatiers de Miami

The Garcia Nevett shop didn’t open until 2018. Before that, the sisters were working out of a commercial kitchen and selling their bonbons in markets, shops, and any place they saw a natural fit. They thought about their roots, where they come from, the things that define their philosophy and rebranded from Cacao Art to Garcia Nevett Chocolatiers de Miami, reflecting both of their parents’ last names and who they are.

Their choice to use Venezuelan bean-to-bar couverture is also purpose built. Susana, who took her level III IICCT certification with me in Italy two years ago, says her study of cacao led her to determine that Venezuelan cacao was the best choice for their bonbons. “We’ve tried cacao and chocolate from all over the world and while it’s true, that we grew up with Venezuelan cacao, it’s one that we always come back to. It’s chocolaty chocolate, it’s almonds, it’s honey…. It’s great for working in confections,” says Isabel.

The sisters know that there are various flavor profiles within their home country’s cacao, but because they’re chocolatiers, their need for a cacao that offers versatility and a gentle flavor structure is satisfied with Venezuelan cacao from purveyors like Franceschi and El Rey, for example.

Garcia Nevett Chocolatiers de Miami bars photo credit Mary Luz Mejia

There are of course exceptions. “We work with Dandelion Chocolate because their Belizean Maya Mountain chocolate pairs wonderfully with our Brugal rum and apricot bonbon. But we cannot use that with other confections – the flavors fight each other,” says Susana. In the future, she says she would love to create bean-to-bar cacao – but that’s somewhere down the distant road. “They are after all, two very different professions,” says Susana.

The Stories Behind the Bonbons

Garcia Nevett Chocolatiers de Miami bonbons photo credit Mary Luz Mejia

The sisters agree that their customers know more about bonbons than they do about bean-to-bar chocolate bars. Their single estate bonbons are a good vehicle, they feel, for customers to ease their way into the world of fine or craft chocolate.

Like doting mothers who can’t pick a “favorite” child, the sisters offer a selection of bonbons that are as unique as they are. First up is that award winner made from northern Florida’s own Tupelo honey that sweetens 41% Venezuelan milk chocolate along with the warming notes of cardamom. “The cardamom reminds us of our uncle Andres, who was from Sweden and traveled in a cargo ship in the 1950s to Venezuela to marry my aunty. He always said his two big loves were my aunty and Venezuela,” says Isabel.

You can find this truffle in their Flavors of Florida box, along with their 60% dark chocolate passion fruit bonbon filled with passion fruit coulis. It’s one of the first bonbons the pair developed, reminiscent of their grandmother’s passion fruit juice. The pairing of chocolate and passion fruit is a Venezuelan favorite, a customer must-have, and an award-winner all in one!

For an iconic taste of Venezuela, Isabel pulls out their Anís y Papelón – or fennel seed and raw cane sugar bonbon. A 60% chocolate ganache bonbon that’s filled with a papelón caramel and ground fennel seeds that give you a licorice aftertaste without being overpowering or medicinal. This is inspired by a Venezuelan version of a cinnamon roll, says Isabel, called a golfeado. For Venezuelans, this is a nostalgic taste of a childhood favorite.

I’m a huge fan of their Tequila Lime bonbon made with two distinct layers: the first, a layer of vegan chocolate and Casamigos tequila ganache (they don’t cook out the tequila, so you get a real punch of flavor) topped with a tangy lime pâte de fruit they make in-house. The creation is topped with a sprinkling of Florida sea salt harvested from the state’s panhandle region. I first tried this (not knowing who the makers were) when I judged the Americas leg of an international chocolate competition in 2021 and remember saying to my husband, “This one will win an award!” It deservedly won a silver!

If you’re interested in a taste of Florida through the sister’s Venezuelan lens, head to their pretty shop – chances are you’ll run into one or both sisters.