For most people, the idea of “drinking chocolate” conjures up childhood images either of campfires and petrified marshmallows, or sugar-loaded brown powder stirred into a tall cold glass of milk.

Portland chocolate vendor Cacao hopes to change your mind about that forever.

Cacao serves drinking chocolate, made from equal parts solid chocolate melted into whole milk and a touch of cream. Choose from a Rivoli dark chocolate made with 72% Arriba National (Ecuadoran) cocoa, the “special spicy drinking chocolate” made from Arriba cocoa infused with cayenne, ginger, and paprika (further sweetened with a dash of coconut milk), and a milk and dark chocolate combo flavored with cinnamon.

The “72%” refers to the actual cocoa content of the chocolate. Most chocolate candy bars contain only about 10-12% cocoa - the rest is sugar and milk. “Dark” chocolate contains at least 60% cocoa, ranging up to 100% for the intrepid taster.

Cacao also offers chocolate bars and confections - “chocolate in every way possible,” says co-owner Jesse Manis, “from all over the world, including local.” Until recently, chocolate farmers - all in tropical areas - rarely tasted the end products made from their cocoa, usually in the US and Europe. Now, chocolate makers have emerged in cocoa-producing countries. The ability to taste the fine end product gives cocoa farmers a stronger incentive to produce high-quality beans, Manis says.

“I hope that every time someone leaves the store, they leave with their eyes open to the endless surprises that the chocolate world has to offer,” Manis says. “Every time I start to think ‘I’ve tasted it all’, something comes along that makes me say, ‘Wow!’”