Being healthy can be hard.
Sometimes, healthy food tastes very weird.
But, you don’t have to make that sacrifice with Firefly ceremonial cacao.
You can have your health. And you can enjoy delicious cacao too.
So, how do we develop the flavors? And what do our cacaos taste like?
Delicious Flavor: Farm To Cup
Ceremonial cacao tastes rich and decadent on its own, and each of our cacaos has its own unique flavor profile, kind of like wine!
To see the different flavors we identified, check in the product description section where it says "Tastes Like:...". For example, Thriving Tanzania (now back in stock!) tastes to us like Butter, Cherry, and Caramel.
Depending on where and how the cacao is grown, different "flavor notes" are detectable.
All flavor begins in the sourcing stage, which is why it matters that the cacao is lovingly farmed! Next, the cacao must be expertly fermented to bring out the chocolate flavor that we know and love. Without fermentation, we would not have chocolate flavor.
Additionally, each step of the cacao crafting process influences flavor development, including roast time and temperature, grinding, conching, and more.
After fermentation and drying, flavor continues developing in the roasting process. Sometimes, it can take us months to perfect a roast and develop a flavor that you will love. There is a LOT of fine-tuning the settings such as temperature, roast time, and more.
After roasting, our 24+ hour grinding process transforms nibs into completely smooth 100% cacao with decadent flavor profiles. For our Enhanced 100% Cacaos, we would now add the freshest and highest quality superfoods, herbs, and spices from around the world.
Then, we grind it down into an average particle size of ~20 microns, which is too small for the tongue to register texture!
This makes Firefly's ingredients taste like one unified smooth whole—whether it is a single ingredient, such as organic cacao beans in our Pure 100% Cacaos, or a combination of vitality-boosting ingredients in our Enhanced 100% Cacaos.
Flavor development would not be complete without conching, though. There are four main factors to conching: airflow, heat, time, and agitation.
Essentially, during conching, the cacao is heated and mixed for a specific amount of time while being aerated. Conching drives the less desirable volatiles out of the cacao, such as acetic acid, and fine-tunes the flavors.
Without conching, the cacao is rougher on the tongue, as well as on the health of the body, as the volatile elements remain. There is a very noticeable difference in the flavor before and after conching.
We taste-test and develop an intimate relationship with the cacao at every stage—after receiving a new shipment, throughout roasting, while grinding, after conching, and in solidified form after depositing.
As a team, we gather daily in our kitchen to evaluate the cacao we are producing. Sometimes we become quite elevated in the process!
Tasting cacao is a very nuanced process. There is a beginning, middle, and end to each sip.
With awareness and connection to the cacao, you can notice the different flavors as the cacao sits on your tongue.
Over the years, we’ve developed our palate to taste the subtle notes. For example, we often refer to this chocolate tasting map from the International Institute of Chocolate and Cacao Tasting to help us identify flavors.
If you take a look, you’ll see some of the flavors on this chart in our product description on our website!
✨ Vibrant Vitality ✨
"Delicious. I’ve tried another popular cacaos, however, I prefer Firefly. It has a deep, rich, and clean flavor. I can taste and feel the quality. It’s more complex in flavor and creamer in texture...easier to make my cacao. Before, I would have to go through a whole process of melting the cacao and mixing a complex recipe of spices and maple syrup to make it enjoyable. With Firefly Cacao, all I have to do is add hot plant milk and blend it with my little hand-held frother. Then, I give thanks and pray, and I enjoy the heart-opening experience for at least a couple of hours."
Popular July Cacaos
Tantric Rose Blossom 100% Ceremonial Cacao Drink
Medicinal Mushrooms 100% Ceremonial Cacao Drink
How can we support your cacao journey? We'd love to hear from you!
Reply to this email, reach out on social media, or click on the bottom-right-hand corner of our website for help with personalized cacao recommendations and anything else you need!
With Love, Gratitude, & Cacao,
Jonas & The Firefly Family
P.S. - ❄️ We are now on a summer shipping schedule. All cacao is sent out with ice packs and recycled + recyclable insulation!
📅 Orders ship Monday through Wednesday.
🕰️ Wednesday @ 1pm PST is the last order time to make the above shipping window, so that we can reduce the likelihood of your cacao being delayed in a hot warehouse over the weekend!
🧠 Please be mindful if you are ordering during a heatwave.
🏡 Bring your package inside as soon as you can after it is delivered!
📲 We recommend opting in for text message delivery notifications; to do this, enter your phone number at checkout and you will receive updates on your cacao!
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Text "HiFirefly" +1 (844) 695-0043 for a more intimate cacao conversation.
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