Have you ever been curious about how ceremonial cacao is made?
Every cacao disc begins as a seed in a cacao pod in a tropical rainforest. From harvest and fermentation to roasting and crafting each ceremonial cacao disc, every step is approached with care. The transformation from bean to disc impacts the quality of the cacao, and ultimately, the experience in your cup.
Keep reading to discover cacao’s journey from harvest to your cup, and why every step matters.
Explore the Journey of Cacao
Harvest and Fermentation: Where the Journey Begins
Every cup of ceremonial cacao begins with patience.
A cacao tree spends three to five years growing before it produces its first pods. When those colorful fruits begin changing color and reach peak ripeness, each one is harvested by hand.
In our case, we only source from smallholder farmers who grow cacao on family plots about 2-5 hectares in size. So you can imagine these farmers going out to their intercropped cacao trees to pick ripe pods.
Once the pods are opened, the seeds are scooped out and sent to a centralized fermentation center through our wet cacao sourcing model. Rather than asking farmers to spend their time, money, and energy fermenting and drying cacao themselves (which is actually quite technical), they can focus on cultivating high-quality cacao while spending more time with their families. Fermentation specialists then carefully oversee this next stage of the journey.
Although fermentation often goes unseen, it’s one of the most important parts of making ceremonial cacao. This is where the cacao begins developing the rich chocolate flavor we all know and love. Naturally occurring yeast and bacteria transform the sweet fruit surrounding the beans over several days, creating the remarkable flavor that can’t be rushed or recreated later. The care taken here becomes part of every cup.
After the beans are fermented, they’re spread out on giant drying racks to dry in the sun. They need proper aeration to ensure mold doesn’t form. The local climate determines how long the drying takes. The dried beans are then shipped to our factory in Northern California.
Roasting and Grinding: Where Flavor and Texture Develop
After we receive dried beans at our factory, the first step is roasting. We use only the minimal heat needed to bring out the natural flavors in our premium cacao. Rather than roasting heavily to create uniformity or mask lower-quality beans, we lightly roast our cacao to honor the wisdom of Indigenous cacao traditions that toast cacao to bring the alchemy of the fire element into the chocolate-making process.
The roasted beans are then cracked, their shells removed, and slowly ground. As they’re ground, the cacao butter naturally present inside every bean is released, transforming the nibs into smooth 100% cacao.
Unlike conventional chocolate, we stop there. Nothing is extracted, as it is when making cocoa powder, and nothing unnecessary is added. Our ceremonial cacao remains whole-bean cacao, preserving everything nature placed inside the bean. For our enhanced blends, we simply add the highest-quality organic superfoods.
Every batch is then carefully conched, tempered, and poured into ceremonial cacao discs. We take care throughout every step of the transformation from bean to disc because we believe preserving the cacao’s energetic integrity matters.
Taste the Difference
Supporting Quality & Farming Communities
The journey from farm to cup is about more than making exceptional ceremonial cacao. It’s about creating a model that supports both cacao quality and the people who grow it.
By purchasing fresh cacao immediately after harvest, farmers don’t have to spend time, money, and energy fermenting and drying cacao themselves. Instead, they can focus on cultivating high-quality cacao and spending more time with their families, while fermentation specialists carefully oversee one of the most important stages of the process.
This collective approach allows farmers to receive higher and more consistent prices for their harvest while producing the remarkable flavor found in premium ceremonial cacao.
To us, making ceremonial cacao is a slow food process. We know that the care taken throughout every step of the transformation from bean to disc impacts the quality of the healing work that can be done with the cacao.
