You’ve placed your order for Ora Ceremonial Cacao.
Now what's next?
Prepare Your Cacao Tools
Meaningful mug or vessel.
To access the deeper benefits of cacao, we encourage you to invest in a mug that is meaningful, as well as beautiful, to you. Perhaps, it is an artistic mug, a cup with inspiring words, or a simple mug that carries special hidden meaning (such as a mug your late family members used or one you bought in a special time or place in life). We recommend staying away from plastics for cacao consumption (or any consumption for that matter) for your personal health as well as the planet. When possible, consider supporting small or local ceramic/pottery makers.
Electric frothing tool or blender.
To make your cacao “frothy”, consider investing in an electric frothing tool. These are handheld mini blenders that stir your cacao with the push of a button. Using a frothing tool requires much less cleanup than using a blender or a pot/sauce pan for preparation. Many frothing tools come with rechargeable batteries and traveling cases, so you can take your cacao ritual with you when you travel or go to a friend’s house. If you prefer not to use a frothing tool, you may use a blender to combine your liquid and cacao. Note that the blender can get noisy, messy, and more time-consuming than a frothing tool. And it doesn’t travel as well. If you are preparing cacao for large groups of people, you can
Stove pot.
If you do not have a blender or frothing tool, simply use a soup bowl on the stove. Heat your water, add your cacao discs, and stir until it is smooth. You need a device to heat your liquids. An electric tea kettle, stove tea pot, or any other means of heating liquid will work. If your tea pot has a thermometer, that will be helpful in keeping the temperature below 180 degrees, so as to preserve the most healing benefits of cacao (just like with healthy teas!).
Choose your Liquid Base
Cacao can be prepared with a variety of liquid bases such as water, tea, nut milk, or non-dairy milks. The liquid you choose largely depends on your flavor preferences or dietary needs.
Water
Spring water or artisan well water is recommended for the most pure cacao drink possible and to connect you directly with the energy of cacao. However, any filtered or purified water will do as well.
Tea
Any tea of your liking. Floral and herbal teas can add extra healing benefits. Simply brew your favorite tea and blend cacao discs into it. For an extra energizing blend, include matcha, mate, or guayasa.
Non-Dairy Milks
Nut milk or non-dairy milk provide a thicker drinking experience than water. Dairy milk is not recommended as it can inhibit some of the healing properties of cacao. Common alternatives to dairy milk include almond milk, cashew milk, coconut milk, hazelnut milk, soy milk, and oat milk.
Coffee
If you are transitioning off of coffee (or are having a hard time letting coffee go), try adding a few cacao discs to your coffee. With the healthy fat in our cacao from the natural cacao butter, it will create a “Bulletproof” style mocha drink.
Add Healthy Sweeteners
For some people, delicious means keeping their cacao 100% PURE with no additional ingredients. Because pure is what their body and tastebuds may prefer. Although ceremonial cacao might taste bitter by itself at first, ultimately it becomes a treat.
However, for the sweet-tooths or first time cacao drinkers who are looking to ease into a new ritual (while perhaps getting rid of a sugar addiction), here are a few options to sweeten your ceremonial cacao WITHOUT compromising your health. When possible, choose organic for yourself and for the planet:
- Local raw unfiltered honey
- Maple syrup
- Healthier sugar alternatives: licorice root powder, mesquite powder, monkfruit, stevia, coconut sugar, birch sugar, lucuma
- You can even try blending your cacao with a date or a small amount of other fruit
It’s recommended to keep your sugar ratio below 15% overall. So if you use 1.02oz cacao, use no more than .18oz sugar. Our gut flora contains competing bacterial families, and if we add too much sugar, the beneficial bacteria that helps us absorb cacao can be outcompeted by the voracious sugar-eating bacteria.
Add Ingredients and Superfoods
Whether you buy a Pure or Enhanced 100% Cacao, you still have the creative freedom to add your own ingredients in order to make the cacao to your liking. It’s important to add these ingredients BEFORE you blend, so that the drink will take on a smooth consistency.
Here are several common ingredients that cacao lovers add to their daily drink:
- Spice powders: cinnamon, cayenne, turmeric, ginger, cardamom
- Superfoods: maca, licorice root, mesquite, mushrooms, bee pollen, pomegranate seeds, ashwaghanda
- Sea salt
- Healthy fats: coconut oil/MCT oil, nut butters
- Flower blends: rose, damiana (you can also add floral elements through floral teas as the liquid base!)
