The Best Ceremonial Cacao To Buy Online
Ceremonial cacao is a beautiful plant medicine to incorporate into your daily life and spiritual practice. My partner and I have held a cacao ceremony for ourselves every morning since 2017 and it has changed our lives! Not only can ceremonial cacao facilitate healing for your body and mind, but it also elicits a particularly potent heart-opening sensation that is ideal for embodiment, mindfulness, and spiritual work.
Being on this journey with ceremonial cacao for a few years now, I’ve noticed that most people who are hearing about it for the first time tend to have similar questions when it comes to finding the right ceremonial cacao to work with:
- What is the best ceremonial cacao out there?
- Where do I find traditionally made, ethical cacao?
- How do you differentiate between one brand and another?
- Where do I source it online?
I was once in this place too, and to be able to adequately answer these questions, I decided to take a delicious deep dive into some current cacao brands on the market to help guide you to connect with the spirit of cacao in whatever way is most resonant for you!
*This article contains some affiliate links to cacao brands that we personally work with and love to drink. Updated Fall 2022 to reflect new ceremonial cacao available.
The Taste Test
To standardize the differences between the ceremonial cacao offerings out there, I assessed each brand through the lens of three main criteria: flavor, texture, and the energetic experience. I also used a standard unflavored product from each brand and made sure each serving was prepared in the same way — 35g of cacao, blended with a drizzle of raw honey and 1 cup of hot water.
In no particular order, here’s what I found!
*It’s important to note that no batch of cacao will taste the same as the previous one — like anything that is wholly natural, it is unique and changing.
Cacao Lab
Flavor: Deeply rich and chocolatey. Amazing flavor and so beautifully balanced with notes of natural sweetness and bitterness.
Texture: For me personally, this has the perfect texture — rich and creamy.
Energy: Feels indulgent and joyful. It brings me into my heart and body. Simultaneously grounding and uplifting — my favorite combination!
Side note: As a dessert creator, I’ve found Cacao Lab’s product to be the best when incorporating cacao into my treats. It melts easily and completely into smooth, luscious chocolate (not all cacao does!) I love using this cacao to coat raw treats, drizzle on cakes or melt into tart fillings.
Special offer for readers — use code CACAOANGEL for 10% off.
The Mayan Wisdom Project
The Mayan Wisdom Project is an Indigenous owned and led organization dedicated to preserving and sharing ancient knowledge. Their cacao is made by the Chinimital del Ka’kaw collective, formed by four Mayan nations: Q’iche’, Kaqchikel, Q’eqchi’, and Tz’utujil.
Flavor: Potent and delicious. To me, it tastes like rich chocolate, striking a perfect balance of bitter with natural sweetness and complex, round notes. I get the sense that these cacao beans have been handled and processed in a very intentional and beneficial way — in the way the beans themselves like to be transformed.
Texture: It blends to be smooth, thick and luscious.
Energy: This cacao is really special. You can feel the exceptional love and intention it was made with. “Handmade in the traditional Mayan way: Sun dried, hand roasted in wood fire, peeled, ground on the millstone by the women and grandmothers.” (The Mayan Wisdom Project)
The Cacao Club
Flavor: Pleasantly fruity and fragrant— in addition to warming spices such as cinnamon and cayenne pepper, each disc combines cacao with a tailored combination of organic herbs and natural adaptogens for specified health benefits. You can add a natural sweetener if you like, but it is so pure, you don’t need to add anything but hot water for a delicious tonic.
Texture: Definitely the frothiest, with a super smooth and indulgent mouthfeel, like a silky, herbal hot chocolate.
Energy: I can easily imagine starting my day with this cacao — I felt energised and focused for a few hours after drinking half a disc (30g). Indulgent and satisfying like dark chocolate — this would take care of any afternoon chocolate cravings, no doubt!
Special offer for readers — use code CACAOCOMMUNITY for 10% off.
Ora Cacao
Flavor: Ora Cacao has several different cacao beans and blends to choose from. Glowing Guatemala is a slightly fruity and tangy. There are three primary taste receptors that commonly apply to cacao: bitter, astringent and sour. Using this flavor profile, the Guatemalan blend is slightly higher in astringency and sourness than some of their other origins.
Texture: Blending the chocolate buttons creates a really nice, frothy cacao, with a smooth and silky mouthfeel. The buttons blend easily with a simple milk frother or hand whisk, which comes in handy if you don’t have a blender.
Energy: This cacao has a lovely, light energy. Glowing Guatemala feels uplifting and perfect for morning meditation. Note: I like to drink cacao in the morning and sometimes a ceremonial dose (42g) can be quite strong on an empty stomach. For my daily tonic, I only drink 20g. It’s taught that in ceremony, feeling a little nauseous or needing to go to the bathroom is a part of the detoxification and cleansing process.
10% OFF your first purchase of Ora Cacao with my special code — FORTHELOVEOFCHOCOLATE.
Other notable Ceremonial Cacao companies:
We have been lucky enough to try out several other beautiful brands that offer amazing cacao for ceremony and daily drinking, so I wanted to mention them here.
Soul Lift Cacao: A couple of years ago while we were visiting Lake Atitlan in Guatemala (considered the hub of ceremonial cacao) we were lucky to find handmade cacao by an incredible women’s cooperative called Ruk’u’x Ulew (pronounced “Roo-koosh-oo-lay-oo”), which means Heart of the Earth. My friend calls this “the Grandmother Cacao” — needless to say, it’s very special. This cacao and other varieties are now available worldwide through distributors like Soul Lift. If you want to learn more and support Indigenous Mayan women and families making this medicine, check out their website.
Nana Marina Cruz & family: Nana Marina is a Tz’utujil Mayan Guide. Her cacao is unique because it’s been grown, harvested, toasted, fermented, packaged and distributed 100% by GuateMayans. You can find Nana Marina’s Cacao through Four Visions Market and other online distributors.
Vai Cacao: Sardinian-hearted with Salvadorean roots, Vai Cacao was conceptualized and brought to life by a couple who are passionate about artisanal chocolate. Sourcing directly from farms in El Salvador, they also support single origin farms growing unique varieties of cacao across Central America. The beans are then transformed into ceremonial cubes and other chocolate products in their lab in Sardinia, Italy, preserving the pure, complex flavors through artisanal techniques. Certified organic and certified delicious! Great for readers in Europe who want to save on shipping. Use our code COUPLESCACAO for 10% off.
Keep in mind…
Everyone is going to have a different energetic experience when working with ceremonial cacao. Every body is unique. Your experience also depends on the state of your body and mind when you drink, i.e. whether it’s on an empty stomach or perhaps when you’re feeling particularly sensitive emotionally, etc. In any case, I like to approach it with reverence and the understanding that whatever shows up for me is good medicine. And it’s always a good idea to stay hydrated!
How to navigate your ceremonial cacao buying experience:
Now that you know the basic flavor, texture, energy and pricing of these ceremonial cacao options, the best thing to do is to begin trying them! If you find that you especially connect with one, keep working with it. If you don’t feel particularly touched by the first one you try, go for different one. Just like good coffee or wine, there are different notes to ceremonial cacao and it comes down to personal preference.
If you’re interested in the most traditionally made cacao, try The Mayan Wisdom Project, Ruk’u’x Ulew from SoulLift, or Nana Marina’s Cacao. If you’d prefer an aesthetically beautiful, herb-infused cacao for special occasions, try The Cacao Club. If you’re looking for the stable energy and open-hearted feeling cacao can offer to your day, I’d recommend trying Cacao Lab or Ora Cacao.
Above all, follow your intuition and if possible, try as much ceremonial cacao as you can! There are many other wonderful options out there and there’s no way of knowing what’s right for you unless you try a range of brands and cacao recipes. You’ll likely find that some cacao feels better for you in doing deeper spiritual work, while others may be more like a tool that you can call upon any time of day or occasion. It all depends on your own unique body, mind and energy states, as well as your individual tastes and preferences.
And one more important note:
While sourcing and quality is of the upmost importance when working with ceremonial cacao, the tenets of integrity and respect are equally crucial.
Every time you prepare and drink cacao, take a moment to acknowledge the traditional stewards of this plant and the land on which it was grown by offering your reverence and gratitude. This may look like a few breaths in silence or a few words of thanks.
While ensuring the Cacao you are purchasing is sustainably sourced by companies giving back to these communities, you might also find ways to contribute directly through non-profits — more on this in my partner
’s article How To Give Back If You Benefit From Ceremonial Cacao.
I’d like to conclude with a Mayan myth that was shared with me by Florencia Fridman of Cacao Lab, which says that when humans stray far enough from nature, cacao brings the humans back to nature. With that, I believe sharing the medicine of cacao and it reaching new people and places across the world is a very good thing!
Some of the cacao recommendations in this article contain affiliate links. 25% of proceeds from those affiliates go towards giving back to the communities who have nurtured our healing relationship with cacao throughout generations. I have tasted all the cacao that I recommend and continually update the products featured in this article.
