Preparing Ceremonial Cacao
A guide for lovers of ancient heart-opening chocolate
Since 2013 I’ve worked with Ceremonial Cacao as a sacred medicine. During this time I’ve been asked a number of times about the best way to prepare cacao for drinking. In this article I outline how I prepare Ceremonial Cacao for groups of up to 8 people.
A disclaimer before I start: this is the way I prepare Ceremonial Cacao and I make no claims to it being definitive. My method has been developed through conversations with other practitioners, information I’ve gathered online and a healthy dose of trial and error. I’m pretty sure that some of what I describe here will be deemed bad practice by some people.
If after trying my method you have feedback about what might improve it, I’d love to hear from you. So please post a comment and let’s talk!
Before you start
If you’re new to working with Ceremonial Cacao, there are a few important things you should know before you start — especially if you plan to give cacao to others as well. I’ve set those out in this article, which I recommend reading before you do anything else.
What you need
To make things as easy as possible, I recommend this equipment:
Small saucepan
Flexible spatula
Weighing scales (optional — see below)
Kettle
Heatproof measuring jug
Cooking hob
Cacao
Not all cacao is equal. Ceremonial-grade cacao is the original non-hybridised form of the plant, grown with love and awareness and fairly-traded. Ideally it’s been sourced and prepared by a cacao shaman who knows the plant well and has a good relationship with the growers.
Ceremonial-grade cacao is quite hard to find, and usually costs more than even the highest-grade organic raw cacao you get from health food shops.
It’s not necessary for ceremonial cacao to be raw, though some people prefer it that way. Chocolate Shaman Keith, for example, recommends that the beans be lightly toasted to remove the skin (which he and others consider toxic) before it’s prepared into paste.
For me it’s more important that the cacao is ceremonial-grade than raw. I have worked with several varieties of cacao and I can tell if it’s suitable for ceremony by drinking a cup.
I’ve written more about what makes Ceremonial Cacao different here.
Sweetener
Medicine folks can get a bit purist about the question of whether to sweeten Ceremonial Cacao or not. It seems to be a theme that medicine should taste rough and be a bit of an ordeal to drink.
I don’t believe that it’s wrong to sweeten Ceremonial Cacao before drinking it, though I respect those who prefer to drink it bitter (and I sometimes do that myself). This is a choice for you to make for yourself, based on your preference.
I have a strong preference for coconut sugar, which is readily available in Denmark (where I live) and has a mellow sweetness. It’s an unrefined low G.I. sugar, which matters to me as someone who comes from a family of diabetics.
Other sweeteners that people commonly use include agave, stevia, honey, maple syrup and unrefined sugar. It’s worth researching your choice of sweetener to make sure it suits you and the people you’re drinking with.
I recommend against using refined white sugar. It’s the most unhealthy, damaging form of sugar available and you’re supporting an abusive, addiction-creating global industry. Again though, that’s your personal choice.
Spices
It’s not necessary to add spices to your ceremonial cacao. I do so because I like the way it enhances the drink and because it’s fun to get creative with the taste.
Cayenne Pepper is the most commonly-used spice, and perhaps the one that has the most significant function. Cayenne and other forms of chilli cause the body to vasodilate, which means the blood vessels widen and blood flow increases. This causes anything you put in your body to be absorbed quicker. Cayenne is used with cacao to speed up the effects of the medicine, as well as to give the drink a hot spicy tang.
Vanilla is often used, as its flavour complements the bitterness of the chocolate, making the drink taste sweeter. I recommend using vanilla essence or vanilla powder rather than vanilla extract, which usually has chemicals and flavourings added to it.
Other spices I like to add to cacao include salt, cinnamon, cardamom, rose and mint. Each of these give both a taste and a feeling to the cacao, so I tend to have them all at home and choose intuitively based on how I feel on the day.
In terms of quantities, it’s best to start with small quantities of any spice you’re going to use. I once put far too much vanilla in a cup of cacao and it ruined the taste! Remember, you can always add more later (right up to the moment of drinking it), so start small and increase until you get it just how you like it.
Nut milk
An optional extra is nut milk, which gives the drink a rich creamy quality that I enjoy. My personal favourite is coconut milk, which can be bought from most supermarkets and also from East Asian food shops. You can also use almond, cashew, hazelnut, rice, oat or soya milk.
I recommend against using a sweetened nut milk. It means that you’re adding an unknown amount of white sugar to your cacao. If, like me, you enjoy the drink a bit sweet, it’s better to use unsweetened nut milk and a sweetener of your choice.
It’s also recommended not to use dairy milk, since some people say this blocks the effects of cacao. (As a dairy lover I’m a bit dubious about this, but I’ve heard it from a couple of sources so I’m mentioning it here.)
Weighing scales
When I’m making cacao for small groups, I tend not to weigh it. This is because a slightly-rounded tablespoon of cacao is approximately equal to 10 grams, so it’s possible to use this as a guide to guesstimate quantities. The larger the number of people I’m preparing for, the more inclined I am to weigh the cacao.
Below I talk about how much cacao to use, which is important for people’s physical and emotional health.
Preparing Ceremonial Cacao
With a sharp knife, chop the cacao into small pieces. It’s worth going over it a few times until you’ve chopped the cacao into small chunks. The closer you get to a coarse powder, the easier it is to make a smooth drink. (See below about using a food processor.)
Put the cacao, sweetener and spices in the saucepan and gently mix them together. (See below for important info on how much cacao to use.)
Note: if you prefer, you can add sweetener and spices later on, when the drink is ready. This works well if your guests have allergies. (Being allergic to Cayenne is quite common, for example.)
Heat the water to around 80c. There are a few ways to do this:
· Get a kettle where you can select the temperature at which it stops heating the water. (This is the easiest way, and I recommend it if you drink cacao regularly. However, temperature-control kettles are not cheap.)
· Heat the water on the stove and use a thermometer to check the temperature.
· Boil the water, put it in a measuring jug and add an extra 25–30% cold water to bring the temperature down.
Add a very small amount of hot water to the powdered cacao mix and stir gently together with the spatula. It’s best to use as little water as possible at this stage. What you’re looking to create is a thick smooth paste.
Once you’ve thoroughly blended this first splash of water, add a bit more and stir it gently together. Keep stirring until you’ve worked out any lumps and don’t add more water until it’s as smooth as possible. This is the secret to getting the drink smooth and not lumpy.
Keep adding water in small quantities until you have a thick smooth liquid. Then you can start adding nut milk if you’re using it. Again, it’s best to add a little at a time and keep stirring until everything has blended together and the drink is smooth
At this point, you can put the pan on the hob at a low heat and start gently warming up the cacao. (This is particularly relevant if you just added cold nut milk.) Once you have the heat on, keep stirring the drink and keep adding nut milk or water, little by little. Do not let the cacao boil!
How much liquid you add is entirely up to you. Some people like a thicker drink, others prefer it thinner. This is a rough guide you can follow:
· thick drink: 2.5 ml of water for each gram of cacao
· medium drink: 3 ml of liquid for each gram of cacao
· thin drink: 3.5 ml of liquid for each gram of cacao
In other words, for each 40 gram cup of cacao, you’ll use between 100 and 140 mls of water.
Taste the drink and make any adjustments to get it just how you like it. This is the time to add more spice or sweetener before serving it up.
Cacao doesn’t like sitting around, so once you’re completely happy with what you’ve made, serve it immediately.
How much cacao
It’s very important to drink the right amount of cacao. If you have too little you won’t feel its effects; if you have too much, you’re likely to make yourself nauseous or get jittery.
These are the guidelines I follow to determine quantities:
10g: a very light dose, good for those who are highly sensitive to stimulants, pregnant or have health issues that make it hard to process fats
20g: a light dose, good for supporting other practices (meditation, yoga etc) or giving your day a gentle lift; a good ceremonial dose for sensitive people
30g: a medium dose, great if you’re using cacao instead of alcohol or substances on a night out; also good as a lighter ceremonial dose (and ideal for your first time)
40g: a full ceremonial dose, ideal if you want to journey deeply and have drunk cacao before
50–60g: a large dose, only recommended if you want to go very deep or if you know you’re resistant to the effects of cacao
I highly recommend not drinking more than 60g of cacao in a single day. I’ve seen people do it and it doesn’t generally end well!
I’ve written more about how much cacao to take and how often here.
Using a food processor
As I drink cacao regularly, I powder each block when I’m ready to use it for the first time. I do this by chopping the block roughly and then putting the pieces into a food processor. This turns them to a coarse powder in 20–30 seconds.
There’s some debate about whether putting cacao in a food processor is a bad thing to do. Some people say that it’s bad for the cacao physically and reduces its potency. Others say that it’s a disrespectful way to treat a medicine plant. I don’t know if either of these is true, as I’ve found the cacao I prepare to be both strong and sacred.
Ultimately it’s up to you if you choose to put your cacao in a food processor or not. For me, it’s a way to get the smoothest drink and is particularly good when I’m preparing cacao for larger groups.
Closing thoughts: when a cacao journey is difficult
For most people, Ceremonial Cacao is a consistently lovely experience. However some people sometimes experience not-so-lovely effects from drinking it. These include nausea, dizziness, dark thoughts and feelings of low self-esteem.
As with any plant medicine, it’s quite likely that these are symptoms and the cacao is trying to bring something to your attention. Nausea often indicates something that your system wants to release. Dark thoughts and feelings of low self-esteem can be the cacao’s way of showing you where you need to give yourself love and attention. Dizziness can indicate that something is overwhelming you or you need grounding.
It’s common for people who have a bad experience with Ceremonial Cacao to avoid it in the future. This is completely understandable — after all, why subject yourself to something that makes you feel bad? At the same time, it’s worth looking at what the cacao is trying to teach you and finding ways to nourish the parts of you that are being highlighted. (Often this can be done without taking more cacao — for example, by attending to a relationship that isn’t working or by finding a suitable practitioner or therapist to work with.)
Something I find useful when I have a tough time with cacao is to remember that it’s not exclusively a feel-good medicine. It does have lovely qualities that mean I often feel good when I take it — but it’s also there to show me where I’m out of alignment with my natural ability to feel good. So if I find myself having a rough time with cacao, I try to garner the lessons she’s offering me rather than rejecting the medicine.
If you’re based in Northern Europe and you’d like some Ceremonial Cacao, please get in touch with me via my company Charmed Chocolates. We import delicious, potent and reasonably-priced Ceremonial Cacao direct from a small farm in the Andes in Peru.
Wherever you are and wherever you get your cacao from, I wish you wonderful journeys with Ceremonial Cacao. If you have feedback on this guide or want to share your experience with cacao, please comment on this post.
Read more about cacao ceremonies here
