Ceremonial cacao is chocolate but it is no ordinary chocolate is the purest grade cacao, the highest vibration, brightest energy of cacao. It is chocolate in its most natural state nothing removed nothing added. Ceremonial Cacao is made from a very special bean that now makes up less than 5% of the world’s cacao production. This very rare and highly prized criollo bean is the same bean that the Ancients Mesoamerican civilizations used for thousands of years in ceremony and celebration.

Ceremonial cacao is made by fermenting and lightly toasting or sun-drying cacao beans, the husks are then peeled, they are then stone-ground to create a paste which is set into a block — nothing is added and nothing is removed. The cacao bean’s fat remains in place, this helps to balance the stimulating properties.
Packed with antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, magnesium, potassium, iron and calcium,
Cacao contains powerful mood enhancing hormones like serotonin and dopamine.
These ingredients help us to relax the nervous system, enabling us to access the deeper layers of consciousness and heart-opening. You may feel expansive, blissful, connected to self, inspired, connected to your intuition, grounded,
Unlike coffee, which contains a high-concentration of caffeine that stimulates the nervous system that can give you an alert often jittery “buzz”, ceremonial cacao contains an abundance if theobromine that can give you the feeling of a warm and uplifting “hum”.

Our cacao is sourced from the Amazon Region of Tarapoto, in the San Martin Province of northern Peru. This is the part of the world where cacao grows natively finding the optimal conditions to produce amazing cacao beans. In using ceremonial cacao you are encouraging the farmers to continue to protect and grow these native species of cacao trees, our supplier helps this community continue was well by promoting the cacao production using environmentally sustainable practices and assisting through a social responsibility program to improve working conditions for the farmers including the donation of tools and workshops on sustainable agriculture techniques.

Preparation instructions:
Place your preferred amount of ceremonial cacao into a saucepan. 1 – 2 tablespoons. Generally, a daily serve preference is 20+ grams a ceremonial serve is 40grams.
Add warm water stir to combine do not boil, add your natural sweetener of choice I love our local honey, and spice selection for today, we have a range of pre made blends available. Top with your preferred plant-based milk. (if you like a thicker creamy cacao use a ratio of ½ water ½ plant based milk ) When warmed through if you like a creamier cacao place into a blender that is safe for hot liquids. Serve in your favourite cacao cup.

Take time to breathe. Enjoy

Align – Daily Ritual
Intention is the wisdom behind ceremonial cacao. Adding spice intensifies the thought and embodiment of who you are, into the ceremony around the cacao you create. With this everyday spice blend, manifest self nurture with the addition of cinnamon and green cardamom. Chilli increases blood flow and aids absorption. Cacao itself is creamy, with a bitter body that satisfies deep gut hunger and health. A balance of grounding and stimulation that tempers the naturally arousing qualities of cacao and enables this ritual to become an everyday meditation.

Sarina Kamini – The Spice Mistress
Attending to the doshas via use of spice provides a way to tune in and address the bodies needs on all three levels of human function – the physical, the emotional, and the spiritual. In Ayurveda, the three doshas serve as categorisation for the three dosa types. Pitta – fire and water. Vata – air and ether. Kapha – earth and water. Each of us is thought to be composed of elements of two, sometimes three of the doshas. Since birth, every person has his or her own unchanging constitution. Their type. But age and seasons influences the balance as we move through our days and our lives. Fluidity and flexibility around the idea of who we are allows us to tune in to the shape of our selves on any given day and tend to THAT person. Having access to specific dosha blends means your cacao can be tailored to recognise, draw forward or recess the elements in you that speak loudest. These blends give you the means to pay attention to the ways in which you change, and then to meet yourself there.

Pitta – Stimulant
Fine white salt is the beginning, for this stimulating Pitta spice blend. A harder white salt drives metabolism and sets chilli alight. The combination of cayenne and Szechuan peppers undercut the blend with a boulder-rock grit that spices chillies flame. Black pepper is grounding back molar heat. Asafoetida directs the stimulation away from physical arousal and along the pathway of a more metaphorical space conducive to inspired output. Coconut oil in the cacao mix will sweeten the drive. Ghee will soften it.

Vata – Untethering
Untethering is difficult. No matter how much we run, self-preservation demands we tie a small piece of ourselves to ourselves at all times. Moving toward a shift away to allow for a ritualistic freedom from Self takes a bit of punch, which is what this spice blend delivers. Deliciousness is not its purpose: this is a strong and uncomfortable aromatic profile weighted toward vertiginous sweet, loose and oily heat. Use as a mechanism to aid in group chants or movements toward controlled transcendent experience. Mustard oil will reign it in slightly. Coconut oil in the cacao will concentrate it. Not for every day use.

Kapha – Settling
Opaque and warm spice are the centrifugal slow down force in the heart of this masala blend. Start a little high with warm ginger, clove and mace, before a spiral down into the pillow of cumin, coriander, cinnamon and a softer pink salt. Ground fenugreek is a deep and stabilising open space in the well of the cup. Turmeric and ginger keep enough low, warm and bitter stability to keep the blend from settling too deep into soporific slowness. Ghee and molasses warm and lift for a sustainably slow meditative state.

Tri-doshic – Equilibrium Everyday
Finding three-point balance via fennel seed, black pepper and garam masala creates a delicious equilibrium in this spice blend that suits an everyday approach to the ritual of ceremonial cacao. Ground cardamom warms and lightens, nutmeg creates a little needed astringent acidity to break up the weight of cassia and garam masala combined, while leaving all that lovely palate and heart-centered stimulation undisturbed. A pinch of cayenne is the kick from the idle of second into the easy productivity of third gear function. I like coconut oil with this one, and just a touch of honey. Too much sweetness will upset the stability this spice blend can give in a daily context.

Our ceremonial cacao and spice range are available for purchase in studio.