Introducing our newest offering, an extra large 14-ounce bar of delicious, dark 100% ceremonial grade cacao infused with a daily dose of reishi mushroom extract.
Opening Our Hearts + Creativity Tonic
Cacao and reishi are both medicines of the heart. While cacao enlivens, courts, and dilates the heart-space, reishi grounds and coalesces these energies. The spirit of Cacao often moves us to express our ourselves. Singing, playing instruments, writing, painting, drawing, divination, and dancing are all beautiful practices to incorporate into your experience.
Taking It All In
As a morning (or anytime!) beverage: the uplifting, energizing, grounding, enlivening, creativity-inspiring medicine of cacao lends itself well to morning rituals. Try half a square (about 1/2 ounce) stirred or blended into hot water, perhaps sweetened with honey or maple syrup. It's easy to shave off your desired amount using a kitchen knife, then either melt it into hot water or use a blender for extra frothiness. Each bar contains 16 squares.
In ceremony: Visit our Ceremony Guidance page for preparation, dosage, inspiration for crafting your ceremony, and contraindications
What is ceremonial grade cacao?
At a fundamental level, ceremonial grade cacao is about respect—of the cacao tree's medicine, of the farmers who grow the cacao, of the people who transport the cacao beans, of the chocolatiers who form the beans into bars, and of our intentions when we bring the cacao into our bodies.
Much of the chocolate available for purchase today has been highly processed—the fats and solids separated and later recombined in varying proportions, with one bar of chocolate sometimes containing cacao from different regions of the world and multiple additives. The global chocolate trade does not acknowledge the sacred healing power of plants.
But we know that plants are our elders and teachers—living, conscious beings with spirits, medicine, and messages for our world. The heart of healing with plants is the willingness to develop relationship with the plants themselves. And meaningful relationships are built upon respect.
Our ceremonial grade cacao is pure, 100% cacao bean that has been carefully fermented, roasted, ground, and formed into a bar. There are no added sweeteners or emulsifiers.
Honoring the Origins of Working with Cacao
Indigenous cultures have long understood that plants are sentient, living, and conscious beings that have been alive on this earth longer than humans and are thus our ancestors. Anytime we relate to an elder who embodies wisdom, compassion, and generosity, it satisfies one’s spirit to come calling in an attitude of reverence, respect, and humility. This is how we come to cacao, and all plants. This is what we mean by creating ceremony with cacao.
In the places on earth where cacao is born and lives, the peoples who dwell alongside cacao have understandably known, loved, and worked with cacao’s spirit and medicine for a very long time—deep into history. The ceremonies, medicine ways, and creation myths of the indigenous Olmec, Aztec, Mayan, and Zapotec peoples often center cacao. But much has been lost—the forceful colonization of the Americas by Europeans tore irreparable holes into vast lineages of connection with the plant folk of the Americas. There are contemporary indigenous people still carrying these medicine traditions forward and cacao is an important part of Maya culture today, woven into midwifery, wedding ceremonies, and special gatherings.
It is important to understand that when westerners create ceremony with cacao it is independent of these ancient lineages. What is shared in common are the teachings that come directly from the spirit of cacao.
Our Sourcing
The cacao that we are offering is sourced from the area around Laugna de Lachuá in Guatemala’s Alta Verapaz eco-region from small family farms using organic cultivation practices and paid premium prices for their cacao. The cacao is expertly grown, fermented, roasted, and ground for potency and gorgeous flavor. We then work with chocolatiers who form the pure cacao paste into bars and swirl in our reishi mushroom extract.
Our reishi extract comes from log-grown Ganoderma lucidum fruiting bodies and is organically cultivated. A minimum of 30% (1,3)(1,6) beta glucans are guaranteed. These beta glucans are special polysaccharides with a triple-helix form that give medicinal mushrooms many of their healing properties. This is not a mycelium-based mushroom extract powder and thus does not contain grains or fillers of any kind.
Our cacao is tested at the source and confirmed to be heavy metal safe.
How is this different than cacao powder?
Cacao powder, even when organic, has had all of the healthy fats (called cacao butter) removed. This is not whole plant medicine. The cacao butter is what grounds the upward and outward flowing energy of the cacao. Too much cacao powder can leave us feeling spacey and ungrounded. Whole cacao carries us through the experience of its medicine in a more wholesome, nourishing way.