No Products in the Cart
What is Ceremonial Cacao?
The Heart of It: What is Ceremonial Cacao?
What makes cacao ceremonial cannot be reduced to a product specification; it's a wholistic approach, a living recipe of ingredients that must all be present at once. At Sacred Earth Medicine, we define it as pure, whole bean cacao that meets five simultaneous essentials: a premium heirloom bean variety with intact entheogenic properties; biodynamic farming integrity from soil to harvest; the complete whole bean with nothing added and nothing removed; reverent, loving production at every stage; and the living ceremonial quality - the direct connection to the ancient consciousness of the cacao plant, the Cacao Deva. This and only this makes the heart-opening experience possible. Miss any one of these and you may have great chocolate, but you don't have Ceremonial Cacao. There is no industry body that defines or regulates the term, which is precisely why understanding what genuinely qualifies matters so much.
Ceremonial Cacao is a mystical, mysterious concept to many. After all, what does ceremonial even mean? Trying to demystify Ceremonial Cacao can feel like the impossible task of holding the night sky in our hands. But we think we’ve nailed it.
It breaks our hearts to see commercialised products labelled as “ceremonial” when we can see they don’t meet the standard. Anyone can slap the word on their packaging without the product integrity to back it up. There’s no regulation body to stop this from happening, or to define what makes a product ceremonial.
Someone called us recently, trying to sell us their source of “Ceremonial Cacao.” When we asked what made their cacao ceremonial-grade, they named three factors: their product came from Peru, it was in the form of cacao paste, and it was made from the criollo bean.
Sure, these features could apply to Ceremonial Cacao. On the surface, it may sound legit. But it was clear to us this product was missing critical elements that make Ceremonial Cacao so special.
It’s a Recipe
Over more than a decade of asking the Ceremonial Cacao question ourselves, we’ve made it our mission to discover, define and refine our understanding of what differentiates Ceremonial Cacao from the standard stuff. It’s like a recipe. If you leave out any of the ingredients, it doesn’t have the same result.
Through countless ceremonies with the Cacao Deva, extensive research, and years of testing we are now crystal clear on our take of what makes Ceremonial Cacao, and why we know ours is the best.
To help you distinguish the real deal from the rest, we’re offering our definition of the conditions (or ingredients) required to produce high-grade Ceremonial Cacao.
Yes, it’s chocolate, but it’s far more than that!
A Sacred Gateway
First, it’s important to understand the sacredness of cacao. Plants have always been a source of medicine for humans. The world of herbs, for example, is a deep dive into the vast healing potential offered to us by mother nature. Then there are specific plants known for their sacred ability to assist us to connect spiritually. These are called entheogens (this is where the ceremonial part comes in).
Cacao is a very special entheogen known for its “heart-opening” medicine. It is both gentle and powerful. For the spiritual (ceremonial) aspects of the cacao to be active it takes a combination of carefully upheld conditions. Without these you may have some yummy chocolate but with them, you will also have a profound and sacred tool to connect with the cacao spirit and experience a next level heart-awakening.
Here’s what goes into making this truly sacred offering:
The Ingredients
1) Premium Source
As with coffee, not all cacao beans are equal. The Chuncho bean we source makes up less than 10% of the cacao available on the market today. Many bean varieties have been genetically modified to increase yield but (along with other negative impacts) this messes with the bean’s entheogenic properties.
The Chuncho bean we use is a rare, heirloom bean, from a pure genetic line. It’s not genetically modified. It holds a beautiful, clear frequency of the Cacao Deva, which means its entheogenic (ceremonial) properties are particularly strong. It’s also highly prized for its deliciousness.
The terroir (growing environment) also impacts bean quality. Our cacao comes from a thriving, sub-tropical micro-climate, in a region known for its medicinal cacao. Our award-winning farm is nestled in the rainforest understorey at the foothills of the Peruvian Andes, where premium cacao has been cultivated since the Incan Empire.
It all starts with the bean!
2) Farming Integrity
Once you have the bean, the methods for growing, harvesting, processing, and packaging the cacao all matter too. We think of our famers as Cacao Whisperers. They live with, listen to, and care for the cacao with great reverence.
Our farmers personally pick through the cacao to select the highest quality fruit. They care for the soil and trees with biodynamic and organic farming wisdom. They save seeds and reproduce trees from an heirloom line. They also oversee every step of production with a purpose-built plant on site. This ensures the highest quality is upheld, best practice is always followed, and the entire production process is ethical.
To cultivate Ceremonial Cacao every farming choice must carefully be considered with respect for the medicine of the cacao. It really makes a difference.
3) The Whole Bean
Ceremonial Cacao is made from the complete cacao bean, only the outer husks are removed. Regular chocolate and standard cacao products use extracts from cacao but not the whole bean. Some cacao pastes labelled as “ceremonial” are even defatted by removing some of the natural cacao butter. Standard chocolates also contain additives.
But with Ceremonial Cacao, when nothing is added and nothing is removed, the cacao retains the integrity of all its parts. And with no additives it is also free from interfering substances. The integrity of the cacao’s medicine is kept intact, and the spiritual and mystical properties are amplified. The whole food aspect of Ceremonial Cacao is essential for that clear, powerful connection to the Cacao Deva.
4) The Love Factor
It makes a HUGE difference when cacao is treated with love and reverence by every human involved in the making process. Dr. Masaru Emoto’s research with water crystals in The hidden Messages in Water, shows that water molecules respond positively when exposed to loving thoughts and words.
Recent research also shows the same effects occur in the molecular structures of all things, including cacao. Everything is energy after all. It makes sense that sending love into the cacao activates its molecules and awakens its ceremonial qualities.
The Cacao Deva responds to all the love our team infuses into our cacao, from the visioning and gratitude ceremonies we hold as we make business decisions, to the loving handling of our cacao-whispering team.
This love overflows to you. The Cacao Deva is always ready with infinite love to share. By opening your heart, connecting with our cacao, you become open and receptive to the Cacao Deva’s gifts.
5) A Dose of Magic
Not all cacao feels magical. If the above ingredients haven’t been tended to, there will be something missing. But in our opinion, this is the most important part – the magic. This magic happens when Ceremonial Cacao offers you a direct connection to the Cacao Deva. Through her, you open into heartful living and experiences of mysticism.
Have you experienced a Ceremonial Cacao dance party where a tangible sense of something exquisitely alive and interconnected pulses and vibrates through everybody in the room? Or have you sat solo with cacao in quiet contemplation and felt the connection to all of life through your heart? These experiences, by their very ecstatic and divine nature, are difficult to condense into words but they are the stuff of the magic of Ceremonial Cacao. They are accessible when the entheogen properties are alive and activated.
Ultimately, Ceremonial Cacao is all about opening the heart. If you’re not experiencing a heart opening – a sign that you’re being touched by the magic of the Cacao Deva – with your current Ceremonial Cacao, it’s probably not ceremonial!
Our reverently cultivated cacao is alive with the Deva’s spirit. The magic is in full force. Our business is founded on the desire to help you connect to the Cacao Deva and the gifts she offers. By listening to her guidance, we’ve cultivated a product that allows the Deva to share her full radiance with you. She even guided us to put her image on our packaging. She wants you to know her and connect with her.
Wholisticism
When we tried to sum up this full list of ingredients that makes up the fabric of what is Ceremonial Cacao, we came up with the idea of wholisticism. It’s a mix of mysticism and wholistic product making: from the use of the whole bean; to the overall ethics of production; to the knowledge of the bean variety’s lineage; to the way the trees are respected; to the love infused in every block. The making of Ceremonial Cacao requires a big picture, reverent, wholistic approach that is guided by a mystic connection to the Cacao Deva herself.
Sharing this heart medicine with you is a dream job and a dedicated practice. We always follow the Cacao Deva’s guidance on how to maintain the sacredness of her medicine. This is what Ceremonial Cacao is about, offering a sacred, heart-opening experience to you.
You will know the level of integrity of our Ceremonial Cacao when you hold it in your hands and sit with the medicine. You feel the difference. It’s radical.
Let this piece of writing inspire you to connect to what is sacred, to honour the medicines of nature, and to search for those offerings that are lit up with integrity and pure love. We hope we’ve offered you some greater clarity on what’s so special about Ceremonial Cacao and why ours is so full of vibrant, effervescent, sacred heart medicine.
Are you ready to Feel the Difference?
You now know what separates real ceremonial cacao from the rest. The next step is the simplest: hold it in your hands, make your first cup, and let the Cacao Deva do the rest. She's been waiting!
Not sure which block size is for you? Our buy Ceremonial Cacao page walks you through the dfifferent options. If your familiar with Ceremonial Cacao, you may want to check out our entire range. Or you may just want to begin with our 100g Starter Block for just $29.
CEREMONIAL CACAO: YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED
Ceremonial Cacao and regular chocolate begin with the same plant, but in reality, they couldn't be more different. Most regular chocolate and commercial cacao products use a genetically modified bean called CCN-51 (or now use lab grown cacao. Yuk!). SEM Ceremonial Cacao is made from rare, heirloom Chuncho beans that have been treasured for generations. Commercial chocolate use extracted fractions of the bean — the butter is separated, the solids are processed, alkalising agents are added, and the result bears little resemblance to the original plant.
Ceremonial cacao is made from the complete cacao bean with nothing added and nothing removed: never dutch-alkalised, never defatted, no fillers or additives of any kind. But it goes beyond processing. True Ceremonial Cacao also requires a rare heirloom bean variety, biodynamic farming integrity, reverent production at every stage, and the living connection to the ancient consciousness of the cacao plant. Strip any one of those conditions and you have a product. Keep them all and you have what we call a heart medicine.
There is no certification body, no regulator, and no industry standard for ceremonial grade cacao, which is precisely why the term gets applied so loosely. For us at Sacred Earth Medicine, ceremonial grade is not a marketing term; it's a wholistic standard, a living recipe with five non-negotiable conditions that must all be present simultaneously. A premium heirloom bean variety (we source rare Chuncho, which makes up just a few percent of global cacao production) with intact entheogenic properties. Biodynamic farming integrity from soil to harvest. The complete whole bean - nothing added, nothing removed. Reverent, loving production at every stage. And the living ceremonial quality, the direct connection to the ancient consciousness of the cacao plant - the Cacao Deva. Only together makes genuine heart-opening possible. Miss any one of these and you may have great chocolate, you don't have Ceremonial Cacao.
No. Ceremonial cacao is a whole food that contains theobromine, a gentle stimulant occurring naturally in the cacao bean. Unlike caffeine, theobromine works gradually and sustainably: it dilates blood vessels, increases blood flow to the heart and brain, and creates a soft, sustained lift in mood and focus without adrenal activation or a crash afterwards. Ceremonial Cacao also contains anandamide (called the bliss molecule) and phenylethylamine, both of which contribute to its heart-opening quality.
Ceremonial Cacao contains no psychedelic or controlled substances and is legal everywhere. We describe it as a gentle entheogen, a plant that supports spiritual connection and inner clarity. Its effects are subtle and arise in cooperation with your own intention and presence, not in spite of them.
The word ceremonial points in two directions at once: to its ancient lineage and to its quality standard. Cacao has been used as a sacred plant medicine by indigenous Mesoamerican and Andean peoples for thousands of years. Ity was prepared as a ritual drink to mark important transitions, support deep inner work, and commune with the divine. The Cacao Deva, the living consciousness of the cacao plant, was known and honoured in these traditions long before modern ceremonial practice.
Today, Ceremonial Cacao honours that same lineage. The ceremonial designation also signals the production standard: that every condition required to keep the plant's medicinal and spiritual qualities alive and intact are upheld - from the genetics of the bean to the hands that prepared it.
There is no regulatory body that states exactly what makes cacao "ceremonial grade." And this is why we are doing our best to define the term "ceremonial grade". Origin country, bean variety, and the fact that its in a paste or liquor form are necessary starting points, but they are nowhere near sufficient. A supplier once called us to sell us their "ceremonial grade" cacao. When we asked what made it ceremonial, they named three factors: it came from Peru, it was cacao paste, and it was made from the criollo bean (which is native to Mexico & Guatemala!). Those features could apply to ceremonial cacao, but they don't make it ceremonial. What genuinely makes cacao ceremonial is the wholistic convergence of five conditions: heirloom bean genetics with intact entheogenic properties, biodynamic farming integrity, whole bean processing, reverent production, and the living ceremonial quality. All five are needed together for cacao to have the beautiful heart-opening and mood lifing qualities that Ceremonial Cacao is known for.
A full ceremonial dose is typically 35–45g of pure Ceremonial Cacao, prepared as a warm drink with water or plant milk. For a daily ritual or morning practice, 25-35g is the sweet spot for most people, enough to feel the heart-opening quality without being overwhelming. If you are new to Ceremonial Cacao, begin at 20-25g grams and notice how your body and heart respond before increasing.
We recommend talking to your medical professional if you are taking MAOIs or SSRIs, have a serious heart condition, or are in the first trimester of pregnancy before starting your Ceremonial Cacao journey.
Our Daily dosage guide walks you through everything in detail, including how to prepare your cup and set your intention.
We source exclusively from biodynamic family farms on the "Eyebrow of the Amazon", a valley with a fervent microclimate nestled between the Andes and the Amazon in Peru. We have worked with the same farming families since 2018. We are Ceremoniual Cacao pioneers in Australia, being the first to bring Ceremonial Cacao to the East Coast in 2011.
Our Chuncho cacao is lab-tested for heavy metals and purity every batch and comes back close to or below the limit of detection for heavy metals, moulds and mycotoxins. Our cacao producing families have placed in the top 3 at the International Chocolate Awards in every year from 2021 to 2026. Read our full sourcing story.
