No Products in the Cart
Ceremonial Cacao often evokes sweet deliciousness, decadence and delight with its rich, velvety taste. As the Great Enhancer, cacao has the unique ability to amplify the properties of any herbs, spices, or superfoods you feel inspired to partner it with.
But do you ever find yourself stuck in the same cacao-making flavour rhythm day after day? The familiar ritual - warming the cacao, blending in your favourite spices, and savouring its rich, earthy taste - can feel like coming home. Yet, what happens when your morning cacao ritual loses its magic and becomes stagnant with routine?
The beauty of ceremonial cacao lies in its adaptability. By reimagining your brew through fresh flavour pairings, you can ensure your daily cacao rituals retain not only a sense of ceremony, but also a spark of creativity, to stir your soul!
But first, have you tried it neat?
Before we share our list of luscious favourite flavour combos, we want to dive deeper into why drinking cacao without added sweeteners might have more benefits than you realise.
In some traditions, cacao paste was mixed only with water and consumed as a bitter medicine. Ceremonial Cacao IS a plant medicine, after all, and medicines are often bitter!
From our extensive experience with ceremonial cacao over the past 15 years, some reasons we’ve discovered for drinking cacao pure are:
We are so conditioned here in the West to add sweeteners to everything!
However, we highly recommend getting to know the plant in its pure essence first. Spend some time in communion to establish a direct connection with the spirit of the plant. Then begin experimenting with additional ingredients.
To do this, we suggest you hold a simple ceremony where you drink the cacao as a bitter medicinal tonic. Just cacao mixed in hot water. Journey in meditation, asking to connect and meet with the Cacao Deva.
Over time, you’ll get to really know the plant. From this place, you can start getting creative with various spices, herbs, mushrooms, milks and sweeteners (though you may no longer need them!) among others.
One thing we learnt from the Chocolate Shaman is not to be too dogmatic. While we adhere to our recommendation of not adding refined sugar, we love to be experimental. There is a field of discovery waiting!
So, on that note, let’s explore our favourite flavour picks for pairing with Cacao.
Here is a swath of great cacao flavour pairings for you to try. Note: Unless specifically stated, you can add the below flavours to your usual ceremonial cacao brew.
Red Blush Hot Chocolate! Often considered a superfood it’s packed with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, making it nutritious and delicious! And, with its vibrant red hue, it’s really no surprise that beetroot powder is also great for our blood. Being rich in nitrates, which is important for blood pressure and blood flow. Find our recipe here.
🤎 Add 2 teaspoons of beetroot powder to your cacao.
Known as the flower of intuition. We love combining the dreamlike, calming and intuitive energy of blue lotus with the heart-opening, grounding and uplifting qualities of ceremonial cacao! These two ancient botanicals truly do come together in perfect harmony to deeply nourish the soul and senses.
🤎 Add 1-2 dried blue lotus flowers or 1 teaspoon of dried blue lotus petals. Steep for 5 minutes in hot water, strain and then add the blue lotus-infused water and cacao (+ hot milk if desired) to a blender or bowl and whisk or blend until smooth and creamy.
Also known as marigold, or ‘Mary’s Gold’ (symbolising its connection with Mother Mary). This gorgeous flower absolutely radiates joy and positivity! It’s loaded with anti-inflammatory, antiseptic and anti-fungal properties. When combined with cacao in ritual, it invites us to embrace warmth into our lives, weaving in healing, happiness and celebrating with gratitude the preciousness of life!
🤎 Steep a teaspoon of calendula for 5 minutes in hot water, strain and then add with the cacao (+ hot milk if desired) to a blender or bowl and whisk or blend until smooth and creamy. Sweeten to taste.
Fragrant, warming, and full of ancient magic, this Queen of Clarity when merged with Cacao, is simply divine! From temple offerings to love potions, cardamom has long been known as a sacred spice of clarity, connection, and calm. She’s softly stimulating, gently uplifting and brings clean, focused energy to Cacao's grounded heart-opening presence. A true synergy of earth and ether.
🤎 Add a pinch of cardamom to your cacao.
Nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, and clove are warming and nourishing spices that provide a plethora of health benefits. These include supporting digestion, reducing inflammation, boosting the immune system, and improving cognitive function, in addition to offering antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties! When combined with cacao, they create a warm mug of chai-spiced ceremonial cacao, making it the perfect winter brew!
🤎 Add a generous pinch each of cinnamon, ginger and cardamom, and a small pinch of clove and nutmeg to your cacao.
Stimulating and warming, chilli and cacao are a perfect pair! Not just because they take you on a multi-dimensional taste journey that’s spicy and uplifting, but because they synergistically work together to deepen each other’s medicine!
🤎 Add one pinch of cayenne pepper to your cacao.
With an aroma both exotic and sweet, there’s something so alluring about cinnamon! Its uplifting and energising qualities plus warm and spicy tones complement the rich and often bitter taste of cacao perfectly. This union is made even better as both cacao and cinnamon may help lower blood sugar (due to the sugar-balancing action of cinnamon and the magnesium in cacao). This is definitely a warm winter favourite!
🤎 Add 1 teaspoon of Ceylon Cinnamon powder to your cacao.
Often called the King of oils, Frankincense lures us in with its intoxicating aroma and luxurious, woody scent that evokes ancient magic! Frankincense can benefit the physical body by reducing inflammation and stress, boosting immunity and acting as a pain relief. The sacred union of cacao and frankincense offers a rich and spiced cacao elixir that can be a regal treat for special occasions, or anytime you want to activate your royalty!
🤎 Add 1 drop of food-grade Frankincense essential oil to your cacao.
Ginger’s warming, grounding feels alongside its anti-inflammatory, anti-viral and antioxidant properties see it singing a beautiful duet when coupled with cacao!
🤎 Add 1 ⁄4 teaspoon powdered ginger and a thin slice of fresh ginger to your cacao. For a spicier ginger kick, boil fresh ginger slices in water for 5 minutes and add instead of powdered ginger.
An unusual pairing, however the gentle floral and calming feels of lavender add a relaxing dreamy note to your cacao. With its peace inducing properties, lavender, combined with the heart opening of cacao, ensure these 2 create a healing cacao concoction that’s the perfect spring time brew.
🤎 Steep 1 ⁄2 teaspoon of lavender in hot water for 5 minutes, then strain. Add the lavender tea to your cacao (and hot milk, if you like). Blend or whisk until smooth and creamy. Sweeten to taste.
Macca is known for its adaptogenic and health benefits in enhancing energy, supporting reproductive health, potentially reducing menopausal symptoms, offering mood and cognitive function support and coping with stress. As potent superfoods, Cacao and Macca are great to combine for their synergistic effects
🤎 Add 1 tablespoon of Macca powder to your cacao.
The range of potential benefits medicinal mushrooms offer is vast and can include immune boosting, reduction of inflammation, antioxidant properties, improved energy, stress relief, cognitive function support, promoting longevity, and more! Combining these powerful mushrooms with the magic and medicine of ceremonial cacao offers a powerful health elixir that’s a winner every time!
🤎 Add 1 ⁄4 teaspoon each of reishi, cordyceps, chaga & lion’s mane medicinal mushroom powders to your cacao. Try Australian grown medicinal mushrooms from our friends at Touchwood Mushrooms.
Caramelly Cacao: Earthy meets sweet in this grounding duo. Mesquite powder, made from the pods of the mesquite tree, mainly from the Peruvian Andes, is a superfood high in antioxidants. With a low glycemic index it’s great for blood sugar regulation, and digestive health (high in fibre). Mesquite gives a rich, caramel-like sweetness with hints of molasses. Blended with cacao, it creates a soul-soothing caramel hot chocolate, that’s comfort in a cup.
🤎 Whisk up to 1 tbsp mesquite powder and 2 tbsp cacao into hot water or milk. Add a touch of vanilla and a little honey if desired.
Ceremonial Cacao is grounding, heart-opening, and deeply soothing. Whilst Peppermint brings a refreshing energy, awakening the mind and invigorating the spirit. This combination balances the yin and yang of your senses: the earthy, rich depth of cacao meets peppermint crisp clarity. It’s a perfect summer combo!
🤎 Add 1 drop of food-grade peppermint essential oil to your cacao, or 1 teaspoon of peppermint tea leaves. If using mint leaves, steep for 5 minutes in hot water, strain and then add the peppermint-infused water and cacao (+ hot milk if desired) to a blender or bowl and whisk or blend until smooth and creamy.
There’s something just so right about orange and cacao together! The refreshing, uplifting citrusy tones of the orange melt into the heartwarming, sweet richness of cacao. Creating a combo that’s both delicious and warming - especially on a crisp winter’s day!
🤎 Add 2 drops of food-grade sweet orange essential oil to your cacao. Alternatively, you could add 1 tbsp of fresh orange juice & 1 tsp of orange zest.
Blending the gentle wisdom of Rose with the uplifting energy of Cacao truly is a heart-opening match made in heaven. Both Rose and Cacao have the common qualities of heart opening, mood elevation, enhanced connection, and relaxation of the nervous system.
🤎 Add 1-2 teaspoons of rose water (or 1-2 drops of food grade rose essential oil) + a sprinkle of rose petals to your cacao.
The synergy of marrying saffron and cacao is a powerful match hard to beat! Together, they are a potent mood elevator, support mental clarity and cognitive function, offer an antioxidant boost, bring balance to the digestive system and are calming and uplifting to the spirit!
🤎 Add 3-6 threads of Saffron to approx. 1 cup of boiled water and let it steep for 8 minutes. Remove threads, gently reheat and mix with your cacao.
There’s nothing common or average about sea salt, even though it’s readily available! The beauty of sea salt is it not only balances flavour, but can enhance it! Even a small pinch will make your cacao sing, boldly bringing out its rich and creamy tones. With the bonus of minerals found in sea salt, matching it with cacao gives you a daily boost hard to match!
🤎 Add a pinch of Sea Salt to your cacao.
Maybe not an ingredient you’d usually think to pair with cacao, but tahini is bursting with minerals, protein and healthy fats! It adds a deep, nutty flavour to your cacao, making the final brew rich and creamy plus packed with goodness!
It’s also a beautiful way to thicken and enrich your cacao. Especially if you prefer using water over milk as a base. The natural oils and density of tahini help create that luscious texture without needing plant mylks.
🤎 Add 1 tablespoon of tahini to your cacao and stir until smooth. Alternatively blend all ingredients with hot water/milk until smooth and creamy. You can also try this with other nut butters, like macadamia or almond butter.
Golden Cacao - This magical blend is rich in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties. It's a cup of wellness that supports immunity, enhances mood, and opens your heart.
🤎 Add 1.5 teaspoon ground turmeric, 1 ⁄2 teaspoon cinnamon and a pinch of black pepper to a pot with 1.5 cup of mylk, heat over medium heat until hot. Blend with maple and cacao until smooth and frothy..
With its soft, sweet profile, vanilla is a natural companion to cacao. The delicate flavour of vanilla's aromatic and creamy notes blends beautifully with the richness of the cacao, creating a balanced blend that is both soothing and luxurious.
🤎 Add 1 ⁄2 teaspoon of vanilla bean powder or real vanilla extract /essence to your cacao.
Pairing fun flavours with ceremonial cacao allows you to not only experience delicious and yummy taste sensations, but can also provide an absolute plethora of extra medicinal benefits. There’s a potent elixir that’s just right for every moment and season. So trust your intuition and have fun exploring new ideas!
We adore the combos we’ve shared. We also enjoy exploring new taste sensations, so we would love to hear from you!
Do you have a special combo we haven’t listed?
Please let us know your favourite cacao flavour alchemy in the comments below!
This is a gorgeously rich, velvety chocolate mousse & if you didn’t mention it’s actually sugar free, dairy free (& vegan) no one would guess it. It’s guaranteed to win the hearts of all those you offer it to.
Our Red Blush Hot Chocolate is a rich, rosy fusion of earth and heart. With the grounding nourishment of beetroot and the deep, soul-awakening magic of Sacred Earth Medicine Ceremonial Cacao, this velvety elixir is a luscious ritual in itself!
Ceremonial Cacao often evokes sweet deliciousness, decadence and delight with its rich, velvety taste. As the Great Enhancer, cacao has the unique ability to amplify the properties of any herbs, spices, or superfoods you feel inspired to partner it with.
This Fig and Honeyed Walnut Chocolate Bark is a delicious blend of rich, dark chocolate, the sweetness of dried figs, crunchy honey-coated walnuts, and a touch of warming spices.
