There is only one ingredient in our cacao: cacao.

It is 100% pure whole-bean cacao paste, which is solid at room temperature. We add nothing, we take nothing away.

We’ve shaved up our solidified cacao paste so that you can easily scoop out your preferred dose to prepare your morning cup (or evening nightcap!), or alternatively to sprinkle on cereal, use in smoothies, or make delicious vegan treats. See our recipes for inspiration!

Cacao powder is to cacao what instant coffee is to an espresso - a poor imitation.

To make our cacao paste the fruits of the theobroma cacao tree are hand-picked, fermented, sun-dried, roasted lightly and ground up into a paste. The paste sets, we chop it. Then we share it with you.

Cacao powder (or cocoa powder) has undergone intensive processing to extract cacao butter from the paste. This leaves the cacao chalkier and more insipid, and also reduces the fat content, which is vital for the transmission of the neuro-active substances. Studies have proven the widely used method to produce cocoa powder (dutch-processing) significantly decreases the levels of compounds with positive physiological effects.

Please visit our nutritional information page for a full breakdown of macronutrients.

As arguably the most nutrient-dense, chemically complex food on the planet, cacao has so many health benefits we’ve created a cacao benefits page to tell you all about it. But in short - it’s a mood-lifting, heart-opening, endurance-enhancing, appetite-suppressing superfood with an impressive array of scientifically proven benefits.

As an energy source cacao feels more gentle, long-lasting and smooth, while coffee is intense, fast-acting and short-lived. This is because caffeine is a nervous system stimulant, and it produces cortisol, the stress hormone, which can lead to the jitters and anxiety. By contrast, cacao's active ingredient, theobromine, reduces cortisol. This helps us to relax. Cacao also stimulates the cardiovascular system, and opens our blood vessels. This helps blood flow more freely, sends more oxygen through the body, and lowers our blood pressure. We’ve elaborated on this in a recent blog post.

The use of the word “cacao” vs “cocoa” is inconsistent. The general rule of thumb is that “cacao” should be used when referring to the pods, beans and ground contents of the beans (i.e. the cacao nibs or whole bean cacao paste), and “cocoa” for the powder left after pressing the fat out of the ground beans. Increasingly “cacao” is also used to describe powder that has been processed raw or at a very low temperature. Raw cacao is a healthy supplement, but it does not contain the same psychoactive compounds as whole bean cacao paste, nor does it have the same decadent flavour or texture. Don’t take it from us though! You’ll be able to taste, and feel the difference for yourself.

The primary uses of cacao include:

• for daily drinking as a jitter-free, mood-enhancing, anxiety-reducing, nutrient-rich alternative to coffee;


• for a creative boost to accompany dance, yoga, art, music or writing; and


• as a tool for self-exploration.


Cacao can also be used in baking, smoothies, or making delicious raw treats.

Measure 10-15 grams (1 tablespoon) for daily use, 30 grams (2 tablespoons) for a creative boost, or 45 grams (3 tablespoons) for a ceremonial dose.

Place in a heat-proof blender with:

• 100-150mL hot (but not boiling) water

• a dash of plant milk (we like oat milk the best)


• sweetener to taste (we use 1-2 teaspoons of coconut sugar or honey)

• optional extras (we like adding cinnamon and sea salt. You can also try ginger, cardamom, vanilla or cayenne pepper).


NOTE:  If you don’t have a heat-proof blender, a hand-held blender (or bar-mix) works very well too. If you have access to neither, you can simply place the cacao in a mug, add a little hot water, and stir through to melt the cacao into a paste. Gradually add more water and the other ingredients, stirring continuously.  For more information on preparing your cacao, visit our preparation page.

Blend and pour into your favourite mug. Aaaaand enjoy!

Unlike other plant medicines (peyote, psilocybin mushrooms, ayahuasca, etc) cacao has no hallucinogenic effects. A daily dose of cacao will provide mild stimulation similar to a cup of coffee, but more soothing and with none of the anxiety or agitation associated with caffeine. The main impact reported by our customers is a sense of calmness.

As you increase your intake the psychological effects may increase. For some this will bring a sense of tenderness or vulnerability, for others joy or euphoria. It will vary from person to person, and from day to day. We invite you to experiment for yourself.

Our Balinese, Mexican and Australian cacao have all received Cocoa of Excellence Awards in Paris (in 2017, 2021, and 2019 respectively).

Our Karkar Island Cacao has also been formally acknoledged including winning a Silver Medal at the 2018 Australian Fine Food Awards in its chocolate form, and it also won Silver at Papua New Guinea’s highly competitive inaugural Cocoa Show - Cocow Warwagira, out of more than 80 cocoa samples from across the country.

The Australian cacao has won multiple national awards in its chocolate form, including:

• Gold Medal & Trophy Winner at the 2016 Australian Fine Food Awards; 


• Gold Medal 2016 Melbourne Fine Food Awards; 


• Gold Medal 2017 Australian Fine Food Awards; 


• Gold Medal 2017 Australian Fine Food Awards; and 


• Silver Medal at the 2017 Sydney Royal Chocolate Show.


These days, a ‘cacao ceremony’ is a broad concept that includes any activity involving cacao combined with intention-setting, personal-development, creative expression, and/or spiritual exploration.  It can be formal or informal, performed alone or in group, in silence or with music, and at any time of day. Refer to our recent blog post on the debates surrounding ceremonial cacao for more information.

So-called ‘ceremonial-grade cacao’ generally refers to Meso-American cacao paste that has been minimally processed, organically grown, and harvested in small-batches using traditional methods. However, we keep stumbling upon more and more products describing themselves as ‘ceremonial-grade’ that don’t meet this description. We’ve seen ‘ceremonial-grade’ cacao powder, we’ve seen the term describing cacao that has been mass-produced and exported in bulk, and with cacao grown far from its Meso-American origins - for example in Bali, Trinidad, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania. Confusing, to say the least!

There’s a heated debate surrounding the cultural appropriation of cacao which you can read about on our blog post regarding the “ceremonial-grade” cacao conundrum.

As explained in response to the above question, we have a number of reasons why we choose not to use the term ‘ceremonial-grade’. However, our Mexican cacao would technically pass the ceremonial-grade checklist with flying colours: organic, criolla bean, and sustainably grown using traditional methods in small batches by a family with a long history of cacao culture. It comes from Chiapas, where some of the earliest traces of theobromine were discovered on pots and vessels, and where cacao continues to be a central part of family tradition and cultural practice. Our Australian, Karkar Island and Balinese cacao would technically not classify as ceremonial-grade because it is not grown in Central or South America. It is also not criolla bean cacao, widely considered a key factor in ceremonial-grade classifications (though according to Steve Bergin from Conservation Cacao, “classifying cacao as Criollo/Forastero/Trinitario was one of the great foundational linguistic screw-ups in the history of the New World, though rather short of Columbus calling the Arawak peoples he met Indians”).

Linguistic screw-ups aside, our other varieties of cacao consist predominantly of ‘trinitario’ beans - which tend to have a richer, rounder, smoother flavour, highly prized for chocolate, and which have been shown to have the same psychoactive properties as criolla bean cacao, though with a generally higher concentration of theobromine.

Our Balinese cacao is raw.

Our Australian, Mexican and Karkar Island cacao is not. These have been processed the way in which cacao has been processed for millennia: by fermenting, sun-drying, stone-grounding and roasting it. Ancient civilisations roasted cacao on the fire, almost to the point of burning the beans.

Stored correctly, your SOMA CACAO could last 8-10 years. The key is to ensure it’s stored in a cool, dry, place.

You may notice a slight discolouration of your cacao, or a whitish coating. This means its the real-deal: un-tempered, whole bean cacao paste. The coating is called the ‘chocolate bloom’, caused by changes in the fat crystals of cacao. Cacao that has ‘bloomed’ is still completely safe to consume. As soon as you melt down the cacao in preparation for consumption, the discolouration will disappear.

I (Rose), spent several years using Guatemalan and Mexican cacao that came in 500g or 1kg solid blocks. As a daily cacao drinker, and regular (pre-COVID) traveller, I found it a little frustrating to chop my cacao on the go. I would end up grating up the whole block and putting it in a sealed container so I could easily spoon out my dose each day. This is why we don’t sell it in a block. Once you place your order we chop it up for you and send it ready-to-scoop in one of our recycled PET jars or biodegradable stand-up pouches.

At this stage, we do not offer wholesale prices, other than for those few retailers who have been our partners since the beginning.

The reason is, we have set up our pricing structure as a B2C model (i.e. Business to Consumer) - that is, we have not built in any wriggle room for an additional margin to be made by a middle-man/retailer.

This is our way of keeping our prices low for our valued direct customers, while also paying our farmers premium prices, and protecting them from currency fluctuations, too.

We also never have any excess supplies, given we source exclusively from small farms, so it would not make any business sense for us to sell our cacao at anything less than our retail price.

It may be however, that as we grow, we may have access to larger quantities of cacao, and be in a position to offer wholesale prices to well-aligned retailers. If you would like to be kept in the loop about this, please drop us a quick email at hello@somacacao.com.au.

It depends what your reference point is here. If you are comparing cacao paste to cacao powder, than you would expect cacao paste to be at least double the price, given it is MUCH harder to come by, and it contains the highly-prized cacao butter.

If you are comparing to other cacao paste brands, then you’ll find a range of prices, and we’re about the median price. While our cacao is less expensive than some of the ceremonial cacao exported out of Central America, you might find some South American cacao paste on the Australian market that is cheaper than ours. More than likely, this will be cacao paste that is sourced from exactly the same Organic wholesale supplier that sources cheap cacao products in bulk from Tarapoto in Peru. Because their volumes are incredibly high, their prices are low. By contrast, we have sourced award-winning cacao from very small farms: the output is low, the quality is exceptional, we pay stable, premium prices that are substantially higher than commodity market and Fair Trade prices, and which are protected from market fluctuations. And of course, our labour costs for our Far North Queensland cacao are high.

Our Balinese cacao and our Daintree cacao both have official organic certifications.

Both our Mexican and Karkar Island cacao are technically organically grown, but the farmers have not yet been certified - certifications in these countries are tedious and expensive so this may take some time.

While our Mission Beach farmer does his best to keep the cacao organic, very occasionally (once every few months) pest intervention is required - though very minimal chemicals are used, and he always opts for the most environmentally friendly option possible.

Generally, cacao is contraindicated with antidepressants, especially MAOIs and some SSRIs. It may result in a really bad headache, or worse, cause the development of serotonin syndrome which can have severe implications. Cacao paste contains tryptophan and MAO inhibitors that may cause a synergistic intensification when combined with antidepressants.

So it is definitely best to steer clear of cacao while on antidepressants.

Generally, cacao is considered totally safe during both pregnancy and breastfeeding, however a lower dose is recommended, just in case the theobromine content (the stimulant in cacao, a compound similar to caffeine, but more gentle) causes any aggravation/irritation, or nausea (we've only heard of this happening in first trimester though). The anti-depressant characteristics of cacao, i.e. the production of dopamine, serotonin, P.E.A and anandamine (the bliss molecule) could be potentially helpful for any pre- and post- natal issues, plus give a nice little energy boost too 😊.

But, we aren 't health practitioners so as with anything it is always best to double check with someone you know and trust in the realm of health.