My Cacao Ceremony - Why & How I Start My Day with Chocolate
I’m not much of a morning person. I really love sleep, and my warm, cozy bed. But I also love chocolate. So it’s no surprise that what wakes me up and drags me out of bed at 6am is a steaming mug of hot cacao. Rich, fragrant, cacao, with just a touch of cinnamon and cardamom. If my morning routine included just that and nothing else, I’d be happy.
But I don’t just guzzle down the cacao while staring at my phone, chow down some brekky, and power up the laptop. Every morning, I start my day with what’s called a cacao ceremony. It may sound a little silly. but it’s actually so awesome!
I hope sharing my experience with this might encourage you to give it a try!
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Today I want to talk about one of my favourite things – chocolate! And how I start my day with a cacao ceremony. I’ll also show you how to make it yourself at home, even if the closest to ‘ceremonial grade cacao’ you can find is simply dark chocolate from your local supermarket.
If you’re completely new to cacao and have never attended a ceremony before, it’s a little overwhelming to know where to start. So, I hope that this video gives you a good overview of the topic, to set you off in the right direction! There’s so much info in this blog post too, and resources down below if you’d like to learn more.
I first tried ceremonial cacao over a year ago. Since then, I’ve been to official cacao ceremonies, and especially while traveling in Mexico and Guatemala, I started many mornings with homemade cacao! Now I’m back in Australia, I’ve started experimenting and thoroughly enjoying creating a morning routine, including my own cacao ceremony.
The trouble, of course, is sourcing pure, ceremonial grade cacao in Australia. There are online stores coming up, but none with 100% cacao available currently. If anyone has a recommendations, please let me know!
In the meantime, and what I’ll show you today, is how I’m making it with simple, easily found dark chocolate. It may not be quite the same as 100% ceremonial grade cacao, but it does the trick for now and tastes amazing! It also makes it much more accessible and affordable, if you’re just trying this for the first time.
Even if you don’t consider yourself a ‘spiritual person’, there are so many benefits to cacao – from gaining mental clarity and energy to lowering blood pressure. But you might wonder, why not just drink the cacao and get on with your day? I’m sure you’d get the nutrients, but there are many more benefits to be gained through slowing down, appreciating the cacao, and creating a little ceremony for yourself.
Adding some kind of ritualistic element to making and drinking cacao allows you the time to really enjoy it, to set your intention for the day, or maybe even meditate or journal. There are so many options! Today I’ll share with you my process, but let me know, comment down below any suggestions! I’d love to hear them.
Before I show you my recipe, let me first tell you why cacao is considered a superfood and medicinal plant. Knowing why will definitely make you want to eat more dark chocolate!
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The Benefits of Cacao
Cacao is packed with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. It has high amounts of calcium and magnesium, and also contains iron and zinc. The scientific name of the cacao plant is ‘theobromine cacao’. To get technical for a second, Theobromine is the bitter alkaloid of the cacao plant (thanks google!). It’s essentially a stimulant that opens up blood vessels, lowers blood pressure, allows for greater mental clarity and gives you energy.
Cacao also helps remove toxins, has anti-inflammatory properties and I also discovered while looking into it, that studies have shown that it increases production of DMT in the brain. In my experience, I always feel so energised and creative after I drink cacao. And it always seems that the more effort I put in to creating a ceremony, the better I feel.
It’s any wonder that theobromine literally translates to ‘food of the gods’, with cacao having a long history in Mayan culture. Which is where the idea of a cacao ceremony comes in! In Central and South America, many Mayan traditions around Cacao are still practiced, cacao beans in every form can be found at markets and ceremonies can be attended.
I’m so grateful that I spent about 5 months in Mexico and Guatemala last year! We were lucky enough to attend two cacao ceremonies, and both were quite different from each other. If you’d like to hear more about them let me know!
In attending these cacao ceremonies, I had the chance to experience a glimpse of what a true Mayan ceremony would be like. One my favourite experiences (though there are many) was going to a cacao ceremony in Guatemala, where we sat under the stars, in front of a fire. It was such a beautiful night!
Of course, here in Australia, in my room, I can’t light a bonfire! But I always light a candle or two, partly because it’s just plain lovely, but also to honour the role that fire has in traditional ceremonies. I’ll talk more about my ceremony, and different ideas you can try for yourself soon.
Now knowing the health benefits, let me just give you a brief run-down of cacao vs regular chocolate.
Traditionally, cacao is created using the ground paste of raw cacao beans. The beans are fermented first, then roasted. Once cool enough to handle, the shells are removed and the cacao is then ground on a grinding stone, which naturally melts the oils, forming a paste. The paste can be served immediately or shaped into a disk and packaged. After a while it dries and solidifies, so it’s usually a hard block of cacao by the time it’s purchased.
Cacao includes the complete cacao bean with all its nutrients intact. What happens to typical Westernised chocolate is that the elements of cacao are separated into cocoa powder, mass, and butter. Then depending on the product, different amounts of these are combined with other ingredients. Which is where the percentage comes in. 90% means that the product contains 90% cocoa products, and 10% sugar and flavouring.
It goes without saying that regular chocolate is far more processed, and naturally the health benefits would be somewhat diminished. But it is still just as delicious, and if your intention is there to create a ceremony, even if the chocolate isn’t ceremonial grade – I believe it is still absolutely worth it. At the very least, it’s a much more accessible and affordable way to try it!
Traditional Mayan hot cacao is simply cacao and water. But often it includes chilli powder, cinnamon and cardamom. It can also have sugar, especially when purchased at markets. A supermarket in Guatemala sold 50% cacao, it was so sweet and crumbly you could eat it like candy!
If you’re a fan of milk chocolate, you may want to start small. Depending on the percentage of your chocolate or cacao that you’re using, you may want to add more or less, and even add a little sugar if it’s too rich. It may take some experimenting! I would encourage you to use your favourite plant-based milk, just water or a combination of plant-based milk and water.
So, this is how I’m making it right now, using the darkest chocolate I can find at my local supermarket. Go for the highest percentage of cocoa that you can find, and I recommend looking for organic and fair trade certified. In the video you’ll see I’m using 90% Lindt, and I’ve also used 95% Lindt. Lindt is simply the most commonly found brand, and also the darkest I can find currently, but I’ll keep searching online and in stores.
If I can find ceremonial grade cacao or try any other brands of chocolate, I’ll be sure to share an update! But this is a very easy, accessible way to make it at home for yourself. If you’re not sure that you’ll stick with it and don’t want to spend heaps of money buying ceremonial cacao online, try this first and see how you go!
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How to Make Ceremonial Cacao
Ingredients:
Approx. 20 to 40g of ceremonial cacao, or the darkest chocolate you can find (ideally at least 90-95% cocoa products) per serving
A Ceremonial Dose is approx. 40 grams of cacao/chocolate, while a Regular Dose is approx. 20g
Approx. one mug/cup of plant-based milk and/or water per serving
Spices of choice — cinnamon, cardamom and/or chilli
Optional add ins of choice — maca powder, mushroom extracts
Instructions:
1. Add your milk and/or water of choice. I pour it into my mug first just to measure it out right. My favourite combination is to use half soy milk, half water. Heat that up to simmering – don’t let it boil!
2. Add in your spices or extras of choice. I always add a dash each of cinnamon and cardamom.
3. Turn the heat off and stir in the chocolate pieces. Whatever chocolate or cacao that you’re using, it’s key not to overheat it. The liquid doesn’t need to be that hot for it to melt and combine – as soon as it’s steaming, it’s hot enough!
If you want it to be extra creamy, try whisking or even using a blender. But being that I have my cacao early in the morning while everyone else is still asleep, I just use a soundless spatula and it does the job!
4. Once the chocolate has melted, you’re ready to pour it into your mug and enjoy the experience!
Bonus Tip:
Depending on the cacao or chocolate you’re using and how rich/sugary it is, you may need to experiment to get the perfect ratio for your liking! You can also add the hot milk/water to your chocolate slowly, stirring it as you add it, until it’s the perfect thickness for you. I know from experience that for myself personally, measuring out the liquid in my mug first will lead to the perfect amount for me.
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So that’s my current recipe. As I said, it’s so delicious! Even just using the darkest chocolate I can find at the supermarket. But I’ll keep searching for the less processed, more nutrient-dense, and spiritually enriched Ceremonial Grade Cacao.
The chocolate I’m currently using has a little sugar and vanilla (Lindt 95%), and it’s still very rich using the ceremonial dose of approx. 40 grams, and half water/half soy milk. Some days I’ll use less chocolate - if you’re having it every morning, the regular dose of approx. 20 grams is enough most days!
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My Cacao Ceremony
Once I’ve made my cacao, I light a candle or two, hold the cup to my heart and shut my eyes, breathing in the wonderful aromas of chocolate and cinnamon, and I say thank you. I think about what I am most grateful for at that moment and state my intention for the day. I then drink, focusing on gratitude and intention, for a few minutes before I take out my notebook and pen and start writing.
As I’ll cover in another video, I do what’s called ‘morning pages’, which essentially means I write whatever comes to mind for at least three pages. I will also draw a tarot card and spend a moment reflecting on the interpretation of the card.
So my cacao ceremony is personal to me, it’s what I feel works for me, it flows naturally and feels great. Once I’ve had my cacao and spent some time writing, I feel so motivated and ready to start my day! But you may just want to sit and meditate or listen to music or even an audiobook. You may read a little or watch an inspiring video.
The only requirement for a cacao ceremony is that you appreciate every sip and mindfully drink the cacao. Don’t just scroll Instagram or start work. Take the time for yourself. The more you put in, the more you can gain from it.
On that note, let me just say, taking this ritual to our homes allows space for gratitude for this sacred medicine, this ‘food of the gods’. In recognising and feeling the weight of history and tradition that comes with it, the experience of drinking cacao is enriched.
The ritual or ceremony, the time that you put in, the intention you give to the cacao pays homage to the generations of people, past and present, who have planted, nurtured, cultivated, and created that cacao you now enjoy.
For me, having a little personal cacao ceremony every time I drink it, each morning gives me an opportunity to think with gratitude, to set my intention for that day, to increase my positivity and overall happiness.
Because though some days it might be hard to get up early, I know it’s totally worth it. It’s peaceful and quiet while everyone else is still asleep, and the process of making cacao is meditative, the perfect way to wake up in the morning, followed by a delicious hot beverage as the perfect reward.
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I could talk for hours on this subject, about ceremonies, the health benefits, the spiritual aspects and everything in between! If you have any questions or feedback at all, please let me know, I’d love to hear from you! Comment down below — are you going to try making cacao yourself? Even if it’s not the real ceremonial grade stuff, do you think there’s merit in having a cacao ceremony?
I really hope you enjoyed this post and the video if you watched it! Thank you so much for being here, and for supporting this new venture on YouTube! I am so excited to be creating videos at last. I hope you’ll consider subscribing to the channel!
If you’re curious to learn more about cacao and cacao ceremonies, I’ll link resources down below. Including the link to a short film I found about cacao ceremonies in Guatemala that is absolutely beautiful! (As I continue to learn more and experiment with cacao, I’ll update this section below too).
If you have any questions, please get in contact! You can find me on literally all of the social media - including TikTok (so addicted) - @eboniehyland. If you wanna chuck us a follow that would be awesome!