ABOUT US
We’re Rose and Alistair. We met by chance on a beach in the South of Mexico, only to discover that our parents live a few hundred metres apart in Sydney. We fell in love, and for a few happy years we lived together on that Mexican beach.
Cacao is a rich part of Mexican culture, and it became a centre point in our lives. Every day we brewed a pot of cacao with cinnamon and sugar, and drank it together on the beach. We bought cacao paste from local markets, ate toasted cacao beans, and visited cacao farms nearby.
We moved back to Australia at the start of covid, and settled in Far North Queensland. For six months we scoured the market, looking for a cacao we liked. But we never found one that tasted as good as the cacao in Mexico.
At the same time, we discovered that Australia’s most decorated cacao farm was ten minutes up the road from our house. We drove there one day, and asked if we could buy raw cacao. The farmer told us his minimum order was 40kg, so we scrambled to find friends to buy from us at wholesale. And Soma Cacao was born.
Soma grew through word of mouth, local markets, and finally online. We now source cacao from Mission Beach and the Daintree region, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, The Solomon Islands and Peru.
But to us Soma will always be a passion project. We love introducing people to real cacao. We love researching its health and well-being benefits. We love knowing that our support of small farmers makes the cacao industry fairer and more sustainable. Above all, we love trying dozens of cacaos from all around the world, looking for the ones that are good enough to share with you.
WHAT WE CARE ABOUT
We care about cacao, our values, and yours.
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We ensure our growers use sustainable farming practices, and we do our best to use recyclable and/or biodegradable packaging.
And we make sure our cacao gets to you in the most eco-friendly way possible. Our mailing bags are compostable and plant-based, we use bio-based sticky tape made from renewable materials that decompose with zero toxicity, and we protect our cacao using hex wrap: a fully compostable and recyclable alternative to bubble wrap.
Where possible, we source organic cacao, however organic certifications can be a tedious process, and the expense and effort is simply not worth it for some of our small farms. So far, our Solomon Islands Cacao and our Daintree Cacao have official organic certifications. We will keep you all updated though as this progresses with our other varieties.
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We engage in direct trade. We have a personal relationship with the farmers and/or collectives who grow and harvest our cacao. We do not use a third party agent, a middle-man or supply chain - we’re directly supporting family-owned small-businesses both here, in Mexico, PNG, and in Bali, whose livelihood depends on cacao.
Our margins are tight because we pay stable, premium prices that are substantially higher than commodity market and Fair Trade prices, and are protected from market fluctuations. The volumes of bean produced by our smallholder farmers are very low, so generally single origin cacao is only suitable for small businesses like Soma Cacao.
Finally, by supporting ethical cacao producers, we are taking a stance against a corrupt commercial cocoa industry.
The direct trade ideology is more akin to a small business: there are far fewer complexities and potential problems in the supply chain. Direct trade allows for a stronger, more symbiotic relationship: both the farmer and buyer are dependent on each other’s ethics, quality, and success.
This philosophy leads to higher wages and often more sustainable, environmentally friendly farming practices. With direct trade, companies are closer to the source, and it often shows in the quality, care, and—yes, price—of their product. While this distinction is important, there’s currently no direct trade certification.
Most ceremonial cacao available in Australia is imported as a processed product from overseas manufacturers, who collect beans from a large number (tens of thousands!!) of cacao growers. It is then passed through a network of traders and importers until it arrives in Australia.
For us it is important to be able to trace our cacao all the way back to the farm.
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With the rising global interest in cacao, a growing body of research has emerged, which helps us explain why we do what we do. We've carefully reviewed the science to ensure our claims and decisions are backed up by facts. Our benefits of cacao page breaks down the some of the science, complete with a reference list for your perusal. You may also be interested in our blog post that spills the beans on cacao vs coffee from a scientific perspective.
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We select the highest quality cacao, according to our own taste testing and guided by the Cocoa of Excellence program. Every two years these prestigious awards rigorously select the 50 best cacao beans in the world, out of thousands of samples from all corners of the globe, according to quality, flavour and uniqueness. In in 2017 our Mission Beach cacao made the list, and in 2019 both our Mexican and Mission Beach cacao were acknowledged. The Mexican has recently been acknowledged on the 2021 Cocoa of Excellence top 50. Our Karkar Island cacao has been recognised with awards both in Papua New Guinea and in Australia.
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We let you choose the source of your Soma Cacao so you align with your own values, not just with ours. Care about supporting local Aussie farmers and limiting food miles? Go with Australian. Wish to stick to traditional ceremonial cacao, and support the survival of heirloom strains? Choose Mexican. Like the idea of supporting our islander neighbours who grow exceptional cacao and who are suffering at the hands of COVID-19? Choose Karkar Island or Solomon Islands. No preference? Try a sample pack. Let your taste buds or heart decide.
OUR PRODUCTS
