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.

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.

Stored correctly, your Soma Cacao should last 2 years. The key is to ensure it’s stored in a cool, dry, place.

No. Our cacao has 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. Roasting cacao brings out the flavour, and reduces the bitterness.

Our Solomon Islands and Daintree cacaos are both certified organic.

Both our Mexican and Karkar Island cacao do not use any artificial pesticides, but the farmers have not yet been certified organic - certifications in these countries can be tedious and expensive.

We (Rose and Alistair) spent several years using Guatemalan and Mexican cacao that came in 500g or 1kg solid blocks. As daily cacao drinkers, and regular (pre-COVID) travellers, we found it a little frustrating to chop our cacao on the go. We would end up grating up the whole block and putting it in a sealed container so we could easily spoon out our 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 recyclable stand-up pouches.

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.

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.

What's all this talk about "ceremonial-grade cacao"?

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 Solomon Islands 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.

At this stage we only ship to Australia and New Zealand. Our supplies are limited so we need to take care of our local customers first, but we'll be sure to let you all know if we are able to expand this at any point.