Ceremonial Cacao raw from Madagascar — Theobroma cacao

Ceremonial Cacao

A block melted in hot water, drunk slowly, in circle — here, to drink is to summon a presence.

To open the heartTo hold a circleFor the spiritual practice

1 · The form

5ml

Sourced with care · worldwide shipping · 14-day returns

Extend the ritual

Three plants that have walked with cacao since Mesoamerica.

Roses

Rosa damascena · Rosa indica (wild)

Petal powder — softens the heart, opens the petal after cacao.

+4 formats →

€6.00Buds · 25g

Imphepho

Helichrysum odoratissimum

Ceremonial resin — purifies the circle's space before opening.

€7.0010g

Bobinsana

Calliandra angustifolia

Shipibo heart master — accompanies emotional movement.

+3 formats →

€9.895g

Read it through your world

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✦ Ceremonial Cacao · in one breath ✦

A slow warmth that descends from the sternum to the belly and reopens the chest — the body remembers it is a living parliament, and the circle gathers.

RitualDaily

⊹ The path of the plant

Cautions

✷ Cautions

INFUSE does not provide detailed medical information (adverse effects, overdose, interactions, particular conditions). Do your own research and consult a health professional if in doubt.

Overdose: to date, no case of cacao overdose is known in the ethnobotanical literature (Rätsch).

Pregnancy and breastfeeding: cacao contains natural stimulants. Moderation recommended; if in doubt, seek the advice of a health professional.

Children: ceremonial doses, dense in cacao, are not suited to children.

Sensitivity to stimulants: cacao can speed up the heart rate and disturb sleep in sensitive people. Prefer the morning or the early afternoon.

Essential oil: for scent use or very diluted (1 to 3 drops in honey). Do not go beyond that marker. Keep out of reach of children.

Animals: cacao is toxic to dogs and cats. Keep out of their reach.

If in doubt: your doctor before the plant. This page documents a lineage, not a medical protocol.

⊹ Community voices

What the community murmurs.

All reviews (11) →

4.7/5

Average · 11 reviews

Breakdown

5 ★10

4 ★0

3 ★0

2 ★0

1 ★1

Really beautiful smell. Very chocolaty of course but also a floral smell which I was surprised. It’s hard to get 100% cacao seed oil. Happy I found somewhere. Thank you ☺️

Indianna

Ritual · 30 January 2026

Read all 11 reviews →

⊹ ASK YOUR QUESTION ⊹

Ask the Forest about Ceremonial Cacao

408 books digested, 97,512 indexed passages. She answers on lineages, synergies, cautions, ritual variations.

⊹ FREQUENT QUESTIONS ⊹

We answer.

What exactly is ceremonial cacao?

Ceremonial cacao is 100% pure raw cacao paste (Theobroma cacao), obtained by simple grinding of the beans, without high-temperature roasting — which distinguishes her from industrial chocolate. At INFUSE, she comes from Madagascar. We grate her and whisk her in warm water (never boiling, under 60°C) for a bitter, warm drink, sipped slowly, often in circle.

Is the cacao ceremony a real Maya tradition?

No, not the "cacao ceremony" as known in the West: it is a modern format born around 2003. The ritual use of cacao in Mesoamerica, however, is real and about four thousand years old (Olmecs, Mayas, Aztecs). INFUSE honours this ancient relation without pretending to reproduce an uninterrupted Maya ceremony that does not exist.

How much ceremonial cacao per cup?

In circle, tradition uses a generous dose — typically around 30 g of paste per cup. Daily, in place of coffee, 20 to 30 g is enough. Grate the tablet, whisk in simmering water under 60°C until frothy. Starting lighter is wise for a first time.

Why non-boiling water for raw cacao?

Because excessive heat damages the raw bean. Raw cacao keeps the bean as close as possible to her natural state; above about 60°C, the earthy and creamy profile that makes her quality is lost. Heat the water, let it simmer, and stay under 60°C — never boiling.

What's the difference between ceremonial cacao and hot chocolate?

Hot chocolate contains sugar, milk and cacao often roasted at high temperature. Ceremonial cacao is 100% pure raw cacao paste — naturally composed of about 55% cacao butter — without added sugar or milk. It is the raw bitterness of the bean, not a confection.

Which plants pair with ceremonial cacao?

Historically grounded pairings are vanilla, cinnamon and chilli, already present in the Mesoamerican drink. Mexican Tarragon (Yauthli) is traditionally linked to the Aztec recipe of Xocoatl. INFUSE also offers rose, imphepho for the circle's space, and bobinsana in a cross-tradition heart accord.

Is ceremonial cacao dangerous? Is there a risk of overdose?

To this day, no case of cacao overdose is known in ethnobotanical literature. Cacao does however contain natural stimulants: moderation during pregnancy, caution in case of sensitivity (heart rate, sleep), and she is toxic to dogs and cats — to keep out of their reach.

Where can I buy raw ceremonial cacao?

INFUSE offers 100% pure raw ceremonial cacao from Madagascar — in tablet (~8 sticks, 1080 g) and as pure essential oil — with shipping to France and the European Union. Traceability (named origin, raw processing) is what distinguishes an honest cacao from a marketing story.

⊹ Chapter · Questions ⊹

Ask, answer, share.

One question, one answer — sometimes several voices. The community answers first; INFUSE steps in when it should.

⊹ The forest says ⊹

« Every plant is a door. Ceremonial Cacao opens onto a long companionship — listen to it more than you measure it. »

Essence

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⊹ CHAPTER II · ESSENCE ⊹

Master-Plant of the Heart. Convener of the Circle. Food of the Gods.

Linnaeus named it Theobroma — food of the gods. The word cacao comes from the Maya languages: a single word for the tree, the fruit and the drink. Three things, one same name, as if the language knew they could not be separated.

The cacao tree grows in shade, beneath the canopy, refusing direct sun. Her flowers and her fruits are not born at the end of the branches — they come directly out of the trunk, straight from the heart of the tree. It is a plant that gives from her centre. The grammar is explicit: cacao is the heart that offers itself.

𖥸𖥸𖥸

INFUSE receives it as Master-Plant of the Heart — that of open sensitivity, of tender sensuality, of the joy that is shared. When you drink it whisked into hot water (below 60 °C, the raw bean does not bear boiling), the deep bitterness wakes the palate — then a slow somatic warmth descends from sternum to belly. It is this warmth that is the threshold. It slows the circle, opens the chest, makes speech slower and truer.

Cacao does not like to be drunk alone. It unfolds in the circle, in the duet, at the shared table. The hand that holds the cup looks for another hand, or another gaze.

𖥸𖥸𖥸

An honesty that is part of the gift: the "cacao ceremony" as we know it in the West is not a millennia-old unbroken Maya tradition. The format is modern, born around 2003. What you feel in the circle — the warmth, the slowness, the tenderness — is real. The cosmology sometimes sold with it, in large part, is invented. You do not have to choose between the experience and lucidity. Cacao gives you both.

The real Mesoamerican ritual use of cacao goes back four thousand years. The Aztecs drank it at every table, from palace to market, from sacred to kitchen. INFUSE renews this double life — convener of the circle when called, and food of the gods as the first sip of the morning.

For those who want to open the heart at the shared table.

Signature INFUSEIntensity · scored out of 10

Intensity · scored out of 10
opening of the chest		10/10
a circle that holds		10/10
slow somatic warmth		9/10
convening		9/10
the honesty of the 2003 format		9/10

Olmec, Mayo-Chinchipe Ecuador 3300 BC · Maya · Aztec *cacahuatl*

Tradition

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⊹ CHAPTER III · TRADITION ⊹

The cacao tree was cultivated in Central America some four thousand years ago, where it was venerated as food of the gods, consumed in rituals and offered to the deities. The wild form of the plant is known only in southern Mexico; from prehistoric times, the cultivated tree had spread through all the tropical forests of the Americas.

"The cacao tree was cultivated in Central America some four thousand years ago, where it was venerated as food of the gods, consumed in rituals and offered to the deities." — Christian Rätsch, The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants · Park Street Press, 2005 · p. 501-502 There is the real historical ground. Four thousand years of documented ritual relationship: that is more than enough depth to remove any need to invent one more "Mayan ceremony".

The ritual use of cacao in Mesoamerica — as offering, as incense, as an intoxicating drink — is very old and abundantly documented by archaeology. Among the prehistoric Toltecs, a branch of cacao was placed in the hand of the one making a public offering of smoke to the gods. The Aztecs saw the cacao tree as a gift of Quetzalcoatl; an Aztec text from the early colonial period describes the tree and its drink, which could be intoxicating. They held the beans in such high esteem that they served at once as food, stimulant, medicine and currency. It was the conquistador Hernán Cortés who brought the first beans back to Europe — a recipe from 1528 is documented.

The indigenous drink was almost never cacao alone. Cacao often served as a vehicle for administering other plants: an important ingredient of the traditional preparation was the flower of Quararibea funebris (and not the Theobroma itself), which today gives the drink tejate. The Amerindian peoples prepared a mixture of roasted and ground beans, with maize flour, wild bee honey, vanilla, allspice and chillies added. Cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg, cloves and anise were often added too. It is said that Mexican Tarragon (Yauthli) was one of the ingredients of the Aztec recipe for Xocoatl — an exceptional companion of flavour, kept here as a named legend rather than as an established fact.

And the contemporary "cacao ceremony"? It has a date — around 2003 — and has nothing to do with the Mesoamerican ritual format, which was ceremonial, political and religious, framed by priests, tied to temples and to precise calendar dates. INFUSE names it honestly: honouring the real relationship, four thousand years old, without wearing the folkloric costume of a ceremony invented yesterday.

Preparation

⊹ CHAPTER IV · PREPARATION ⊹

Form	Quantity	Method	Marker	Temperature
Raw cacao block (1080 g, ~8 sticks)	30 g per cup	Grate, whisk into hot water	Tradition uses a more generous dose in a circle than in daily life; start lighter for a first time	Simmering water, never boiling (~60 °C max)
Pure cacao essential oil (5 ml)	1 to 3 drops	Diffused, or in a spoonful of honey	For the scent and the accompaniment of the ritual	—

Among those who drink it in a circle, preparing cacao is a slow and inhabited gesture — intention, presence, attention. The gentlest method for the raw bean is the bain-marie: set the grated paste in a bowl above hot water and let it melt slowly, never rushing it. Separately, heat simmering water (never boiling: excessive heat damages the raw bean, stay under 60 °C), or an infusion of companion plants (vanilla, cinnamon, rose, lotus) that you strain and let cool a little. Then bring the water and the melted cacao together and whisk until foaming — the Mesoamerican tradition whisked at length to raise the foam, and the gesture is part of the care. A touch of vanilla, cinnamon, chilli or honey recalls the documented indigenous preparations. The cacao husks, for their part, can be made into a gentle tea (a traditional marker: 2 to 4 g per cup).

Suggested ritual

The cacao circle — without the costume

For a shared moment where you want to slow down, open up, and speak truly. To be named for what it is: a contemporary cacao circle, not a Mayan ceremony.

Prepare the drink in presence — grate the block, melt it in the bain-marie, whisk into simmering water (never boiling, under 60 °C) until foaming. Let the bitterness and the warmth rise into the room
Name the frame honestly — if you are holding the circle, say where the format comes from: a contemporary sharing that draws respectfully on the Mesoamerican use of cacao, without claiming to reproduce it. That short sentence gives the practice back its dignity
First sip offered — to the Mesoamerican lineage, to the tree that gives from its trunk, to the shaded tropical forest. Gratitude named aloud, however brief
Drink slowly, in a circle, without a screen — let the warmth go down from the sternum toward the belly. That is the threshold. The words slow down of their own accord
Let people speak — with the chest open, what is said is said more truly. No performance of heart-opening: just the slow time the warmth settles. Keeping a notebook after the circle helps the impressions to settle

Drinking cacao with clear eyes takes nothing away from it — it gives it back its dignity. — INFUSE editorial line

We answer.

What exactly is ceremonial cacao?

Is the cacao ceremony a real Maya tradition?

How much ceremonial cacao per cup?

Why non-boiling water for raw cacao?

What's the difference between ceremonial cacao and hot chocolate?

Which plants pair with ceremonial cacao?

Is ceremonial cacao dangerous? Is there a risk of overdose?

Where can I buy raw ceremonial cacao?

Form

Quantity

Method

Marker

Temperature

Raw cacao block (1080 g, ~8 sticks)

30 g per cup

Grate, whisk into hot water

Tradition uses a more generous dose in a circle than in daily life; start lighter for a first time

Simmering water, never boiling (~60 °C max)

Pure cacao essential oil (5 ml)

1 to 3 drops

Diffused, or in a spoonful of honey

For the scent and the accompaniment of the ritual

—