OUR MISSION
Our mission is clear: To make authentic chocolate using real solid cacao, in its most original form, without compromising on taste, texture and physiological effects.
Master chocolate maker Tino Wolter spent thirty months perfecting recipes and sourcing the highest quality sustainably and ecologically farmed products. Following our philosophy, we always bet for the local and 100% organic product to offer the highest quality and taste.
Secret ingredient: Always love. We love what we do. Cachao was born from the passion for making pure chocolate and that is and will always be our reason for being.
OUR CACAO
Most commercially available cacao is roasted at 110°C- 160°C for 30 minutes, a speedy process that depletes the plant of it's health benefits. Unroasted cacao undergoes a very different process in order to preserve its many flavours and natural qualities
We source our cacao from food forests in Peru and Ecuador where where it grows in a sustainable environment amongst mango, pepper, vanilla and coconut palm trees. Relying on ancient wisdom, local workers use special techniques to cultivate, harvest and process the cacao.
After it arrives at the Cachao Chocolate Manufactory the cacao undergoes a carefully controlled production process lasting 4 days to ensure the temperature of the chocolate never exceeds 42°C.
LOCAL INGREDIENTS
Fresh ingredients from the best organic farmers within driving distance of our chocolate manufactory. We’re purists at heart and keeping things as nature intended is important to us- it’s the reason we collaborate with producers that have a deep respect for the land and food they cultivate. Fruits, herbs and nuts are harvested during peak season and processed locally or on-site by Tino Wolter. Coffee does not grow in Europe, so when it came to selecting a coffee supplier we decided to partner with a organic “bean to cup” roasting company with values that mirror our own.
PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
Pure unroasted cacao is a rich natural source of magnesium, iron and chromium- known to improve the body's response to sugar, improving insulin resistance and blood sugar control. Theobromine can help dilate constricted blood vessels, increasing flow and reducing blood pressure if it is high. One of the most noticeable and immediate effects of eating pure cacao or dark chocolate is an increase in heart rate, a positive lift in mood and an energizing feeling over the entire body. Remember to always drink sufficient water while consuming cacao products.
ROOTS
Cacao is harvested from the fruit of the cacao tree and is the basis of chocolate. Due to its many natural properties and multiple uses, cacao has been cultivated for thousands of years by the mesoamerican civilizations distributed throughout Mexico and Central America. The elite men of the Aztec and Maya societies consumed cacao primarily in the form of a frothy beverage, during ceremonies that would grant them energy and power and in rituals to appease their deities.
The first europeans to “discover” chocolate were the Spanish in 1519 when Cortés met with The Aztec Emperor Moctezuma in Tenochtitlan. Later on in 1544 a Mayan nobleman named Kekchi Maya was brought from the Americas to meet King Phillip where he formally presented the frothy cacao beverage of the gods to Spanish court. Within a century, chocolate had made it to the rest of western europe and England. Demand grew quickly leading the French to set-up plantations in their Caribbean colonies and the Spanish in their South American and Philippine colonies.
Today we consume cacao mostly in the form of chocolate- mixed with sweeteners to reduce the natural bitterness of the flavour. Traditional beverages made with cacao are still consumed in México, Central and South America and can be prepared quite easily.