Our Story
In Quechua, the ancestral language of the Inca civilization, ‘Chaka’ means bridge - a crossing between worlds, a moment suspended between where you’ve been and where you’re going. Our story begins with a simple desire: to create space for stillness in a world that rarely pauses.
The hummingbird, sacred to many Andean cultures, became our symbol for this threshold. Agile and weightless, a hummingbird hovers effortlessly in place - perfectly still at the center of motion. It reminds us that calm can exist inside movement, that presence can exist inside the everyday.
Ceremonial cacao has held this role for thousands of years. Far more than a drink, it has served as a sacred offering - a way to nourish the body, open the heart, and return to oneself. Chaka Cacao honors this lineage with pure, small-batch cacao crafted for modern ritual. Each cup is an invitation to slow down, breathe, and reconnect.
Chaka is your bridge: from noise to quiet, from doing to being, from the outer world to the inner one.
Our Values
At the heart of Chaka are the principles that guide every step of our work - from how we source to how we craft to how we invite you into ritual.
Ritual
A cup of cacao is more than a beverage - it’s a return to presence. Simple, steady, grounding.
Stillness
We believe nourishment can be quiet. A pause, a breath, a moment to come back to yourself. The stillness between wingbeats.
Intention
Every batch is crafted with care, honoring the ancient lineage of cacao and the communities that cultivate it.
Connection
Cacao is a bridge - between people, between cultures, between body and spirit, between this moment and the next.
A note from the founder
Hi there. Thanks for being here.
I’d like to share the story behind Chaka.
A few years ago I didn’t know anything about ceremonial-grade cacao. I came upon it by accident. But once I found it I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
The more I learned about cacao - its history, its biology, the cultures that revered it for thousands of years - the more it felt like it represented something much larger than a drink or a wellness product.
Ceremonial cacao is about as close as you can get to the natural form of cacao as it exists on the tree. It has been here forever. It’s ancient.
The Mayans and Incans held cacao in extraordinary reverence. It was part of ceremony, community, worship, trade, and daily life. I spent a long time thinking about what it meant to build a business around something with that kind of history. I didn’t wanted Chaka to feel like a wellness trend, or the latest biohack, or an attempt to borrow meaning from cultures that deserve genuine respect.
What I kept coming back to was something much simpler.
Modern life often feels loud, fast, distracted, and strangely disconnected. The things that were supposed to improve our lives sometimes seem to be pulling us further away from ourselves, and from each other.
Our phones were meant to connect us. Now many of us lose ourselves in them.
Food was meant to nourish us. Too often, it does the opposite.
Even moments of rest have become optimized, quantified, and turned into content.
Cacao felt different to me because it encourages stillness, and quiet.
The preparation is simple. The ritual is simple.
Sit with a cup. Don’t do anything else for a few minutes. Look out the window. Sit with your thoughts. Notice your breath. Let the world move without you for a moment.
It will still be there when you come back.
That feeling is really what Chaka is about.
Just reconnecting with simple moments through simple things.
I hope some part of that resonates with you too.
Thank you again for being here
Xavier
Founder, Chaka Cacao
Two Origins. One Craft.
Chaka means "bridge" - and every origin we add is a new crossing. Each is wild-crafted from smallholder farms, fermented naturally, and stone-ground whole. What changes is the land, and the character it gives the cacao.
The Original
Deep · Earthy · Grounding
Where Chaka began. Grown by smallholder farmers in the highlands of San Martín, Peru, where cacao has been cultivated for generations and the beans carry the depth of the high Andean forest.
- RegionSan Martín, Peru
- FarmersSmallholder family farms
- ProcessNaturally fermented, stone-ground
- CharacterEarthy, full-bodied, grounding
The New Crossing
Bright · Smooth · Heart-Opening
Our newest origin. Sourced directly from Arhuaco Indigenous communities in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta - where the Caribbean coast meets the sacred mountains - giving the cacao a brighter, smoother, more lifted character.
- RegionSierra Nevada de Santa Marta
- FarmersArhuaco Indigenous communities
- ProcessWooden box fermentation (6–7 days), sun-dried
- CharacterCherry, citrus, floral, uplifting
From Bean to Cup
Every disc of Chaka follows the same unhurried path - the way cacao has been prepared for thousands of years.
Harvest
Pods are hand-picked at peak ripeness by smallholder farmers.
Ferment
Beans ferment naturally for days, developing depth and character.
Sun-Dry
Slow, gentle drying under the sun preserves the bean’s vitality.
Stone-Grind
Whole beans are ground at low temperature - nothing added, nothing removed.
Your Cup
Pressed into discs and ready for your ritual, wherever you are.
Minimally processed. Maximally alive.
