Our Journey From Bean to Truly Ethical Ritual Cacao
Our journey with Ritual Cacao begins long before the paste reaches your hands.
It starts in the highlands of the lush green lands of Puerto Quito, Ecuador, where we source ceremonial-grade cacao directly from family-run farms, from a small co-operative that honours both the Earth and the ancient heirloom cacao beans.
Every bean is harvested from chakras, small farm holdings that grow cacao alongside other vegetation, dried for 12 - 14 days, and then cleaned with meticulous care, ensuring the highest standards from the very start.
This is not industrial cacao , grown in contaminated soils and stripped of its spirit. It is cacao cultivated, harvested, and processed with a deep reverence and respect for tradition and nature.
Unlike most cacao products that are separated into butter and powder, the beans are then lightly roasted to give it its unique delicious taste, and then stone-ground into a cacao liquor, preserving its wholeness, and all its medicinal values .
This process ensures that the plant’s integrity is kept intact, and gives you the full-bodied richness of cacao in its purest state. The result is a paste that carries not just the flavour, or the medicinal properties, but also the vitality and health of the land and the soils where it is grown.
Ethics guide every step of our journey. We work directly with the farmers, ensuring they are fairly paid for their expertise and labour. There are no middlemen and no hidden compromises.
Our relationship with the farmers is transparent and respectful that sustains both the community and the ecosystem. This direct trade model means that when you sit down with a cup of Ritual Cacao, you are part of a process that values fairness, dignity, and reciprocity.
This makes Ritual Cacao more than a product. It is a way of being in right relationship with cacao and with the Earth. Every time you drink it, you are connecting with a lineage that stretches back thousands of years, to the indigenous peoples who recognise cacao as sacred medicine.
By choosing ceremonial-grade cacao that is truly ethical, you are helping to protect biodiversity, support sustainable farming, and honour the cultural heritage of this extraordinary plant.
Our Ritual Cacao journey from bean to cup is a promise: that what you drink is cacao in its most authentic, whole, and ethical form.
It is a reminder that business can be done differently, rooted in integrity, guided by respect, and inspired by the spirit of the cacao itself.
