How to make the Perfect
Sacred Hot Chocolate

Ingredients

Sacred Mayan Cacao
Water
Vanilla pod
Cinnamon
Chilli / Cayenne
Rapadura / Coconut Sugar / Honey / Your Favourite Sweetener

Method

First thing’s first, this is a sacred drink, so we make sure we use only the highest quality organic ingredients and good, clean water. The matrix in organic food is able to hold a much higher vibration than conventional food and we won’t be drinking in toxins that dull our vibration either. Using ceremonial cacao is all about opening up our energy system, so holding the sacred cacao and our own body in great reverence always works best.

Start with the vanilla pod. You can add as many as you like. We find that one pod to every 3 – 5 people works well. Cut the pods down the middle and scrape out the insides into a small pot / jar along with the husk. Cover with a little hot water from the kettle and let the vanilla steep. You can leave over night if you wish.

As Chocolate Yoga’s Sacred Mayan Cacao is the whole bean ground, it still contains all the nutritional goodness of the cacao butter. This may be great for us, but oil and water don’t mix well. When we first began our cacao ceremonies, we sometimes found that by the time we got to the bottom of our delicious hot chocolate, the last few mouthfuls are a little watery and there was a sediment at the bottom of the cup.

There are a couple of secrets here to hold the sacred cacao in solution…

Grinding the cacao up into as finer powder as possible is really important. Grating it up is good, but we always have a good supply of cacao in the cupboard that has been ground up in the food processor. It is quick and easy to chuck in a smoothie or mix into porridge or cereal in this form too!

Getting the right ratio of cacao to water is super important. If you like your Sacred Hot Chocolate thick and strong, use 100ml of water to 28g (1 ounce) of cacao. For a thinner mix, use 125ml of water. I personally don’t like it any thinner than that, but this is purely my personal preference. Boil the required amount of water first and let it sit a few minutes to cool to around 70 degrees centigrade or 160 fahrenheit.

Add in the vanilla water (minus the pod husks) and cinnamon. Cinnamon is purely to round out the taste, but go lightly here. Adding too much cinnamon can make the cacao taste powdery.

Last of all comes the sweetener. We use organic rapadura as the molasses that gives it the dark colour, in our opinion, works best with the flavour of the criollo bean. We have tried every other sweetener, but always come back to rapadura as the other sweeteners change the taste of the criollo bean too much. Its the subtle flavour overtones of real criollo cacao that make the sacred hot chocolate so delicious. Again, this is personal preference and we suggest that you try different sweeteners to taste the difference. Rapadura also retains a good percentage of minerals and vitamins due to its low temperature production. But if you are allergic to cane sugar, you are best to go with coconut sugar or coconut nectar.

The real secret to making a silky smooth sacred hot chocolate and getting the cacao to stay in solution is to throw away the stirring spoon and whisk the mixture. Don’t be shy here, this gives it the gorgeous silky texture. You know you are done when you see a lovely sheen on top of the sacred hot chocolate mixture.

If you find that grinding and whisking is upsetting to the energy of your hot chocolate, a good blessing will align it once more. We find mantra works well. Of course blessing the cacao in the group consciousness of cacao ceremony always raises the vibration to a whole new level. Calling in the Cacao Spirit as your ceremonial guide will always help raise the vibration and open your heart. Now the fun begins!

We find its easier to make up more rather than less as bigger quantities are easier to whisk. Adjusting the taste is a little easier too. If your having it on your own, you can freeze any left overs for another day. It will last for at least a couple months in the freezer, where it will only last a few days in the fridge.

But if your anything like us, it wont last more than a day or two anyway. So drink & enjoy!