Good question! 

Many people don’t know what it is, and don’t even know how to pronounce it. So you’re not alone if you’re struggling! It’s actually said this way: ‘ka-kau’.

But if the word cacao looks familiar, that’s because it is. 

It’s similar to ‘cocoa’. And in fact cocoa is a mispronunciation of ‘cacao’ – we just didn’t get it right once, and it’s stuck since. Think ‘Milan’ instead of ‘Milano’ or Spain instead of Espagne. You get the picture. Back in the day those much-travelled importers in their heavy cream suits were sitting in sweating wooden huts with insects buzzing around. Getting a local word right was the least of their worries.

Yet so much has changed since. Cocoa is a drink we make from powder and cacao is too, but they’re a world away from each other. Similar, but yet so very different. 

There are no shortcuts when you make cacao. It’s the raw bean, fermented for five days, rolled as a paste and then packed as a slab or mass. The pods grow in the rainforest in South America alongside other native plants. First cultivated at the base of the Amazon thanks to the ideal climatic, semi-coastal conditions, a genetic quirk gave the cacao bean its incredible aroma and flavour. 

Cocoa, on the other hand, is processed and roasted. The plantations tend to be less environmentally friendly – although not always – and it’s often mixed with sugar. You can make a drink from it, but it’s nothing like our beautifully rich, life-giving cacao beverage with minerals and nutrients all about to boost your day.