What’s happening in craft cacao & why it matters to you

Returning to Chocoa for the second time felt like stepping back into a familiar world, with the same faces and the same shared obsession with beans, fermentation and flavour. The craft cacao world is small, much like specialty coffee, but even smaller (yet growing!)

It’s safe to say that the terroir trend is only becoming more solidified within chocolate, with established makers perfecting their recipes, but also, interestingly, many new local makers emerging from cacao origin countries with great new cacaos and chocolates achieved through improved fermentation and processing.

As health & wellness trends continue to grow, consumers are increasingly seeking drinking chocolate and high-quality cacao in all its forms. If you aren’t into chocolate yet, now is the time! Here is what we saw, what we tasted and what trends and shifts are worth keeping an eye on:

Drinking Chocolate

The most commercially visible shift at Chocoa this year was drinking chocolate, and it's no longer a side conversation. We took part in a workshop led by Knoops and KaiCao that revealed two distinct currents:

• Heritage revival: Knoops draws inspiration from the first Chocolate House opened in London in the 17th century, followed by the great European drinking traditions of Vienna, Sprüngli and St Petersburg.

• Health-forward cacao: KaiCao positions drinking chocolate as mindful nourishment that is flavour-led, origin-driven, wellness-oriented.

What's interesting is that there are three key drivers emerging: the demand for premium, craft drinking chocolate, the health-and-wellness trend and the desire for real sustainability and traceability. But here, we think, a gap is still wide open: a genuinely craft drinking chocolate with real depth of flavour, honest origin transparency, full traceability and direct relationship with the farmers behind the beans… We are here to fill that space!

Wellness, Circularity & New Ingredients:

We saw the cacao pod itself being rethought as a whole ingredient. Cacao pulp, previously discarded in most processing, is now appearing as a powdered sweetener, juice, liqueur, jellies and nectar. The cacao pulp powder was, by some distance, the most delicious sweetener we encountered, but with a slightly prohibitive price!

Also worth flagging: a tiger nut milk powder from Valencia produced a vegan milk chocolate that convincingly replicated milk character without masking the cacao, a great option for dairy-free or plant-based products.

On Ceremonial Cacao:

Let's be honest, the term “ceremonial cacao” is often little more than a marketing gimmick, but what truly resonates today is cacao's potential in elevating health and wellness. More and more, people want cacao closer to its natural form, minimally processed, to improve mood and brain and cardiovascular health, and for the deeper connection, by integrating meditation and mindfulness practices, that cacao rituals can provide. Consuming cacao in this way, as a beverage, is also a way to reconnect with cacao’s origins and the traditions of pre-Hispanic and indigenous cultures.

We’re thrilled to soon bring you 100% cacao liquor and shavings sourced directly from Colombia. Special, native varieties, locally processed to keep more value in-country and celebrate the cultures that grow them, in a truly authentic way.

Origins to Watch:

From the fruit-forward depth of Beni to the ancestral varieties of Huila and the bold resurgence of Indonesia, origin quality is rising fast, with producing countries increasingly shaping their own flavour narratives and retaining more value along the chain.

Indonesia:

After a somewhat underwhelming showing last year, Indonesian makers came back to Chocoa 2026 with something genuinely spectacular. Tasting the Flores bar from Terve Chocolate stopped us in our tracks - deep, complex, extraordinarily fruity, with banana and plantain notes that were an outright delight. It took us back to the flavours of beniano from the Bolivian Amazon, perhaps with slightly less development or complexity, but with similar depth and fruitiness. We also loved the Kerinci, Aceh and Cilacap origins, bursting with passion fruit, caramel, and subtly layered flavours.

On a similar note, we encountered an Indonesian bar we had previously envisioned creating ourselves: a sea salt and pepper chocolate bar from Sumatra by Krakakoa, which actually tastes great!

Huila:

We began sourcing Huila cacao last year, working with two different fermentation processes, and were amazed by the story of these ancestral varieties that were nearly abandoned and wiped out following the construction of a dam.

Osito, who sources Huila cacao and coffee, invited us to their tasting of over a dozen bars made from the same Huila beans. Spectacularly, each tasted completely different! It was a true celebration of flavour and craftsmanship, demonstrating how different approaches to roasting, conching, and tempering can produce strikingly contrasting results.

Cacao Beans

Our Beniano beans (2025 harvest) are just landing this week, so if you’d like to get your hands on these very rare and special beans, get in touch now.

We also have samples available of Sierra Nevada beans from Guardabosques, an incredible cooperative based in Tayrona, on the Caribbean coast of Colombia.