About Us
Welcome to Volcano Spirit Cacao
We are here to bring you the ancient tradition of ceremonial cacao, directly sourced from Mayan farmers in Guatemala.
Cacao Has a Story Most People Never Hear
Food of the gods, forgotten by the chocolate aisle.
Did you know that cacao has been known as "food of the gods" for centuries? Did you know that cacao in its original form is actually a superfood that can nourish your body and soul in ways no other food can?
The more we learned about cacao, the more we realized how disconnected the chocolate industry is from its origins. In Europe, cacao is often known as chocolate, sweetened and processed, full of artificial flavors and sugars, and sometimes doesn't even contain cacao anymore. The people who grow it, the forests it comes from, and the traditions that have carried it through generations are rarely part of the story.
That's why we work directly with small-scale farming communities in Guatemala who cultivate cacao with deep knowledge while stewarding the land. Our intention is to bring cacao back to its origins, honoring the process and the farmers, and sharing it in its pure form.
Meet Byron
The head and heart of our cacao collective.
Byron is the head and heart of our cacao collective, collaborating with five Mayan families around Lake Atitlán.
In these families, the wisdom of cultivating cacao has been passed down from generation to generation, and Byron continues his family tradition with so much passion and love.
We are beyond honored and grateful for him to share this wisdom with us.
Cacao Guardians
Hi, we are Anya and Laura.
We are the guardians behind Volcano Spirit Cacao. We're on a mission to share the heart-opening tradition of ceremonial cacao in a world where it's more needed than ever, and we're so happy you're part of it.
We met at the most magical place in the world: Lake Atitlán, where the tradition of cacao is alive and part of day-to-day life. We spent many years in the Mayan lands, sat in uncountable cacao ceremonies with local families, visited the farms where cacao is grown, and learned about the cultivation process directly from the farmers.
When we came back to Europe, we couldn't help but notice how far the chocolate in supermarkets had drifted from its origins. Rows and rows of sugar and vegetable fat dressed up as cacao, and nothing that tasted like cacao actually does. Convenience, cheap substitutes, and addictive additives have replaced the real thing, and conventional chocolate brands often don't even use real cacao anymore. That's why we made it our mission to bring cacao back in its true, original form.
Cacao has opened our hearts in ways we never thought would be possible, and became our grounding ritual that we return to over and over again.
In a world full of reasons to close your heart, something that cracks your heart open like cacao is more needed than ever.
This is why we do it.
Every cup we share traces back to this lake, these volcanoes, and the people who taught us what cacao is really for. Come find out for yourself.
Shop Cacao
Origin
Born of fire, grown in living forest.
Lake Atitlán sits inside a volcanic crater that collapsed 84,000 years ago and is surrounded by three volcanoes: Atitlán, Tolimán, San Pedro. Our cacao grows in the highlands behind them, where the soil is dense with minerals, rich in iron, and still carrying the spirit of the fire that made it.
The Craft
Heart over hurry.
Every pod is cut by hand, at the exact moment it is ready, not when a shipping schedule says it should be, as is so often the case in the chocolate industry. The beans ferment wrapped in banana leaves, dry in the sun, and are stone-ground into a paste. Nothing is added and nothing is taken away.
When cacao is harvested ripe, fermented properly, and cold-stone-ground rather than heat-processed, it keeps the bean's natural full-fat cacao butter, its magnesium and iron, its flavanols, and its depth of flavor. The bitterness you taste in our cacao is what real cacao tastes like when nothing has been removed or sweetened.
Most chocolate you taste has had that bitterness engineered out of it, but that's actually where most of the good stuff lives.