Cacao Source

Long description

Cacao Source is a 3-year-old cacao production social enterprise based in Lake Atitlan, Guatemala. Our mission is to honor and share cacao. We do this by creating a high-quality product– single-origin organic cacao– that works in harmony with the environment and the local community, as well as creating educational programs about cacao for our distributors. We aim to create scalable models that propose a regenerative alternative to the destructive cocoa industry.

We partner with small-scale local farms to grow cacao and women’s collectives to transform the cacao. In addition to creating a high-quality product, we also create educational opportunities around cacao to shift the consumer mindset from the destructive practices predominant in the cocoa industry into regenerative ones.

We have mapped and designed the project so that every cycle of the project is circular– including the financial, social, and environmental sectors. We source our cacao from 5 organic small-scale locally owned farms in Guatemala. On each farm, the cacao is grown through agroforestry and supports biodiversity.

We process the cacao with the support of 7 Kaq’chikel womens’ collectives here in San Marcos La Laguna. Together they toast, hand peel, grind, and mold the cacao in small batches. Through the process, we optimize the health properties of the cacao with optimal fermentation and toasting conditions.

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