Our cacao is harvested on the Pacific coast of Guatemala. Our blend is the result of a selection from various local farmers who preserve their Criollo cacao trees, who look after their cacao plantations organically (without chemical fertilizers).
Our cocoa grows in the foothills of the volcanoes of Atitlan and Tolimán, in the villages of Suchitepequez, Cerro de las flores. The aroma of our cacao is soft in the mouth, with floral notes and powerful earthy flavours in the end.
The consumption of ceremonial cacao belongs to an ancient culture and traditions. This is why Lavalove Cacao is committed to providing ceremonial cacao and treating it as a sacred food and a medicine. Its production is aligned with respect for the environment, including roasting, grinding and biodegradable packaging.
Our cacao is roasted on a metal plate where thousands of tortillas were cooked for children of Mayan descent. Our cacao is roasted to purify with fire any kind of bacteria that appears naturally after fermentation.
Each one of our cacao beans are roasted and hand-peeled, by indigenous families, where the Kaqchikel Maya language is spoken. Then grounded in a specific mill to grind chocolate, made paste to be consumed, weighted and put in molds, then cooled down for 8 to 10 hrs before being packed to export.
The shells from the peeled beans are not wasted, they are used to fertilize our crops.
Cacao helps local farmers financially because it allows them to have a source of income that will their whole families as wells as a better education for their children.
Our cacao now grows where there was coffee plantations for decades. Cacao helps to restore the environment, produced in an agroforestry system where it’s is combined with native plants.
Reforestation becomes a complementary activity that generates income for local farmers, not only with the improvement of the crop but also with the conservation of the land that helps the recovery of the ecosystem, such as ecological interconnectivity that recharges and reduces environmental destruction.
We want to provide the best ceremonial cacao produced in Guatemala and maintain the high quality of this medicine. It is a tool for all teachers, ceremonialists and artist that want to incorporate the heart medicine in their activities.
The vision for Lavalove is to share cacao throughout the world, reaching the five continents and making it available worldwide. We also aim to bring new opportunities for those who feel the call to work with this sacred medicine in their communities.
Our mission is to rescue the wisdom of the Mayan ancient practice. It is important to us to bring back into our society the awareness and the importance of sacred circles.
Our call is to educate people from any background to connect with the origin of cacao and make good use of this sacred heart medicine, making the knowledge of its values available as well as the physical benefits that has to our bodies.
Photography credits to Daniel Lopez Pérez
