CACAO VS COCOA

| | SAME BEAN, DIFFERENT STORY ||

When we think about chocolate, we often use the words cacao and cocoa as if they were the same thing.
But they’re not.

They both come from the same origin — the beans of the Theobroma cacao — yet the journey they take after harvest creates two completely different experiences.

🌱 WHAT IS CACAO?

Cacao is chocolate in its more natural, less processed form.

After the beans are harvested, they’re fermented, dried, and gently roasted to bring out their natural flavours. From there, they can be turned into nibs, paste, or chocolate.

The result?

A flavour that’s bold, deep, sometimes slightly bitter — but full of character.
Cacao isn’t just something you taste… it’s something you experience.

It still holds much of what the bean naturally offers: its richness, its natural fats, and its complexity.

🍫 WHAT IS COCOA?

Cocoa is what most people are familiar with.

It’s made from cacao beans too, but it goes through more processing. The beans are roasted at higher temperatures and pressed to remove much of their natural fat (cocoa butter). Sometimes, it’s also treated to make the flavour smoother and less acidic (this is known as the Dutch process).

The result is a softer, more uniform flavour — the one you probably recognise from hot chocolate or baking.

Cocoa is practical, versatile, and comforting.