There's something nobody in the ceremonial cacao world likes to talk about: the brick.
Almost every brand sells its cacao the same way — a hard, heavy block, sometimes a full pound of it, that you're expected to hack apart with a knife every single morning, before you've even had your cacao. It's the industry standard. It's also, we believe, wrong.
This is the honest story of why Sacred Bean will never sell you a block — and what we make instead.
How blocks are made (and why producers love them)
To be fair, we understand why blocks exist. Making a block is beautifully simple: pour warm cacao paste into a mold, wait for it to set, unmold, pack, ship. Minimal labor, minimal cost, minimal fuss — for the producer.
But easy for the producer never meant good for you. Once we looked closely at what a block asks of the person who buys it, we couldn't unsee it.
Problem #1: Cutting a block is genuinely dangerous
A ceremonial cacao block is hard. Heavy. Dense. Cutting it isn't slicing — it's closer to chiseling. It takes force, a large knife, and a steady surface, and even then the block fights back: it cracks unpredictably and sends shards flying, all before you've had your morning cup.
We've heard the stories — slipped knives, bruised palms, near misses. And we kept thinking about who this excludes entirely: children who want to join a family ritual, elders, anyone with limited hand strength or a disability. A practice built on gentleness and intention shouldn't begin with a wrestling match.
Should preparing something sacred ever require a weapon?
Problem #2: The mess — and the waste that hurts
Then there's the table. Anyone who has cut a cacao block knows the aftermath: a constellation of crumbs, shards, and dust across the counter, the floor, your sleeves. Most of it too small to gather, too scattered to save. It gets wiped into the garbage.
Ceremonial cacao is precious — and expensive. Every fragment represents hours of work by farming families in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Watching it end up in the trash because of a format choice felt wrong in a way we couldn't ignore. We wanted every last piece of our cacao to end up where it belongs: in your cup, not the bin.
Problem #3: Portion roulette
And then there's dosage. Cut a little more today, a little less tomorrow — the same "recipe" makes a different cup every time, depending on the angle of the cut and the mood of the block. The only way to be precise is a kitchen scale accurate to the gram, weighing out 20 grams or less.
Be honest: do you own a precision scale? Most people don't. And a ritual shouldn't require laboratory equipment. If you're wondering how much cacao is right for you, our dosage guide will help you find your flow.
Our answer: chips. Count, don't cut.
So we threw out the mold and started making chips — small, uniform pieces of the exact same pure ceremonial cacao paste, shaped entirely by hand.
No force. No knives. No scale. No waste. Just count:
- Want a microdose — or simply to taste the cacao as it is? Place a few chips directly on your tongue and let them melt. No preparation at all.
- Want a full ceremonial cup? Count 12 chips. That's our suggestion, not a rule. Count 10 for something lighter, 15 for something deeper. Find your number — and repeat it exactly tomorrow, because chips don't change shape between cups.
A child can do it. A grandmother with arthritis can do it. Anyone can do it — that's the point. Cacao is for everyone, so preparing it should be too.
The inconvenient truth: chips cost us more. We're proud of it.
Here's the part most brands wouldn't tell you: chips are far more laborious to make. Every single chip is formed individually, and packaging takes longer too. It costs more — for us, and honestly, a little more for you.
We think it's a good trade, for a reason that matters: it justifies another job. Because each bag of chips takes real human hands and real human time, one more person in the Ecuadorian Amazon earns a living from your ritual. Your morning cup doesn't just open your heart — it supports the hands that shaped it.
Cheap and easy was never the goal. Right was.
How to use your chips
- Count — 12 chips for a full cup, fewer for a lighter touch.
- Warm your liquid — water lets the cacao's flavor shine; milk or a blend makes it creamier.
- Whisk with intention — add the liquid slowly, breathe, set an intention. Our step-by-step preparation guide walks you through the whole ritual.
That's it. No chopping, no weighing, no shrapnel to sweep up.
Try it yourself
We didn't set out to reinvent cacao. We just refused to accept that something sacred should be dangerous, wasteful, and imprecise to prepare. Chips are our answer: every piece used, every cup repeatable, every ritual open to everyone.
Ready to count, not cut? Explore our ceremonial cacao chips — and if you're curious what makes cacao truly "ceremonial grade," here's our honest guide.
