This is a guest blogpost by Erik and Leonie from Pure Kakaw. They visit cacao origins personally to scout special quality cacaos and import these directly from the farm. It’s their passion to contribute towards creating a fair supply chain, making a positive impact on nature and reforestation, and offering a high quality cacao for anyone.
Cacao And Microdosing (Psilocybin)
Cacao and microdosing sacred mushrooms share a long history as a powerful combination. Both have an interesting effect separately, but they empower and strengthen each other when used together.
Cacao has been consumed as a sacred drink for thousands of years, mostly by Mesoamerican and South American indigenous cultures like the Maya and Aztec. Cacao is known for its heart opening effects, soft energy, healthy nutrition, and can create a bubble of focus and creativity. It also contains MAO-inhibitors* that increase and lengthen the effect of psilocybin when consumed together.
There can be different reasons for drinking cacao: setting intentions, combining it with yoga/meditation/breathwork, diving deeper in ceremony, a positive healthy drink, replacing coffee, sharing a connected moment with friends, morning ritual, etc. Chances are that it can support your microdosing goals as well!
The heart opening effect of cacao
Some notice the heart opening effects of cacao immediately, for others it can take a few more tries. Also, the words ‘heart-opening’ can be easily recognized by some, while being vague for others. We like to describe it as how cacao supports you in shifting your attention and awareness from your mind into your heart area (literally; this location in your body). You can practice this by placing your hand on your heart and trying to perceive your inner world and the world around you from this space, shifting away from the thinking mode in the mind.
Cacao opens the heart while sacred mushrooms open the mind; making this a powerful combination to help you deepen your connection to yourself. This is beautiful to work with in a higher dose ceremony, but can also be beneficial for your microdosing practice.
What to expect when combining cacao and microdosing?
While some people notice the effects of cacao immediately, it can also take a few times of connecting with cacao before beginning to notice it’s subtle effects; we all have different bodies and sensitivities. Finding your preferred dose is important, just as with microdosing psilocybin (mushrooms or truffles).
- For cacao, there is a very safe margin that makes it easy to experiment with. We advise 10-25gr for a casual dose, 25-35gr for a medium dose, and 35-45gr for a ceremonial dose of cacao.
- When combining cacao and microdosing, you’ll likely find a small dose of psilocybin preferrable*: for fresh magic truffles 0.25 – 0.8 grams, and for dried psilocybin mushrooms 0.05-0.2 gr.
One of the main active compounds in cacao is theobromine, a mild stimulant that gives a softer and more sustained energy compared to caffeine. It can increase your heart rate, but at the same time dilates your blood vessels. Hereby, it does not increase your blood pressure, but increases the blood flow through your body (including your brain) significantly.
* Note that cacao strengthens the effect of psilocybin, so your microdosing baseline might be lower in combination. Also note that it’s not recommended to combine cacao with ayahuasca (B. caapi vine which is also a MAO-inhibitor) and most other microdosing substances.
During the Micro Mornings that we host with Pure Kakaw, we combine 0.6gr truffles with 30gr cacao in a yin yoga session. This allows for a deep experience within an intentional setting and practicing together, which also impacts the depth of the experience.
Our favorite way to combine cacao and microdosing
Our favorite way is to prepare a cacao drink as a little ritual with our full attention and presence. This helps to bring our mind into a calm and mindful state making space to set a powerful intention for that morning, day or week. After setting an intention, take a mindful moment to drink cacao along with your microdose. For us, it feels as if this combination greatly supports our intention further and brings more flow into our day. Whether your day involves working on a project or taking a walk in nature, the value of setting an intention should never be underestimated!
Making a pure cacao drink is easy
- Mix cacao (20-40gr) with hot water or plant based milk (100-150ml).
- You can add spices (like cinnamon and cayenne) and honey if you want to sweeten it up.
- The final trick is to froth your cacao into a foamy drink. This helps to dissolve the cacao even better and gives the most delicious taste and mouthfeel.
Learn more about cacao and microdosing
Listen Episode 7 of our Microdosing Table Talk podcast with Erik Westerduin in which we dive much deeper into the origins and benefits of cacao as a sacred drink.
Head to PureKakaw for more info and recipes.
Head to these videos to see the beautiful areas the cacao for Pure Kakaw is sourced:
- Peru: https://purekakaw.com/pages/cacao-from-peru
- Guatemala: https://purekakaw.com/pages/cacao-from-guatemala
Shop
Pick up some ceremonial cacao from Peru, Guatemala or Nicaragua directly via Pure Kakaw
Order the Microdosing + Cacao + Mushroom Powerblend starterpack at Microdose.nl (shipping to European Union only)
