Who we are

CORA comes from the Spanish word "Corazón", meaning heart. We arose out of a need for inner healing in the world. We seek to spread the mood enhancing, heart opening magic of real chocolate in the United States.

But... those that make (our) cacao can't easily sell in the US because they're in Guatemala. If the farmers are growing cacao using generations of knowledge... who's helping this medicine spread to the US!? As a distributor of cacao, we offer the highest quality ceremonial grade cacao to people looking to heal. In being a vehicle for the spread of cacao in the US, we help generate value for small farming communities in Guatemala. 

Mission & Vision

CORA has two central tenets by which we operate:

1. HEALING!

Everyone deserves healing, love, and wholeness. We seek to make cacao as a plant medicine accessible to everyone. In ethically producing the highest quality cacao, we create a system where farmers reap the spoils of their labor while users nourish their mind, body, and soul!

2. RESPECT!

This plant, however, has a particular context that is inviting us to pay attention. Unlike other organizations, we do not compromise on the quality of the cacao we source. We seek to create a system that is truly equitable (see Fair Trade & Sustainability). One of the ways in which we do this is allowing the communities we source from to own the process of production, meaning CORA does not buy cacao beans for cheap and finish the product ourselves. CORA is a vehicle for spreading Indigenous healing and culture. Our goal is to help small farmers keep their way of life, and in selling REAL cacao in it's TRUE form, we can create prosperity in regions where cacao is produced. It's a win for farmers, for consumers, and for the planet. We can create a value exchange where nobody is exploited.

Fair Trade & Sustainability

In order to produce such a high quality food, ceremonial grade cacao is produced in the most equitable and earth-conscious manner of all chocolate products. High demand for chocolate products in the US has created a highly exploitative system (favoring the US). In order to produce more cacao in a profit-driven market, small cacao farmers have been forced to adapt with monoculture farms, utilizing child labor, and using non-organic chemical fertilizers. These practices produce high volumes of low quality cacao (think Hershey's bar). The effect of this on the ecosystem is deforestation, soil degradation, loss of wildlife, water pollution, human rights abuses, and health problems.

As a consequence, farmers are left with less fertile lands, lose their way of life, and are paid very low prices for their product. Farmers are paid less for their product because big American corporations are paying for only the raw unprocessed beans. The rest of the bar creation process occurs in the US. Many chocolate products use beans from all over a given country, are heated using high heat to create uniform flavor, and are processed using machines. For every $20 generated in the chocolate industry, only around $1 remains with the farmers. The "Fair Trade" and "Rainforest Alliance" movements were started to help people and the planet in a system that had never looked out for either. 

The ceremonial grade movement seeks to shift the current paradigm of cacao trade to a more equitable one. In order for a product to be ceremonial grade, it, among many other important factors, must be grown and finished (plant to paste) in the country of origin. This means that the historical stewards of the cacao plant own more of the cacao production process, which translates to more value being created for them in the process. How much more value? On average, around 2000% more value. We believe that this is only the beginning of the changes needed in the cacao industry.

Finally, our cacao comes from Guatemala - the Mayan motherland for cacao. From the perspective that plants are an intelligent spirit, this plant has had thousands of years to become energetically anchored in this land. It has thousands of years of use as medicine, as currency, and as a drink shared by loved ones.