WHY CACAO?

Believe the hype!

Here at Living Koko we LOVE cacao and have been drinking it for as long as we can remember. Pacific Islanders have grown and used cacao for celebrating , connecting and healing for centuries, but the Western world is only just catching up and realising how powerful and therapeutic this delicious superfood is.

Cacao beans are tiny but mighty, ranking as one of the world’s best sources of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals by weight. Enjoying pure organic cacao can help your body defend and repair itself against free radicals and cell damage, and may reduce insulin resistance, blood pressure and the risk of stroke and cardiovascular disease.

Cacao is also good for your mind and soul, releasing natural feel-good chemicals to boost your mood and help you feel a sense of calm, peace, and overall wellness. There’s some science behind why many of us instinctively turn to chocolate when we’re in of need of some grounding and cheering up!

Not only good for your body, mind and soul, Living Koko cacao is also good for communities. We have cultivated meaningful and collaborative relationships with small-plot cacao farmers in Samoa, Papua New Guinea (PNG) and other Pacific Islands to support farmers to develop and sustain their own business, while developing and enhancing food sovereignty principles and practices.

All of this from chocolate?! You bet! But it’s the quality and process that counts, which is why Living Koko only uses the very best organic single-source cacao and uses minimal refining processes with nothing artificial or unnecessary added to give you delicious, pure, nutritious koko products.

There’s more to cacao than just tasting delicious, read more to find out!

Good for your body, mind and soul

Cacao is packed with fibre, vitamins and minerals, including significant beneficial amounts of:

Magnesium – great for muscle and heart health, and cognitive function
Iron – for blood oxygen, energy and focus
Potassium – for helping to regulate blood pressure and blood sugar and the nervous system
Calcium – for healthy bones, muscles and nerves
Zinc – supporting the immune system, thyroid function and metabolism
Copper – for production of red blood cells and collagen
Manganese – supporting metabolism, blood sugar, cholesterol and nerve function.

Cacao is also one of the richest natural sources of antioxidants, containing more than acai, goji or blueberries. Cacao boasts 10 percent of its weight to the hard-working molecules that fight and neutralise free radicals and shield cells from damage, including:

Resveratrol – a potent antioxidant most commonly used at a pharmaceutical grade for high cholesterol, cancer, heart disease, and many other conditions.
Flavonoids, including catechin, epicatechin, and procyanidins – these guys are responsible for healthy cardiovascular health, immune response and insulin resistance, and reducing inflammation and the risk of diabetes.

Pure organic cacao stimulates neurotransmitters in the brain that promote a sense of positive wellbeing and elevated mood, releasing serotonin, dopamine and endorphins – the “feel-good” hormones in our brain. Combined with the beneficial vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other helpful compounds, it’s why drinking cacao – Koko Samoa – is renowned for being a centrepiece of connection in Samoa. Mindfully drinking koko with others, or by yourself, is known to be a “heart opening” experience, helping you to connect deeply with those around you or with your own self.

To top it all off, Living Koko products are vegan, allergen safe and gluten free – meaning our wholesome and irresistible chocolate, drinking koko, teas, alcohol-free beer and body products can be enjoyed by everyone.

Good for communities

Purchasing from Living Koko means you are actively supporting the businesses and livelihoods of our Pasifika farmers and their communities, and taking a stance against slave-trade and unethical cacao farming practices.

Cacao is the perfect crop for Samoa’s rich volcanic soil, thriving in the environment and making it a relatively easy crop for families to grow and harvest.

Having been grown in Samoa and other Pacific Islands since around 700AD, koko is also embedded in Pasifika culture. In collaboration with our farmers, and our wholesale customers, Living Koko is creating markets for premium cacao products cultivated in the Pacific Islands, specifically Samoa and Papua New Guinea.

Living Koko supports our farmers to establish and develop their own koko farming business, using indigenous and organic farming practices have been in place for generations.

We seek guidance in purchasing and networking through partnerships with:

Women in Business in Samoa: a values-led organisation that supports the most vulnerable people in Samoa to increase self-reliance and independence, through developing sustainable and ethical sources of income, and
Savaii Koko in Samoa a large cacao plantation and post-harvesting processing co-operative.

Living Koko has a deep understanding and appreciation for Samoan and Pasifika business development practices, and we dedicate ourselves to nurturing meaningful relationships and mutual respect with our farming and trade communities, governments and other key organisations in the region.

We pay our Pacific Island farmer suppliers above the global per kilogram market rate for their cacao beans – supporting a real living wage.

Living Koko fiercely advocates for the right to food sovereignty – ensuring indigenous communities have access to healthy and culturally appropriate food, produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods; and the community’s right to define their own food and agriculture systems.

Living Koko acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land on which we are based on, Narrm (Melbourne); the Wurundjeri and neighbouring Boonwurrung Peoples of the Kulin Nation, Australia. We pay our respects to their Elders, past, present and emerging. Sovereignty was never ceded.

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