Ceremonial cocoa for inspiration and creativity.
Just 200 years ago, chocolate was known in Europe as an invigorating hot drink that was in no way inferior to coffee and tea. Nowadays almost nobody knows about the invigorating effect of cocoa. Here we write about how cocoa is a much better alternative to traditional stimulants like coffee or tea, especially for creative jobs and tasks.
Cocoa in Goethe's time
In Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries, people would meet in chocolate houses, where pure cocoa mass was mixed with hot water and spices and served. In addition to its beguiling aroma, the effect of this raw material from the New World was particularly appreciated. Goethe is said to have said that writing was difficult for him without chocolate.
Ceremonial cocoa becomes a "sweet sin" drinking chocolate
The euphoric hot drink cocoa, which once fueled ecstatic celebrations at Montezuma's court in the ancient Maya empire and later became the favorite drug of European creative geniuses, has been tamed by the food industry for over two centuries and has degenerated into a sweet sin for children. I find that d dhe modern view of this beautiful hot drink is totally transfigured. What is in principle quite simple - roasting, peeling, grinding cocoa beans - is outsourced, mechanized, scaled and optimized in a highly specialized branch of industry.
For comparison, here is how our bars are made from 100% pure cocoa mass: cocoa nibs are rolled between these granite stones for 3 days and then poured into bar molds without exposing the cocoa to great heat or pressure.
Ceremonial cocoa is not the cocoa powder you buy in the supermarket
Who in this country even knows the pure, slightly processed version of cocoa, the so-called cocoa mass? Most consumers only know cocoa powder, a waste product from large-scale industry that is exposed to high heat and pressure to remove the cocoa butter. Unfortunately, many important nutrients are lost in this process and the cocoa is stripped of much of its original, beguiling magic. The biggest difference is that ceremonial cacao still has all of the cacao butter naturally present. About half of the cacao bean is made up of this healthy fat, like a nut. This cocoa butter melts above 35C and makes ceremonial cocoa so pleasantly creamy, even when prepared entirely without milk. Here we write more about itn Difference between cocoa powder and ceremonial cocoa.
How does caffeine from coffee & co. affect productivity?
Back to the effects of cocoa and its biggest competitor on the desks of this world: coffee.
Since stress, anxiety and mental (in)health in general are becoming an ever-increasing health problem of global proportions, excessive coffee consumption in the office is unlikely to have a future. Too much caffeine from coffee simply triggers stress in the organism - and stress is poison for productivity and fun in a team.
Productivity suffers from stress
If you are stressed, you cannot think outside the box. Under stress, we lose the opportunity to distance ourselves from our problem (e.g. at work) and to pursue creative solutions. In creative offices around the world, caffeine is made from coffee, tea or energy drinksused as a stimulant to keep designers and copywriters awake - but this often has negative consequences. In this blog article we write more about why too muchCaffeine often has a negative impact on productivity over the long term.
Because of this, ceremonial cocoa is perfect for creative work
Ceremonial cocoa is very low in caffeine (less than decaffeinated coffee) but contains other gentle stimulants howPhenylethylamine (PEA) andtheobromine. Both substances keep you awake and promote concentration, but without triggering heart palpitations or stress. Both substances are metabolized much more slowly than caffeine, which explains the much gentler but longer-lasting effect of ceremonial cocoa compared to coffee.
If you want to immerse yourself in creative work for many hours, ceremonial cocoa is a faithful companion. Of course, you can also overdose on ceremonial cocoa, but that's a lot harder and requires drinking really large amounts of ceremonial cocoa.
A brief digression into food law: ceremonial cocoa actually means cocoa mass
In the published in 2003cocoa regulation The federal government sets the minimum cocoa content that cocoa powder, chocolate powder, low-fat cocoa powder, drinking chocolate powder, sugared cocoa, chocolate, hot chocolate, hot drink type cocoa must contain.thalten müssen.
For what we manufacture, there is no sales description apart from cocoa mass - a term that few consumers should be familiar with and a product that is almost only available in large containers for commercial customers. We write more about, why we are not allowed to call our products chocolate, here.
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