Our
Story
— Hello, we’re Romane & Mathieu. Welcome to our very own cacao space!
From our first cup of cacao in Amsterdam —through our daily chocolate tastings— to this platform, we share a glimpse of our story and passion for cacao with you.
We hope you enjoy wandering through Cacao Insights as much as we enjoy building it.
Certified level 1 in “Chocolate Tasting” from the IICCT.
"Profiling products while highlighting each step of the process that goes into making fine cacao and fine chocolate would allow us to share knowledge and insights and to play a part in changing standard conceptions surrounding cacao."
We are Romane and Mathieu, a French couple now established in South-West France after having lived in Amsterdam, then being digital nomads for a while.
We’ve been sharing our passion for cacao together for as long as we can remember, but I guess things really kicked off in 2018. As we were deepening our interest for bean-to-bar chocolate, Romane gifted me with two tickets for Chocoa, one of the biggest Fine Cacao fair, happening yearly in Amsterdam.
That’s where we met Erik & Leonie from Pure Kakaw. It was an unexpected meeting back then and we could never have imagined what this precise moment would bring us.
We drank our very first cup of pure cacao together in the middle of this crowded fair and we somehow felt a pretty tangible connection with each other. Completely out of the blue, we suddenly felt immersed in a bubble that nothing could seem to disturb. Deep conversations, no sense of time, just dreaming about our lives and projects. We went to Leonie who poured us those cacao drinks, asking if she’d put something in it. “Nothing except cacao and it seems like you felt it” she said, smiling.
Besides broadening our chocolate horizon, we came back from the fair with something special. We felt like a new door had just opened. We started drinking ceremonial cacao together at home, occasionally. It was our special moment. We would sit together in the morning, light a candle, prepare cacao, share it and connect deeply. Back then we didn’t know much about it, its effects or how to open a space. However, it flowed naturally and those were magical moments.
It quickly became obvious that we wanted to work with Pure Kakaw, to help them develop their brand, to learn more and more about ceremonial cacao and to experiment with our own practice. Cacao then became a whole part of our lives.
We would drink and talk about it everyday. We’d constantly find ourselves in the midst of deep connections, the two of us, with close ones, even with strangers, riding the cacao wave. We’d dive into research, trying to understand as much as we could about this special food.
Our passion began to turn into an expertise when we decided to level up on our tasting skills and proper cacao/chocolate knowledge. In April 2021, we followed a program delivered by the International Institute of Chocolate and Cacao Tasting and became certified in “Chocolate Tasting”.
More than that we deepened our understanding of the market, the plant, the different making processes and could apply this knowledge to ceremonial cacao and started to make strong connections between the latter and bean-to-bar chocolate.
In November 2021, enough time had passed for us to assimilate our experience and turn it into something we thought was worth sharing. We came up with Cacao Insights, a platform that’d help answer the questions we were finding ourselves bumping into repeatedly.
Our main interrogation was the following. As we became familiar with Pure Kakaw’s range, we noticed obvious differences in effects, and periods of attraction for one origin over others. We were left wondering if any cacao, given it is produced respectfully, would have its own profile, not just aromatically but physiologically, like its own personality? That’s the essence of our Cacao Guide.
And then it went, we reached out to brands who inspired us and most of them understood our vision. Profiling products while highlighting each step of the process that goes into making fine cacao and fine chocolate would allow us to share knowledge and insights and to play a part in changing standard conceptions surrounding cacao. With each brand came unique people, stories, tips, perspectives… Insights that very much shaped our understanding of cacao and what revolves around it.
So here we are, in a step by step process to bring Cacao Insights to the next level. Ready to give a bigger voice to ceremonial cacao and bean-to-bar chocolate, to share more insights, and to help in more ways.
Thank you for reading us, enjoy wandering through our website and don’t hesitate to connect if you feel like it ♡
Romane & Mathieu
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