What Is Chuncho Cacao? The Native Cacao of Cusco, Peru
Chuncho is a native cacao from the La Convención valley in the Cusco region of Peru, where the Andes drop down toward the Amazon around the town of Quillabamba. It's grown mostly by small family farms, often alongside coffee and fruit trees, and it's known for small beans and a fruity, floral, gently bitter flavor.
It's also the only cacao we sell. My wife's family is from La Convención, and this is the cacao they grew up with.
Where Chuncho grows
La Convención is a province in the north of the Cusco region. The Urubamba River runs down from the Sacred Valley, past Machu Picchu, and into the warm, green valleys around Quillabamba, which sits at roughly 1,000 meters (about 3,300 feet). This is the high edge of the Amazon, called ceja de selva ("eyebrow of the jungle") in Peru.
The same valleys are known for coffee, so it's common to see cacao, coffee, bananas and citrus growing together on one family's land.
Why it's called "native"
Most cacao sold around the world comes from a handful of widely planted, high-yield types. Chuncho is different: it's the cacao that has grown in these Cusco valleys for generations, kept alive by local families. Peruvian growers and organizations have worked in recent years to document and protect it as a native cacao of the region.
It isn't the easiest cacao to grow for volume. Its beans are known for being small, and farms are small. That's part of why it's still relatively rare outside Peru.
What Chuncho tastes like
Chocolate makers and growers often describe Chuncho as fruity and floral, with gentle bitterness and a smooth finish. As 100% cacao, with no sugar, it tastes rich and deep, closer to very dark chocolate than to hot chocolate.
In coffee, it rounds off the sharp edge of black coffee and adds body. One of our customers, Donnie, put it simply: "You know, sometimes coffee is bitter. Cacao is smooth and kind of creamy."
How Chuncho becomes our bars
- Harvest: the pods are cut by hand and the beans scooped out.
- Fermentation: the beans ferment in their own pulp for several days, which develops the flavor.
- Drying: the beans dry in the sun.
- Grinding: the dried beans are shelled and stone-ground into a smooth paste. Nothing is added and nothing is pressed out, and it's never alkalized.
- Bars and labels: the paste sets into 100 g bars, which we label by hand in Cusco before they ship from California.
Our cacao is lab tested. Latest results: 47.7% cacao butter, lead below the detection limit, and cadmium at 0.17 mg/kg. See our lab results.
How to drink Chuncho cacao
- In your coffee: break off 13–20 g and stir or froth it into hot coffee. Full guide.
- As a cacao latte: melt it into a little hot water, then add frothed milk. Recipe.
- As a mocha: melt it into espresso, then add milk. Recipe.
- On its own: warm it with water or milk and spices, the way it's been drunk in the Andes for a long time.
Questions people ask
Is Chuncho cacao ceremonial cacao?
Many people use Chuncho as ceremonial cacao, and that's how most brands sell it. But "ceremonial" isn't an official grade. Here's what "ceremonial grade" really means and what to check instead.
Is Chuncho the same as Criollo?
"Criollo" is a broad, loosely used label. Chuncho is a specific native cacao of the Cusco region, so we call it by its own name.
Where can I buy Chuncho cacao?
A few brands sell it, including some craft chocolate makers and ceremonial cacao brands. Ours is 100% Chuncho from La Convención, sold as Peruvian ceremonial cacao bars.
Does Chuncho cacao have caffeine?
Cacao naturally contains some caffeine, less than a typical cup of coffee.
Try Chuncho cacao
The Starter Pack has four 100 g bars of 100% Chuncho cacao, about 20 to 30 cups, with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
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