When you’re in the specialty coffee world and you’ve also dabbled somewhat in teas, you have likely already tasted a lot of incredible and often surprising flavours in your cups.

In recent years, there’s been a trend to create ever more extravagant and outspoken coffees using wildly creative and sometimes dubious processing methods. It feels like we’re always chasing the next big thing; the next big sensation.

Yet, what often happens with these coffees is that they might seem exciting but they also completely obscure the raw materials hiding beneath. It’s not possible to discern the terroir and often it’s challenging to really know what the original quality level was.

That’s why many people have started migrating back towards calmer waters. Washed, natural and honey process lots are starting to make a prominent return. Good!

If you want to take your tastebuds into even more serene territory, you might find joy in brewing cocoa. You read that right. Brewing cocoa is made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that you prepare as a pourover.

And this month, we’re launching a special collaboration with Ander from Belgium, the pioneering brand that made a splash at the World of Coffee in Athens in 2023 when it introduced the world to its range of cocoas.

But what exactly is Brewing Cocoa anyway?

🌴 A surprisingly delicious alternative

Most people will know cocoa beans as the main ingredient in chocolate products and that is indeed where the vast majority of cocoa beans end up. While commercial chocolate doesn’t offer the levels of purity and single origin sourcing necessary to differentiate between different cocoa origins, you can get those kinds of chocolate bars from independent chocolate makers.

Ander from Belgium was founded by Fred Depoorter with the goal of showcasing brewing cocoa as a delicious and truly surprising beverage in its own right. Brewing cocoa is made from roasted and ground up cocoa beans that one prepares just like a pour-over. The resulting drink is made up of a light and delicate amber liquid that is more akin to tea than coffee.

Brewing cocoa only has 1/10 of the caffeine levels found in regular coffee but it is packed with the mild stimulant theobromine instead.

☕️ Coffee not coffee

People always love drawing comparisons to things they already know, which is why the comparison with coffee must be made for simplicity’s sake. Indeed, coffee and cocoa share many characteristics. They both grow in a certain ‘coffee/cocoa belt’. The majority of output from these industries lands in commercial coffee/chocolate products. Farmers are often exploited by global corporations, there are severe challenges from climate change and political unrest and they must both be fermented and roasted before they can be consumed.

Yet, when it comes to the finished product in your brewer, they are both quite different. The main reason is that cocoa has a very high fat content (somewhere between 50 – 55% cocoa butter). This means that the cocoa particles themselves are largely hydrophobic because the fat repels water. Consequently, when brewing cocoa, you are essentially dissolving polyphenols, water-soluble compounds that are trapped around the fat.

Therefore you get a much lighter, tea-like brew that is mildly stimulating.

🌍 Exploring new origins

Another difference is that cocoa origins often differ from specialty coffee ones. Many countries that are known for producing exceptional cocoa like Madagascar, Ivory Coast or the Dominican Republic are not necessarily known to be strong specialty coffee producing countries, although there is some overlap in Peru, Brazil, Vietnam and Ecuador, for example.

There are very pronounced differences in flavour notes that are inherent to certain cocoa varieties, just as you would find in specialty coffee. For instance, the Ecuadorian Nacional variety, also called Arriba, is know for floral and citrusy flavour notes, not unlike an Ethiopian Yirgacheffe. A Madagassy Amelonado, on the other hand, is known for raspberry and red fruit notes, similar to a Kenyan SL28 & 34.

The purer the chocolate bar is (80% and up) the more you’ll taste of those unique flavour notes.

When you’re dealing with brewing cocoa, however, you’re tasting 100% of the real cocoa bean. There are no added sugars or other ingredients.

🤟🏻 Maybe the next big thing?

Consumers and entrepreneurs are constantly chasing the next sugar rush when it comes to menus and launching new products. Specialty coffee is definitely no longer a niche product and neither is Matcha.

Yet, there is always a hunger – or thirst – for something new, something that Tiktok hasn’t discovered yet. Might brewing cocoa be that next big thing? In some ways, it could.

It ticks many boxes for those who are a bit more health conscious. It’s very low in caffeine and yet offers a very slight stimulation. It’s pretty easy to prepare since it’s only sold pre-ground and can be brewed immediately. And, it has a long shelf life. Thanks to the high cocoa butter percentage, brewing cocoa stays fresh for up to two years.

Yet there are also some downsides. It’s still pretty hard to get a hold of and to some more adventurous palates, it might simply be a bit too light. I vividly recall how many years ago, people would often call my specialty coffee brews ‘too light’. I can only imagine what they might say of brewing cocoa but this certainly doesn’t mean it cannot be successful.

That is also why, we decided to launch a Special Release with Ander this July to give our customers exclusive access to two exceptional Ander Brewing Cocoas. One is a Hinduka variety from Uganda with notes of spiced tea, olive and tobacco. The other is an Amazonia variety from Peru, which is known for its jammy flavour notes with hints of blueberry and kumquat.