Cacao beans where so valued in pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations that they were actually used as currency. Cacao "beans" are the pod-like fruit of the cacao or cocoa tree Theobroma cacao. Native to South and Central America, this tree has been domesticated for many centuries. Each bean weighs about a pound, and produces a few hundred seeds. Each cacao tree only produces about 20 beans a year. The seeds are crushed and processed into cocoa paste and cocoa butter, both of which are used to make chocolate and cocoa.

Our tea is made from the husks of cacao seeds that are leftover from the chocolate making process. These husks contain a hint of the chocolate flavors once inside, but do not retain measurable quantities of caffeine or the other bitter flavors of pure cacao.

Cacao, like tea, is rich in antioxidant polyphenols and flavonoids. In fact, raw cacao is one of the highest-rated foods in the world on the USDA's ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) scale. Cacao husk infusions like Coco Truffle do not contain all of the antioxidants of raw Cacao flesh, and we have not seen independent studies of such infusions. Nonetheless, the implications for cacao husk infusions is certainly seems positive.

Moreover, perhaps the biggest health benefit of Coco Truffle has more to do with what you are not drinking than what you are. As a nearly zero-calorie, caffeine-free beverage Coco Truffle is a wonderful substitute for whatever else you might have during a sweet craving.