Cacao or cocoa: one is the bean, the other is the bean minus the butter, minus the flavanols, plus the alkali
If you are standing in front of two bags working out which one gives you the drink you are imagining, the answer is how much of the bean survived to reach you. The table below is every difference that matters — and the alkali is the one nobody tells you about, because it does not wash out.
100% roasted cacao, ground coarse for brewing.
What separates them
Cacao is the whole seed
It is the raw material behind every chocolate product there is. Roast it, grind it coarse, and you have a single ingredient you can brew — which is the whole of what we make. The cacao butter, the flavour, the flavanols and the theobromine all stay where the tree put them, because nothing has been pressed out or treated.
Cocoa powder is pressed, then treated with an alkali that stays in it
First most of the cacao butter is pressed out. Then the remainder is usually treated with an alkali — ammonium, potassium or sodium bicarbonate, carbonate or hydroxide, or magnesium carbonate or oxide, under the US standard for cacao products. It is not rinsed off afterwards. The alkali reacts with the acids in the cocoa and the salts it forms stay in the powder, which is why the colour darkens, the flavour mellows, and the law caps how much may be used at all — up to the neutralising value of 3 parts potassium carbonate per 100 parts of cacao nibs. That is also why the packet has to say “processed with alkali”. It costs most of the flavanols too: independent testing of commercial powders found about nine out of every ten gone — 34.6 mg per gram untreated against 3.9 at the heaviest treatment.
One brews, the other dissolves
Powder has to be stirred in and never quite disappears. Brewed cacao is extracted with hot water and strained, which is why it pours dark and clean instead of thick. Our beans are sorted and destoned after the roast, so what reaches the water is cacao and nothing else.
Cacao, cocoa, and cocoa that has been treated
The powder figures are from a published study of commercial cocoa powders rather than from our cup.
| Choffy, roasted cacao | Natural cocoa powder | Dutched cocoa powder | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | The whole roasted bean, ground | The bean with most of the cacao butter pressed out | The same powder, then treated with an alkali |
| Ingredients | 1 | 1 | Cocoa, plus whatever the alkali leaves behind |
| Chemical processing | None | Pressing only | Treated with alkali, which is not rinsed out — it stays in the powder |
| Cacao butter | Still in it | Mostly pressed out | Mostly pressed out |
| Total flavanols | Not measured in our brewed cup | 34.6 mg per gram | 3.9 mg per gram, heavily treated |
| Antioxidant capacity | Not measured in our brewed cup | 615–846 µmol TE per gram | 94–294 µmol TE per gram |
| How you use it | Brewed and strained like coffee | Stirred into a liquid, usually with sugar | Stirred into a liquid, usually with sugar |
| What you drink | A brewed cup, grounds left behind | The powder itself | The powder itself |
Flavanol and antioxidant figures: Miller, Hurst, Payne et al., “Impact of Alkalization on the Antioxidant and Flavanol Content of Commercial Cocoa Powders”, J. Agric. Food Chem. 2008;56(18):8527–33 — natural against heavily alkalized commercial powders. Those figures describe cocoa powder, not our brew: no brewed cup of Choffy has been assayed, so those two rows say unmeasured rather than carrying an estimate. US labelling requires cocoa processed with alkali to be declared on the label. Our ingredient statement is on our own bag. The permitted alkalis, the 3-parts-per-100 limit and the “processed with alkali” declaration are from the US standard for cacao products, 21 CFR 163.110.
“I bought this to blend in with my coffee to create a "mocha" profile. It is absolutely delicious. Of course, I tried some of the Choffy on its own and was very surprised in how much I loved it without the coffee. It's so natural tasting, not sweet like the store-bought chocolate mixes, but very clean and chocolaty.”
Pete Dionne · verified buyer
Taste the difference
Three estates at one roast, or a full bag of our best seller.
French Roast Variety Set Choffy Brewed Cacao
Ecuador, Nigeria and Ivory Coast, all at French roast. Same bean, same roast, three origins — the clearest way to taste what the estate itself contributes.
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Volta Dark Choffy Brewed Cacao
Volta Dark, our most popular roast — bold, deep and completely unsweetened.
Shop thisCacao, cocoa and everything in between
Is cacao just raw cocoa?
Not quite. Cacao refers to the bean and to products made from the whole bean. Cocoa usually means the pressed, defatted powder — and more often than not one that has been alkalized. Ours is the whole roasted bean, ground.
What does dutched or alkalized mean, and does it matter?
It is a treatment with an alkali — carbonates, bicarbonates or hydroxides of potassium, sodium or ammonium, or magnesium carbonate or oxide — that darkens the colour and mellows the flavour. The part people miss is that it is never washed out: it neutralises the acids in the cocoa and the salts stay in the powder. That is why US law caps the amount at the neutralising value of 3 parts potassium carbonate per 100 parts of cacao nibs and requires the label to read “processed with alkali”. It also costs most of the flavanols — 34.6 mg per gram in natural cocoa against 3.9 heavily alkalized. Choffy is never alkalized, which is also why our cup tastes brighter and sharper than cocoa does.
So does Choffy have more flavanols than cocoa powder?
No brewed cup has been assayed — ours or anyone's — so the honest answer is that ours is unmeasured and the number will appear here when it exists. What is already on the record is what alkalizing costs cocoa powder: total flavanols from 34.6 mg per gram down to 3.9, and antioxidant capacity from 615–846 µmol TE per gram down to 94–294. Flavanols are polyphenols, epicatechin chief among them, and they dissolve in water — so they carry into a brew. Our bean never goes near an alkali. Theobromine sits alongside them — cacao's own stimulant, a slower and gentler cousin of caffeine, and cacao carries more of it than caffeine. It is the reason the cup reads steady rather than sharp.
Is brewed cacao the same as hot cocoa?
Hot cocoa is a sweetened mix that dissolves, usually with dairy or milk solids in it. Brewed cacao is the bean itself, brewed and strained, and it is not sweet unless you sweeten it.
Can I brew cocoa powder instead?
Powder dissolves rather than extracting, so you get sediment rather than a clean cup. Brewing needs the ground bean.
Which roast should I start with?
If you drink your coffee black, start with a French roast. If you want something rounder, a Dark roast. If you are not a coffee drinker, a Medium roast.
From people who made the switch from powder
Google, Amazon and Walmart figures last checked 11 September 2026. The on-site figure updates itself.
“The dark is my favorite. It has a deep smooth flavor, more chocolate taste and aroma. If you prefer a deeper cocoa taste, this is the one!”
“Love this flavor — a taste I never get tired of. Smooth, rich, and chocolatey!”
“I have tried a few different flavors of Choffy and this one is by far my favorite. I do not like coffee and this one doesn't taste coffeeish.”
The whole bean, brewed
One ingredient, roasted by us, ground for a press or a drip machine. Nothing pressed out, no alkali, every batch tasted against the standard before it ships.
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