Groundbreaking hydrating beverage set to make waves in the UK

Consumers will be be wowed on so many levels by the new super drink – Wow Cacao.

It’s super… super tasty, super hydrating, super healthy and super sustainable too. But the best bit? It’s made from the Cacao fruit, where we get the beans for making chocolate.

According to the makers, each bottle of Wow Cacao is full of “Superpowers” including the juice of at least nine Cacao pods which give a fruity taste, naturally hydrating electrolytes (essential minerals) and packed with antioxidants (vital for disease protection) with no added flavours, sugars, or sweeteners.

Tthe Cacao fruit is an ancient and sacred superfood, dating back more than 5,000 years ago when civilization in South America began collecting and fermenting the precious pulp from the Cacao plant to create an alcoholic beverage.

Used in rituals, ceremonies and sacrifices as an offering to the Gods, it was considered a super nutritional elixir that bridged the gap with the afterlife. Scientists named the plant Theobroma – meaning “Food of the Gods”(Greek).

For the first time in the UK, a drink has been created based on this superfruit: Wow Cacao.

For consumers to enjoy this delicious juice, immediately after pod opening, the wet beans are tested and once approved, are then de-pulped. This is a delicate process as enough liquid must be retained to still ensure full fermentation of the beans so they can then be used for chocolate. But by utilising the discarded pulp, Wow Cacao actively upcycles to maximise the productivity and value of this precious commodity.

The pulp is cold pressed to extract the juice pasteurised to ensure any potentially harmful microorganisms are destroyed before being frozen. The frozen juice is then sent to the UK and diluted to produce Wow Cacao.

While Wow Cacao does a lot of good for us, it’s also great for the planet too. Sourced in Ecuador, in the coastal zone of Guayas and Santa Elena, close to Guayaquil (named after the river Guayas), Guayaquil is the country’s main commercial centre and its dominant port.

The land on the coastal plain was savannah or semi-arid and only became suitable for Cocoa when the Government opened a canal which then facilitated irrigation. No trees are being cut down in the process of making Wow Cacao, it’s quite the opposite as the cocoa was originally planted on scrubland that was being used as rough pasture.

Pam Thornton, founder at Wow Cacao notes that we only have one planet a nd its survival relies on us humans to look after it, which she believes hasn’t been done.

“Wow Cacao meets consumer demands for a new water which tastes vaguely like its coconut competitor, and at the same time is ethical and kind to the planet,” Thornton says. “To meet increased global demand, coconut water is all too often linked with deforestation, taking away what we have, to give us what we don’t need. Cacao water is taking what we already have and wasting less of it.”

When it comes down to the Cacao farms, all are professionally managed and regularly inspected and have been 100% polygon mapped. Unlike in Africa, yields in Ecuador, even among smallholders in the Amazon regions, are typically above 1 metric tonne per ha, and with no tax on Cacao in Ecuador the farmers receive 90% of the world price for Cacao, delivered in the US or Europe. As a free-market Ecuador has been growing steadily in the last 20 years climbing up the world rankings to now become the third biggest global producer.

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