Caribbean Cocoa Tea Recipe: Warming Cacao Tea That’s So Good For You
Cocoa tea, also called cacao tea or hot chocolate tea, is incredibly popular throughout the Caribbean. I mean, there’s a whole Soca song dedicated to the drink! For those wondering, check out Cocoa Tea by Kes. It’s one of my favorite songs!
And, this tea is one of my favorites. It’s made with 100% cocoa and soothing spices like cinnamon, bay leaf and nutmeg. And, it tastes just like hot chocolate … maybe even better!
Cocoa or cacao is loaded with some incredible health benefits. So, this tea is truly a powerhouse drink to enjoy everyday. My parents actually brew it daily for those special health benefits. But, I’ll touch on the benefits later on, let’s get into the recipe first.
Before heading into brewing, I have a few more Caribbean tea recipes on the blog. When you’re done here, hop on over to my soursop leaf tea, bay leaf tea and fresh ginger tea recipes.
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Ingredients for cocoa tea (cacao tea)
Equipment
I used a fine grater for this recipe to grate the cocoa ball that I got from the market. If you are using cacao nibs, you can skip this or use a spice grinder or mortar and pestle to create a fine cocoa powder from the nibs before brewing.
Raw cacao balls
If you are interested in making cacao balls from scratch, I have a great post on my other blog that you can check out. The post has detailed instructions on how my mom makes the balls and flat squares for her tea.
If video is more your thing, check out my Youtube channel and this video:
How to make homemade cocoa tea
Here’s a look at the ingredients.
Prep the cocoa
Grate the cocoa ball to form fine, cocoa shavings. With the shavings, the chocolate flavor and the oils are released when making the tea. If you are using coarse cocoa nibs or cocoa beans here, you can add them to a spice grinder to get them fine.
Brew cocoa tea
Place a saucepan on medium heat and pour in the water. Add the cinnamon, bay leaf, star anise and nutmeg. If you want more spice flavor, try adding an entire cinnamon stick or more bay leaves and star anise. Make this recipe your own with the spices you enjoy.
Allow the spices to brew for 5 minutes.
Add the grated cocoa to the pot.
Leave to boil for 10 minutes.
Pour in the milk, stir then turn off the heat. The milk will warm up and create a delightful tea that you can enjoy right away.
Serve
Strain the tea, sweeten with your choice of sweetener and serve warm.
More recipes
Benefits of brewed cocoa
Cocoa beans contain important compounds like flavanols, procyanidins, flavanoids and theobromine. These may have positive benefits on blood pressure, inflammation, the cardiovascular system and on reducing platelets (Source: 2022 study).
Video for healthy cacao drink
Cocoa tea recipe
Cocoa tea drink
Ingredients
- 50 grams raw cocoa (approx. 1/2 cup grated cocoa ball or cocoa nibs)
- 1/2 cinnamon stick (2 grams)
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 star anise
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg (freshly grated)
- 1 cup milk
- 2 cups water
- 3 tbsp sugar (or sweetener of choice)
Equipment
- grater
Instructions
- Grate the cocoa ball (or grind the cocoa nibs).
- Place a small saucepan on medium heat.
- Add water, cinnamon stick, bay leaf, star anise and nutmeg.
- Brew for 5 minutes.
- Add grated cocoa.
- Allow to boil for 10 minutes.
- Pour in milk.
- Turn off the heat.
- Strain.
- Add sweetener of choice. Taste test and add more if desired.
- Serve warm.
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