You can usually find products containing higher amounts of cacao at common health food stores. I recently picked up a theo chocolate bar containing 85% cacao! But my favorite form of chocolate is ceremonial grade cacao, 100% cacao made from the whole cacao bean, which includes up to 50% cacao butter, a very important carrier fat for all the nutrients (in cacao powder, the fat is removed, which also removes a lot of the delicious flavor).
My preferred brand is Firefly Chocolate, originally gifted to me by a friend, and is the only chocolate I’ve worked with since. When I say worked with, I mean worked with as a medicine. When used properly, one can connect with cacao as an ancient plant medicine. Set and setting is very important, similar to all other plant medicines. If you eat psilocybin mushrooms in a basement at night with a group of strangers, you’ll likely have a different experience than you would taking them outside on a sunny day with a best friend. Same with marijuana, taking marijuana during a highly stressful situation will produce different effects than taking it in a comfortable state of mind. I often hear of people not reaping the mental benefits of cacao because they drink it as they’re racing out the door for work, or after a work out and before dinner. You’re still getting all the beneficial antioxidants and nutrients, but the blissful neuro-chemicals aren’t necessarily given the space to perform to their full potential.