Ruk’u’x Ulew cacao in the Netherlands.

Cacao is a mild, loving plant medicine, supporting us to listen to the inner voice of our heart. Connecting us to nature and all that is.

This organic cacao is grown on a small indigenous family farm in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala. It is hand roasted over an open fire and ground into cacao paste by the Ruku women in San Marcos La Laguna.

Ruk’u’x Ulew is a 100% Mayan owned, all indigenous women’s collective, producing artisanal Guatemalan grown ceremonial cacao.

As their official Dutch ambassador , the Morning functions as distributor of Ruku’x’Ulew Cacao in the Netherlands and Europe. Every purchase of this cacao thus directly supports these families and the continuation of their artisanal craft.

women’s collective

Ruk’u’x Ulew was founded in 2016 by Cecilia Mendoza Chiyal, an indigenous Mayan mother of three, born and raised in San Marcos La Laguna, Lake Atitlán, Guatemala.

Cecilia once ran a small cafe in her village and many local women would come and ask her for work. She was troubled by not being able to help all these women with employment, so she would pray to God and sit with the fire spirit and ask: “What path shall i take? What sort business can I do to give enough work to so many women?”

Cecilia would prepare her own traditional cacao drink for her family every Christmas and Easter using the highest quality cacao beans, sourced from an organic family farm in Alta-Verapaz. She often received compliments on her delicious cacao. This gave Cecilia the courage to ask a few of the busy cafes in her village if they would be interested in selling her blocks of cacao. They agreed and sold out quickly. The customers reaction to her cacao was overwhelmingly positive.

what is ceremonial cacao?

Ceremonial-grade cacao paste is made by fermenting and lightly toasting the beans, then peeling the husks by hand and stone-grinding them down to create a paste which is set into a block. Nothing is added or removed. The bean’s fat remains intact, helping to balance its stimulating properties and facilitate absorption over a longer period of time.

This is cacao in its pure, traditional form, utilized by ancient Mesoamerican civilizations for thousands of years in ceremony and celebration. By looking to Indigenous wisdom of how the medicine has been worked with, we are able to learn about a healing approach and relationship with Cacao as plant medicine that has been passed down through generations.