Are coffee, coca, and cocoa related plants?

No. But let’s delve into why people sometimes think they are.

Cocoa beans.

Cocoa Vs Cacao

The term “cocoa” is most often used to refer to either cocoa beans, or cocoa powder. In North America, “hot cocoa” (and sometimes just referred to as “cocoa”) refers to a drink made from cocoa powder, or a cocoa powder based drink mix (which includes cocoa powder and other ingredients such as sugar, milk solids, fats, stabilizers, and flavourings). In today’s world, when someone says “cocoa”, there are many products they may be referring to.

The Mesoamericans from around 1800 BC until the Spanish arrived in the 16th Century, referred to the cocoa beans as “cacao”, and possibly originally pronounced kakawa. This was a word likely taken from Mixe-Zoquean and adopted into many civilizations such as the Olmecs, Mayans, and Aztecs. The word can be found in hieroglyphics of the Dresden and Madrid Codex. It also appears to be the root word that for some other related words. The Aztecs referred to the cacao tree as cacahuacuauhuitl, taken from the Nahuatl words cacahuatl (cacao) and cuauhuitl (tree).

Cacao, regardless of how it was written, was the word used by most Mesoamericans and the first Europeans who encountered it. It is suggested that “cocoa” is a much later English “misspelling” of “cacao”. To keep it simple, I won’t get into how the word “chocolate” developed in this post.

Today, some people in the industry like to suggest that cocoa is used to refer to the cocoa bean and its derivatives (such as cocoa butter, cocoa mass) after human processing. That is, once the cacao has been altered or processed by humans. They also suggest then that cacao refers to the tree, seeds, and such before human processing (such as cacao beans, cacao tree). However, and this is a big however, this is not often the case in the real world. Even within the chocolate industry or within academia, the words cocoa and cacao are used interchangeably depending on what the author wishes to use. In marketing, within the fine craft industry or commercial chocolate industry, they are always used interchangeably, and not in the way some in the industry wish for them to be used. If you wish to use the word “cocoa” to refer to processed products, and “cacao” to refer to non-processed, you may, but don’t expect others to do so be it a cacao bar wrapper or a peer-reviewed research paper

It’s safe to say, today, not to get too hung up on cacao vs cocoa, as they almost always refer to the same thing (cacao tree, cocoa tree, cacao butter, cocoa butter, cacao bean, cocoa bean… you get the idea).

Image by Tejj

Cocoa vs Coca

These are two plants whose spelling and phonetics in English are very similar, but are very different plants with very different uses . If we revert to the “cacao” spelling instead of “cocoa”, they become quite different both spelling and phonetically.

Nevertheless, “coca” refers to Erythroxylum coca, a plant grown today to produce cocaine. The leaves of E. coca were chewed by Incas in Peru thousands of years ago, and has lead to confusion that the Incas were consuming cocoa beans. There remains some debate on this matter, as Peruvians do have a long history with cacao, but conflicting information exists on exactly how long.

Some similarities between cocoa and coca is that both the T. cacao and E. coca are often grown in similar regions. Some farmers may even grow both. For instance, some of the farmers that produce fantastic cacao in the region of Ucayali River, Peru, also grow coca. However, via fair trade relationships with bean to bar makers, such as Sirene Chocolate, some farmers are moving towards growing cacao instead of coca.

Both contain behaviour and mood altering stimulants. Although cocoa beans do contain some stimulants (caffeine and theobroma), both of these alkaloids have a relatively low impact on us, and require a great amount to be consumed to have any impact from these alkaloids. You’re more likely to be impacted by the sugar than the caffeine in cacao or dark chocolate, which is very low relative to a cup of coffee.

Cocoa (top) and coffee (bottom) beans.

Cocoa vs Coffee

Both cocoa and chocolate entered Europe around the same time as coffee, and from there it spread to many other European countries. They also are both small dark brown seeds, that are often both fermented and roasted in order to prepare them for consumption. As well, before chocolate became known as a food (the chocolate bar), it was consumed as a drink, much like coffee. In fact, just as we have coffee shops today, there used to be chocolate houses where important business men would sit and discuss politics over a cup of chocolate.

Both the chocolate drink and coffee had long histories both in Mesoamerica and Africa/Middle East long before Europeans adopted these drinks. However, they were not taken side by side. Mesoamericans didn’t know of coffee, and Ethiopians didn’t know of chocolate when they were drinking coffee. In Europe, however, and for hundreds of years, these two drinks were consumed around the same time. They were both dark brown drinks, made with expensive dark brown seeds from far away, mixed with water, served hot, and said to have had components to give energy and boost health (or harm health, such as similar to the back and forth we hear about these foods in the media today). From there, these two drinks became more commercialized, and introduced to other countries. Today one can still choose from a menu a dark brown drink called coffee or a dark brown drink called hot cocoa. One can see how some people do get them confused as related or one in the same plant.

However, they are not closely related species at all. That said, they do follow similar processes of how the beans are cured (fermenting, roasting, grinding). As well, fine coffee can have an array of aromas beyond the typical “coffee flavour”, much like fine chocolate does when compared to commercial bulk chocolate. Many people, including myself, who teach about the flavours of fine chocolate refer to the idea of fine coffee since more people are familiar with that.

They also pair well together! A hot mocha coffee, or chocolate covered coffee beans, or espresso chocolate cake. You can even do a pairing of various origin coffees and with various single origin dark chocolate bars. Many like to pair wine with chocolate, but in my opinion, coffee (and tea) is a much better choice due to the heat of the drink which bodes well with the cocoa butter. The chocolate clashes more when it doesn’t melt as well in a mouth due to the cooler alcohol/water based wine.

What is related to cocoa?

Closest relatives are other plants, which also grow big pods, from the same Genus Theobroma. T. bicolor and T. grandiforum are the most well known, but there are many many more species of Theobroma with interestingly shaped and coloured pods. However, none of them have the same flavour as cacao, nor the same properties of cacao butter. Cacao really has no runner up! It’s in a category of its own.

T. bicolor (AKA Jaguar, Pataxtehas, Mocambo) was known for many years as a cheaper version of cacao, and was sometimes mixed with cacao beans which were sold by weight, in order to add in a cheaper less desirable product. There are bars today made from the seeds of T. bicolor. The flavour is very unlike chocolate, and the fat of T. bicolor does not have the same properties of cocoa butter. You may enjoy it for what it is, but it is certainty not chocolate. It is becoming more popular these days due to its novelty, being related to cacao yet different, and it’s expensive price tag (which is sometimes, but not always, gives the illusion of being more desirable). Taste it for yourself. Personally I appreciate the flavour, but the texture for me is very off-putting. Similar to eating a cheap waxy chocolate made with CBR (cocoa butter replacers).

Bean To Bar world used to sell a dark chocolate bar which also includes dried chunks of cupuaçu (T. grandiflorum). Cupuaçu is a fruit consumed mostly in Brazil. It has a very unique flavour, and a much heavier flavour than other fruits. I like to describe it as the Durian of South American fruits, but not as pungent. This bar here is made by a Brazilian chocolate maker, Luisa Abram. It’s a very unique bar because unlike the T. bicolor bars, this bar uses the fruit of the cupuaçu, not the seed. Definitely a unique collaboration of two Theobroma species, and worth a try at the very least!