How warm should I drink my Kakao?

More and more often I'm asked, "Tell me Mischa, how warm should I make my Kakao?"

Until a few days ago, I was still throwing around semi-subjective sentence components when asked this question, adding my own preference and finally quoting the "science" I know.

For the past few days, I've been answering this question with a counter-question: "How warm do you want it?"

And if some of our wonderful slurpers now disagree, based on their expertise in the molecular structure of antioxidants and their denaturalization by heat, please forgive me.

I have found this is not just about cacao and its ingredients, the X antioxidants & neurotransmitters that have been found in cacao to date. For me, cacao and the field that surrounds it is a feminine as well as safe space. A space without right and wrong, sometimes even without me and you. A space where all polarities, all preferences and all issues deserve space.

So what happens when a proud Mischa steps forward and says the following? (Please read in a proud, deep voice):

"The Kakao must be drunk at the highest 63.6°C, so that this and that happens and we avoid that there. Aho!"

A hierarchy is created, a "right" and therefore also a wrong. Camps, information asymmetries and a communication arise, which does not refer to inner values, but to in the case mixing and my expertise.

Don't get me wrong, it's incredibly important to have experts who fathom certain fields so deeply that you can't even see them anymore. However, I for one feel that Kakao may and may be felt, appreciated, played with, tipped over and smeared.

If the prophecy is true that this food of the gods always comes to light when mankind goes astray, then I hope that its power does not depend on a few degrees Celsius more or less (in the Kakao, not in the climate!). Maybe that's in the fine print of the prophets.

To come to a point here: Right is what you feel.

That may or may not agree with science and other people. It's not up to you and it's not up to me or them.

Therefore, I encourage you at this point to trust that your preference, idiosyncrasy or, to put it in German, your jump in the bowl are just right for you at this moment and are allowed to be there as long as they are not harmful to you and/or those around you.

I dream of a world where we can be who we are,

to find out who we can be.

With love,

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)