Xoca

Jacob Lopata, Xoca

Xoca is the brainchild of a small group of cacao enthusiasts with extremely different backgrounds — a rainforest conservationist, a design wizard, and an actual rocket scientist. Their story begins in the backwoods of Ecuador, where Jerry (the rainforest conservationist) became obsessed with cacao farming. In the capital city of Quito, he met Carl (the design wizard). The two of them created a pioneering Ecuadorian dark chocolate company called To’ak. Together with Servio, a fourth generation cacao farmer, they started to experiment with innovative ways to use the fruit of the cacao tree. One day Jerry, Jacob (the rocket scientist), Riley (a gifted chef), and their friend Ken (a natural-born creative) were tasting something new from To’ak’s farm in Ecuador – something they were calling Cacao Fruit Honey.

This “honey” was made from upcycled cacao fruit juice and it was incredibly delicious and nutritious. When Riley tried it he was inspired to mix the honey with sparkling water and their Cacao Fruit Soda was born. They all agreed that this was something they needed to bring to the rest of the world. Since that day, their Xoca family has grown to include Dennise, James and Anny. Together they are bound by a commitment to pure and simple foods that honor land, people, and the creative process...with an unapologetic bias toward all things cacao.