Why Peru is the birthplace of cacao

For a long time people believed cacao came from Central America, because that is where the Maya and Aztecs drank it. Today researchers such as Dr. Evert Thomas, Dr. Juan Motamayor and Bioversity International point to the upper Amazon instead. Pottery from burial sites in the Mayo-Chinchipe-Marañón region of northern Peru and southern Ecuador, more than 5,000 years old, carries traces of cacao. It is the oldest sign of people using cacao that we know of.

The same sites hold seashells from the Pacific coast, so these Amazon cultures were already trading. Cacao most likely crossed the Andes at the Porculla pass, the lowest point of the Peruvian Andes, reached the coastal valleys of Piura, and from there travelled by sea to Central America. Much later it spread to the Caribbean, Africa and Asia.

So when you drink a Peruvian cacao, you are drinking from the oldest cacao lands on Earth. Peru still keeps an amazing range of native cacao, and every region tastes different.

The key discovery came in 2018. At Santa Ana-La Florida, a Mayo-Chinchipe site in the Amazon foothills just across the border in Ecuador, a team led by Sonia Zarrillo and Michael Blake found three kinds of proof in pottery around 5,300 years old: cacao starch grains, theobromine residue and ancient cacao DNA. That is about 1,500 years earlier than the oldest cacao traces in Central America. In 2026 another study found four completely new cacao lineages in Peru, named Chuncho 1, Chuncho 2, Awajun and Porcelana, which shows how much cacao diversity Peru still holds. The ICCO counts 75% of Peru's cacao exports as fine or flavour cacao.

Questions about Peruvian cacao

What are the main cacao varieties of Peru?

Peru grows native Chuncho in Cusco, native Piura Criollo with white beans on the north coast, native Amazonian cacaos such as Awajún in Amazonas, and native VRAE types (VRAE-15, VRAE-99) in the central jungle, often mixed with Criollo and Trinitario. Its wild cousin macambo (Theobroma bicolor) also grows in San Martín.

Is cacao originally from Peru?

Very likely, yes. Pottery more than 5,000 years old from the Mayo-Chinchipe-Marañón region of northern Peru and southern Ecuador holds the oldest known traces of cacao use, and many researchers now place cacao's origin in the upper Amazon rather than in Central America.

What is Chuncho cacao?

Chuncho is the native cacao of the Urubamba valley in Cusco. It forms its own genetic group, is floral and fruity with very little bitterness, and is rich in cacao butter. Local tradition says it is the cacao the Incas drank.

What is Piura white cacao?

It is native Criollo cacao from the dry Piura region on Peru's north coast, where a large share of the beans (about 25–35%) are white or very pale. This gives a sweet, fruity cacao with very low bitterness.

Is macambo the same as cacao?

No. Macambo (Theobroma bicolor) is a close relative of cacao. It is not fermented, tastes like macadamia and cashew, contains theobromine and has much less fat than cacao.

Peruvian cacaos on our list

• Sumaq Cacaosito · Chuncho
• Kawsay Cacaosito · Kichwa-Lamista communities
• Moruga · Chuncho Chuncho
• Pure Kakaw · Cusco Cusco
• Ritual Cacao · Peru Asháninka Asháninka

Tasted one of them? Give it your score from 1 to 5 on the ranking. Scores come only from people who drink cacao and are never for sale.

More Peruvian cacao origins

• Piura White cacao
• Chulucanas cacao
• Salitral cacao
• Awajún cacao
• Macambo
• VRAE cacao
• Satipo cacao
• Pangoa cacao
• Tsiriari cacao
• Chuncho cacao
• How Peruvian cacao is fermented and dried
• Which Peruvian cacao for your ceremony?

Learn about cacao