Xocolatl Chocolate is Atlanta’s largest and oldest bean-to-bar chocolate maker, founded in 2014 by owners Elaine Read and Matt Weyandt when the couple returned home to Atlanta after living in the cacao-producing jungles of southeastern Costa Rica. Elaine and Matt decided from the outset that ethically sourcing whole cacao beans — the essential ingredient in manufacturing bean-to-bar chocolate — directly from the farmers who grew the cacao (rather than from a long string of middlemen) was going to be a critical piece of their business model. They dug into the process of building direct connections to the cacao farmers and farmer cooperatives we now trade with, from deep in the Upper Amazon region of Peru to the highlands of Nicaragua. Working with a few other craft chocolate companies to collaboratively import cacao beans directly from farmers and farmer cooperatives, we are necessarily a supply chain manager and importer as well as chocolate manufacturer. And we’ve recently learned that Georgia’s oldest cacao bean importers have us beat by 1,000 years!
We typically don’t talk about archaeology much here, but we thought this new finding was so interesting, we have to share. In a new archaeological study published in August 2026, King et al. found DNA traces of cacao on 11th century to 12th century pottery sherds at the Etowah Mound Site in north Georgia (1). Etowah, just an hour northwest of Atlanta, was a prominent city in the Mississippian civilization which inhabited the eastern woodlands of modern-day United States (c. 1,050 - 1,600 A.D.). This is the first evidence found that the Mississippian people consumed cacao.
The Mississippian period was distinguished by a vast trade network with thousands of miles of trade routes spanning the eastern U.S. from the gulf shore up to the Great Lakes (2). Many have hypothesized that this complex trade network extended out to the Western Pueblos or to the Mesoamericans, but these hypotheses had long been dismissed for lack of evidence. Traces of cacao at Etowah reopens those questions.
A millennium ago, prior to the European invasion and conquest of the Americas, cacao was only cultivated in specific regions of Central and South America, as the cacao tree can only grow in tropical climates. The presence of cacao at Etowah in the 11th century supports the preliminary theory of a trade network linking the Mississippians and the Mesoamericans.
Fast forward to today, and our modern trade network — the global supply chain — facilitates movement at unprecedented speed and volume across the world. In America, we enjoy an abundance in stuff and food that no past civilization has ever had. We have convenience, access, and volume. It’s a modern marvel, especially in the context of food security.
But our foodscape is getting flatter, more homogeneous. It’s one of the many unintended effects of globalization. Once upon a time, a region could be recognized by its agriculture, its cuisine and its unique food culture. Today we increasingly have no idea where our food came from. So much of our food lacks spirit or story or cultural context. Think of a chocolate chip cookie, for example, from the grocery store. The ingredients for the cookie could easily originate from half a dozen different countries, where they were grown and processed. Eventually the ingredients are imported, mixed, baked and packaged before the cookies are shipped to grocery stores in every state across the country. One of those millions of cookies makes it to your house. The cookie is from everywhere and nowhere. It has no sense of place.
We have to acknowledge that in the complexity of the global supply chain, the origin story and unique characteristics of regional food get lost on the journey to our plates. Now, to be clear, this may be okay for ordinary food that just gets us through the day. I certainly am not thinking of the spirit of my food or its cultural context when I'm trying to get dinner on the table on a busy Wednesday night. But, if done right, food can satiate the mind, body, and soul. We consider this our specialty at Xocolatl Chocolate.
While much of the foodscape feels flat, at Xocolatl Chocolate, we strive to produce chocolate that maintains the integrity of the source ingredient: expertly grown cacao beans from different regions that are harvested, fermented and dried using methods determined by the environmental factors of the area and the expertise of each source partner. Each of our single origin bars communicates the story and culture of its cacao origin through the chocolate. Regional climate, soil composition, nearby vegetation, harvest timing and regional fermentation and drying methods all contribute to a cacao bean’s unique flavor. At our factory, we experiment with and test different roast profiles for each cacao origin to develop the most depth of flavor and to protect and continue each origin’s flavor story.
We create each bar of Xocolatl Chocolate with these goals in mind:
- to bring presence, clarity and meaning to everyday rituals
- to energize celebrations with culinary vibrancy
- to be a vessel for heartfelt emotions.
You can learn a little more about each of our cacao origins here.
As chocolate makers, we are stewards of cacao beans. And we unexpectedly find ourselves stewards of this newly uncovered chapter of Georgia’s history in cacao trade. We eagerly await, while archaeologists like King et al. recover puzzle pieces from cacao’s dynamic history. In the meantime, we enthusiastically add to the story of cacao in Georgia with chocolate made right here in Atlanta from cacao of known origins, always.
