PicoBlog

Samoa’s famous and beloved cacao drink is sweet and smoky. You may see a layer of cocoa butter on top, and you will definitely find a smattering of nib grounds called pegu at the bottom. Made with unfermented or lightly fermented cacao that is heavily roasted, I think of it as coffee-like. Koko Samoa the perfect beverage to remind you of childhood camp fires on chilly mornings.

I honestly don’t have much experience with koko Samoa, and I hope readers with more intimate knowledge will contribute in the comments below. Because mentions of this drink have crossed my path multiple times in the last month, I was intrigued to take a closer look.

Koko Samoa is ubiquitous and greatly loved in Samoa, some even say it is the national drink. Easily made by individual farmers or households, it is also sold in stores. The precise process of making koko Samoa can vary, but often it is made with unfermented cacao beans. From what I can gather, the cacao trees in Samoa are a special mix of criollo and other genetics, a sort of “trinitario” but crossed in Samoa not Trinidad. This may make the seeds naturally less bitter and astringent, which is advantageous when not fermenting fully.

Koko Samoa is similar to drinking chocolate made in many chocolate growing regions. It comes in a molded block, what might be known as a tablet or tablea in other countries. You can find many recipes and videos for making a cup of koko Samoa online. Most commonly people suggest adding 2 tablespoons of koko to a cup of boiling water and simmering for 10-15 minutes, then adding 1-2 tablespoons of sugar. If you are using chunks of koko rather than grated, add a bit of hot water to make a paste before adding more water.

The blocks of koko Samoa are also used in savory foods. Koko alaisa is a rice dish and koko esi is a papaya-based soup.

Last month, a friendly Samoan man saw me picking cacao and wanted to tell me about his experiences with cacao. He described how his family makes koko Samoa and mentioned that sometimes people don’t dry the beans before roasting. I had never heard of directly roasting fresh cacao, so of course I had to try. An internet search turned up Samoanfarmer’s YouTube video, a helpful resource for anyone interested.

While fire-roasting is crucial to the smoky flavor profile of Koko Samoa, I was interested in roasting fresh seeds inside, as an experiment. I picked one cacao pod from the yard and got to work.

In a stainless steel pan on the induction stove turned to medium heat, I kept the pan temperature between about 300-400°F. The outside temperature of the beans slowly increased to about 300°F during that time, but the inside temperature was much lower. The burning of the fruit flesh in the first ten minutes gave a burnt marshmallow smell, not terribly unpleasant. Starting at about 30 minutes, I took beans out to inspect. At 60 minutes, the outsides were blackened and the seeds broke easily into crunchy nibs.

After leaving the seeds on the pan to cool for about an hour, I hand winnowed the beans. I know from past experience that husks from roasted unfermented cacao readily reabsorb water, and winnowing is much easier when the husks are crisp.

When I make tablets for drinking chocolate, I usually grind cacao nibs in a small, electric coffee grinder. This time I wanted the full experience, so I ground the winnowed beans with a mortar and pestle. I ground for about 10 minutes, until powdered, then heated the nibs with a heat gun to allow the cocoa butter to flow, grinding another 10 minutes. I then scooped the paste onto a glassine paper to harden into a crudely-shaped tablet. (This paste can be molded in pretty silicone molds, if you prefer to be fancy.) After about 20 minutes in the refrigerator, the tablet was hard. I ended up with about 25 grams from 1 small pod, enough for about 2 drinks.

The next day, I grated the tablet with a microplane, and made a drink following the koko Samoa directions. Of course the drink didn’t have a smoky flavor. I noted that it tasted more astringent than I expect from koko Samoa. This could be because:

• the smoke flavor covers the astringency

• the beans need to be roasted longer

• the seeds I used were naturally more astringent than typically used for koko Samoa (The pod I used did have very astringent and bitter seeds.)

I will be playing around more with this, and would love to hear others’ experiences.

The favor I perceived in the koko I made was much like Mexican lavado cacao. Because of that, I used more of my koko tablet to make a creamy, spiced drink like that typically made from lavado.

For 1 cup:

• About 2 tablespoons koko tablet

• About 2 tablespoons macadamia nut butter

• 1 teaspoon coconut sugar or to taste

• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Pinch of chile cobanero

Simmer for about 10 minutes in a cup of water, and whisk with a molinillo.

Results: The creaminess of the macadamia nuts (use any nut, milk, or mylk alternative) smooths the astringency so well! The chile spice out-competes any bitter or astringent aftertaste. This thick, luscious, and spicy drink is ‘ono!

I also used the recipe from my book to make a poi chocolate drink.

For 1 cup:

• About 2 tablespoons koko tablet

• About 3 tablespoons fresh kalo poi

• 1 teaspoon coconut sugar or to taste

• Pinch of freshly ground nutmeg to garnish

Simmer koko, poi, and sugar in 1 cup of water for about 10 minutes, whisk with a molinillo, and garnish with nutmeg.

Results: Oh, I love chocolate and poi together! The drink is thick, but I wouldn’t call it creamy. The poi cuts the astringency but in a different way than the macadamia nuts. While the nuts conceal the astringency, the poi allows you to taste it but without experiencing the unpleasant bite. The tiny nib particles stay suspended, a fun way to enjoy nibbling the drink all the way through.

I appreciate this opportunity to learn more about how a cacao-growing culture prefers to prepare this amazing food. Did I replicate koko Samoa? No, but that wasn’t the point. I did learn that drying beans is optional, and you can go from harvesting a pod to serving a delightful hot drink in a few hours. So cool!

I will be experimenting further and sharing my discoveries.

Mahalo e Aaron, my Samoan friend for starting this inquiry. Mahalo e Greg, Will, and Skip for encouragement. Please leave a comment if you have koko Samoa experiences, if you have tried roasting fresh cacao seeds, or if you have anything else to add!

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