Cacao Ceremony with Forever Cacao – London Craft Chocolate Fair 2026

About the event

Forever Cacao founder Pablo Spaull will join Cocoa Runners Co-Founder and chocolate expert Spencer Hyman to guide us through a cacao ceremony. Learn how to prepare your own ceremonial cacao, understand how it’s different from other chocolate, and join us for a mindful, meditative journey.

As well as being Europe’s longest supplier of the finest Ceremonial Grade Criollo Cacao, Pablo has been part of dozens of cacao ceremonies and is a real expert on their benefits. He comments that, “drinking Cacao in its purest form allows a deeper connection to ourselves, our own intuition, knowing and inner guidance.”

We will guide you through how to prepare ceremonial cacao, discuss the history of this sacred drink, share a meditative experience with simple mindfulness and breathing techniques, and discuss what we can learn from cacao ceremonies.

This tasting is part of the London Craft Chocolate Fair 2026. See the full line-up of talks and tastings here. Your ticket will also grant you free access to the Chocolate Makers Market.

Important info:

• Tickets are non-refundable. If you purchase tickets but cannot make the event, please contact us and we’ll see what we can do.
• Please arrive five minutes before the event is due to start.
• The tasting will run for approximately 60 minutes.
• Attendees must be 18+ as alcohol will be served at some events. If you or your guest are under 18, please write to us beforehand to confirm if we can accommodate them at the tasting.
• If you have any dietary requirements or allergies, please let us know. We will do our best to provide alternatives where possible. Please note, we may not be able to cater for severe allergies, as many events will be taking place throughout the day in the space and we cannot guarantee there will be no cross-contamination. If you have any questions, please get in touch with us and we will do our very best to accommodate you.
• The tasting will take place downstairs in the main tasting room, as part of the Cocoa Runners Craft Chocolate Fair. To enter the tasting, please join the second queue outside the building on the right hand side, without entering the fair, and leave time after the event to explore the craft chocolate market upstairs and meet makers from across the UK and beyond.
• Your ticket will include entry to the Chocolate Makers Market (worth £5). When you book onto this tasting, we’ll send you a QR code for entry.
• You can find more information about the event and venue here.
• For any questions, please email [email protected]

About the London Craft Chocolate Fair 2026

For the fourth year running, Cocoa Runners are hosting their popular Craft Chocolate Fair on the 17th & 18th October 2026. The craft chocolate experts will host an indoor market with bean-to-bar chocolate makers from the UK and beyond, with a series of talks, tastings and pairings with experts from tea, coffee, olive oil, wine, beer and more.

The event will take place at the Fidelio Cafe and Concert Venue in Farringdon, London, running from 10-6 on Saturday 17th and 10-5 Sunday 18th. Free entry to the fair will be included in every tasting ticket. For those not attending a tasting, entry will cost £5.

About your hosts

Pablo Spaull & Forever Cacao

Forever Cacao’s mission is to safeguard the Ashaninka heirloom cacao. Pablo Spaull, the founder of Forever Cacao, has visited the tribe in Peru to see how they grow, harvest, ferment and dry the cacao beans he uses, but to also share with the farmers the chocolate that Pablo crafts from their cacao – by hand – in Wales. The Food and Travel magazine dubbed Pablo as the “first hippie chocolatier”, which is an epithet that suits him well. Although we must confirm that Pablo is a chocolate maker, crafting chocolate in small batches from bean to bar.

Whilst some might enjoy pairing their chocolate with alcohol, cheese, music, good company, Pablo’s chosen pairing is with meditation. Where Pablo’s guided chocolate meditations and cacao ceremonies act as a way to show cacao being a “heart opener” and “soul connector”. Music, however, does play an important role in Pablo’s life, from DJing and producing electronic music in the 90s, to providing music workshops to young offenders, youth clubs, and schools.

Spencer Hyman

Few people know more about chocolate than Spencer. His love for craft chocolate began in the 90s when travelling to the US. His career has spanned everything from making cabbage-patch dolls in Asia to launching the first major online music discovery service, Last.fm. But in 2013, he decided it was time for the world to discover the world of craft chocolate.

Today, he is a champion for craft chocolate makers all over the world. Spencer hosts chocolate tastings and education courses around the world, judges for international chocolate awards, and he often appears on TV, media and at conferences, including Sunday Brunch, World Cocoa Conference, Great Taste Awards, Society of Flavourists, International Wine Challenge, Barista Connect, Academy of Chocolate and more.