It’s not just for chocolate anymore. Time Out calls raw cacao “your new party drug,” but it’s less of a scary drug fad and has more to do with the sober partying movement that’s attracted a growing global following.
According to OZY, sober partygoers in Western Europe have been using cacao to get a natural boost of energy. In Berlin, a monthly dance party called Lucid is largely devoted to getting attendees high off chocolate’s main ingredient. And Gloryville, which organizes sober early morning “raves,” offers cacao drinks and cacao pills at the bar.
One user told OZY that cacao “amplifies” the clubbing experience, rather than dull or distort one’s reality. A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows that raw cacao is filled with cocoa flavanols that stimulate brain power and increase blood circulation. When ingested, it releases endorphins and serotonin in the brain as the magnesium in cacao relieves tension and relaxes muscles.
According to Time Out, the popularity of raw cacao is making its way stateside. At this year’s drug-free transformational festival, Lightning in a Bottle, guests were able to attend a cacao ceremony, organized by the festival’s “Temple of Consciousness” to use the “heart opening elixir” to “release negative emotions and connect to pure heart energy.”
While cacao at sober events are typically offered as drinks or pills, Belgian chocolatier Dominique Persoone turned heads with the Chocolate Shooter—a device that allows one to snort cocoa powder right up the nose—which he invented as a novelty gag for a birthday party for Ron Wood and Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones. The Chocolate Shooter resembles a tiny catapult made of clear plastic, and the cocoa powder accompanying the device is “cut” with raspberry, ginger and mint.
Live Science sought to find just how safe it is—or isn’t—in case you were wondering. Dr. Jordan Josephson, an ear, nose and throat and sinus specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, explained that “powder is perceived by the nose as a foreign toxic substance” and can damage both the microscopic hairs and membranes in the nose.
“I do not advise snorting any powder products,” said Josephson. “I recommend eating mints or basil and chocolate, and getting the desired effects the old-fashioned way.”