The short answer
At the Northwest Chocolate Festival (October 3–4, 2026, Seattle Center Expo Hall), Cacao Adventures is bringing a virtual reality experience that takes you from Seattle to the Peruvian Amazon and shows you where cacao comes from. You can try it at booth 520 on both days of the festival.
Looking for dates, hours, and everything else you need to plan your weekend? Start with our Northwest Chocolate Festival 2026 guide.
Module 1: What the experience is
Most of us meet chocolate at the very end of its story: a wrapper, a bar, a first bite. This experience starts at the other end. Put on a headset at our booth and leave the festival floor behind. The trip begins in Seattle and carries you to the Peruvian Amazon, to the place where cacao trees grow and where the chocolate you taste at the festival actually begins.
You don't need any experience with VR, and you don't need to know anything about cacao. It's a way to understand, in a few minutes of looking around, why origin matters so much to us.
Module 2: Where our cacao comes from
Our cacao is grown in Peru by family farms. It is sustainably grown and ethically sourced, and the supply chain is short and direct: from the farming families to us, with no long chain of middlemen in between. Our ceremonial cacao, cacao nibs, and raw cacao beans all come from this same place. Our raw beans are truly raw, meaning unroasted.
That's exactly what the VR trip is meant to show you: not a stock image of a tropical forest, but the real kind of place, and the real kind of farm, behind the cacao we work with.
Module 3: Our story, and why we made this
Cacao Adventures is a family-owned small business, and as a brand we're only two years old. The relationships behind it are much older. Jose has worked with these same Peruvian families for about ten years, traveling to Peru to visit them, and those relationships are the reason we exist. Samoa runs things back home, and together they built a company around one idea: if people can see where their cacao comes from, they will care about it.
The problem is that almost nobody gets to make that trip. Peru is far, and the Amazon is not on most festival-goers' itineraries. So we decided to bring a piece of that journey to Seattle.
Module 4: How it connects to our new bars
This festival is also where we launch our new line of chocolate bars. They're made without refined sugar (we sweeten with coconut sugar) and feature Peruvian ingredients that grow alongside cacao. The VR experience is the "where" and the bars are the "what": first you see the landscape, then you taste what comes out of it.
Our suggestion for your visit: try the VR trip first, then taste the bars. It changes how you taste them.
Module 5: Plan your visit to booth 520
| Day | Date | Festival hours (Pacific Time) |
|---|---|---|
| Saturday | October 3, 2026 | 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM |
| Sunday | October 4, 2026 | 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM |
- Where: Booth 520, Seattle Center Expo Hall, 301 Mercer St, Seattle, WA
- What to try: the VR trip to the Peruvian Amazon and our new chocolate bars
- Tip: Saturday morning is usually the calmest time to try something that needs a few minutes, like a headset.
Module 6: Frequently asked questions
What is the Cacao Adventures VR experience?
A virtual reality trip from Seattle to the Peruvian Amazon that shows where cacao grows.
Where can I try it?
At booth 520 at the Northwest Chocolate Festival, Seattle Center Expo Hall, on October 3 and 4, 2026.
Do I need VR experience?
No. Our team at the booth will help you get started.
Is the cacao in the VR experience the same cacao Cacao Adventures sells?
It shows the Peruvian Amazon, where the cacao we work with is grown by family farms.
Can I try it if I can't make the festival?
The VR experience is part of our festival booth. If you can't make it to Seattle, you can visit our shop at 5674 El Camino Real, Ste H, Carlsbad, California 92008, or order online anytime on our website.
Module 7: About the Northwest Chocolate Festival
The Northwest Chocolate Festival was created in 2008 by Brian Cisneros to showcase craft chocolate makers and educate chocolate lovers from all walks of life. It grew into one of the best-known gatherings of artisan chocolate makers in North America, with bean-to-bar makers, fair trade talks, culinary demonstrations, and one of the largest education programs of any chocolate event. The 2026 edition brings together more than 100 chocolate and cacao businesses from around the world.
