From Cacao Seed to Cocoa Cup
A cup of warm cocoa may smell sweet and chocolatey, but its journey begins with seeds inside a fruit. Before those seeds can become cocoa powder, they pass through several steps that change their flavor and separate their parts.
Fruit on the farm
The cacao tree grows in warm, humid regions near the equator. Its large fruits, called pods, grow from the trunk and branches. Inside each pod, a sweet, pale pulp surrounds rows of seeds. These seeds are often called cacao beans, although they are not the same kind of bean as a kidney bean.
Farmers harvest ripe pods and open them to remove the pulp and seeds. The seeds are not yet the brown powder used to make a cocoa drink. First, they need to be prepared for further processing.
The words cacao and cocoa are closely related, and people sometimes use them in different ways. In this article, cacao names the tree and its seeds. Cocoa refers to ingredients made by processing those seeds, as well as to the drink made from them.
Changing the seeds
- humid:
- Having a lot of moisture in the air.
- equator:
- An imaginary line around the middle of Earth.
- harvest:
- To gather a crop when it is ready.
- transported:
- Moved from one place to another.
- facility:
- A place built or used for a particular activity.
- separate:
- To divide things or parts from one another.
- generations:
- Groups of people born and living around the same time.
One passage, many ways to practice
Reading-skill questions, word work and writing prompts — all built from this text.
Main Idea
Identify the central idea and explain how important details develop it.
Context Clues
Use clues in the passage to work out what words mean. A separate printable Vocabulary worksheet is also available.
Summarize
Select, organize, and restate the most important information without adding opinion.
Purpose
Analyze what the author aims to do and how choices serve audience and purpose.
Structure
Analyze how sections and organizational choices build the text's ideas or effects.
Vocabulary
Practice words from the passage with a printable worksheet.
Writing Prompts
Use the passage as a springboard for short written responses, from personal reflection to evidence-based arguments.
Fix the Sentence
Practice editing sentences drawn from this passage with a printable worksheet.
Ready to use this passage in class?
Start free with the Mixed worksheet and 3 PDF downloads each week. Focused skill sets depend on plan.
Preview questions from this passageShowHide
- 1What is the main idea of the article, and which two processing steps support it?
- 2How does the article use the words cacao and cocoa differently?
You Might Also Like
About this explanatory article passage for Upper Elementary
“From Cacao Seed to Cocoa Cup” is a explanatory article reading passage about Cocoa, written for Upper Elementary. It takes about 3 minutes to read (504 words) and comes with an interactive quiz and a printable worksheet with comprehension questions and an answer key.