What is açaí? And why it’s so purple.
A dark purple fruit from an Amazon palm. Here is where it comes from, what is in it, how it is eaten and how it became a bowl.
Where açaí comes from
Açaí grows on the Euterpe oleracea palm in the flooded forests of the Amazon, mostly in the Brazilian state of Pará, around the river’s mouth. The palms are slim and tall, and the fruit grows in heavy bunches just below the leaves.
Pickers climb the trunks by hand, with a loop of palm leaves around their feet called a peconha, and bring the bunches down one at a time. From there they travel by boat down the river to the markets of Belém.
- Palm
- Euterpe oleracea
- Home
- Pará, Brazil
- Height
- over 25 m
- Berry
- the size of a blueberry
- Pulp
- 15–25% of the fruit
- Main harvest
- August–December
Taste and texture
Velvety, thick and cold. It tastes of dark chocolate and forest berries at once, with a light earthy note, and a gentle tartness keeps it fresh. Before blending, the pulp is grainy.
How it gets to Sofia
Most of the berry is seed; the pulp you eat is just a thin layer around it. The fruit spoils fast, so the pulp is separated, blended and frozen soon after the harvest. That is how it travels the world, and we blend it with Brazilian guaraná and serve it thick and cold.
What is in açaí
No miracle promises. Just what is actually in the cup.
- Anthocyanins
- Plant pigments from the polyphenol family. They give açaí its deep purple colour.
- Fat
- About a third of dried açaí pulp is fat, mostly unsaturated. The main fatty acid is oleic acid, the same one that dominates olive oil.
- Fibre
- Açaí pulp naturally contains plant fibre: close to half the weight of the dried pulp.
- Sugar
- The berry itself is low in sugar, with a slightly bitter, earthy taste, so in Brazil the bowls are often sweetened with guaraná syrup or another sweetener.
- Guaraná
- We blend our açaí with Brazilian guaraná, an Amazon plant whose seeds naturally contain caffeine.
And the benefits?
You will read plenty of promises about açaí. Scientific reviews have so far found no proven effect on health or body weight in people, and the European Food Safety Authority notes that dietary flavonoids, the family anthocyanins belong to, likely contribute very little to antioxidant protection in the body. So we promise no miracles, just a good bowl.
Pulp, powder or capsules?
Açaí travels the world in several forms. Here is how they differ.
- Frozen pulp
- The pulp is separated from the seed, blended and frozen soon after the harvest, so it keeps its taste and colour. It is what açaí bowls are made from, ours included.
- Juice and drinks
- Thinned down, the pulp becomes the base of juices, smoothies and drinks, and of açaí soft serve and other desserts.
- Powder
- Pulp and skin, freeze-dried. It keeps well and goes into smoothies and baking. Lab analyses of this powder are where the fat and fibre figures above come from.
- Capsules
- Supplements made with powder or extract. The weight-loss promises on their labels are not proven: studies find no effect of açaí on body weight.
Our açaí.
Made with authentic Brazilian guaraná. And it is:
- Gluten-free
- Organic
- Low sugar
- Low fat
How açaí became a bowl
From river villages in the Amazon to the beaches of Rio, and on to Sofia.
- For centuries
- Açaí has been a staple food in the Amazon delta. In some traditional communities of the Brazilian Amazon it makes up as much as 42% of everything people eat, by weight, and around Belém, the capital of Pará, people drink twice as much açaí as milk. The city even has a market just for it, the Feira do Açaí, where boats from the river islands unload tons of fruit in woven baskets in the early hours of the morning.
- The 1980s
- In Rio de Janeiro the Gracie family, who developed Brazilian jiu-jitsu, began offering açaí as energy food: blended, cold and topped with granola and banana. The açaí bowl, açaí na tigela in Portuguese, caught on, and beach kiosks and juice bars made it an everyday thing.
- Around 2000
- After a wave of scientific interest in its supposed health effects in the 1990s, frozen pulp began to be exported to the United States, first to Hawaii and California, and from there around the world. Brazil’s exports grew from 60 kg in 1999 to over 15,000 tonnes in 2021.
- Today
- The state of Pará accounts for about 90% of Brazil’s açaí market. There are two harvests a year, January to June and August to December, and the second is the larger. And now it is in Sofia too: blended with Brazilian guaraná, thick and cold, the way Rio has it.
How açaí is eaten
In Pará açaí is everyday food: a thick purée, often eaten savoury, with fish and cassava flour.
Elsewhere in Brazil, especially on Rio’s beaches, it is blended with guaraná, frozen and served in a bowl with granola and banana. That is how we make it too.
Frequently asked questions
How do you say açaí?
It is Portuguese and sounds like “ah-sah-EE”, stressed on the last syllable; the ç sounds like an s. That is why we write it асаѝ in Bulgarian, where you will also see акай, асаи or асай.
What is an açaí bowl?
A thick, cold base of frozen açaí blended with guaraná, topped with fruit, granola and extras. We make four signature bowls and one you build yourself, in medium and large.
Is your açaí gluten-free?
Yes, our açaí is gluten-free. Some toppings, such as granola, may contain gluten, so ask at the counter if you have an intolerance.
Is there caffeine in it?
The guaraná we blend our açaí with naturally contains caffeine. If you avoid caffeine, ask at the counter.
How many calories are in açaí?
About 104 kcal per 100 g of the base, according to our menu. Granola, peanut butter, honey and other toppings add more.
Can I build my own bowl?
Yes. Pick a size and add what you like, from banana, raspberries and mango to pistachio, Nutella and protein.
Come up to level 2.
Paradise Center
100 Cherni Vrah Blvd, 1407 Sofia
Level 2, opposite the escalators
Every day 10:00–22:00
