Cocoa Beans

Cocoa Beans (also known as the Brown Dye) are a material used for making Cookies and brown wool. Cocoa Beans were initially introduced in the Beta 1.2 update, but were not able to be obtained without an Inventory Editor.

As of Beta 1.4, Cocoa Beans were formally brought into the game as a reward found in dungeon chests. (53% chance) Also as of Beta 1.4, brown sheep naturally spawn which made obtaining brown wool easier. In 12w16a, cocoa beans are obtainable in bonus chests. In 12w18a, cocoa beans have a small (0.5%) chance of dropping from destroyed jungle tree leaves in a similar fashion to apples, making cocoa beans a renewable source of material for the first time.

Jeb Said during his Dreamhack presentation that cocoa trees are pending. Cocoa Beans are among the rarest obtainable items on old maps (after cookies) as they can only be found in dungeons generated after the 1.4 patch. The use of cookies as a 'trophy item' gives cocoa considerable value on unmodified servers, even more so than diamonds. With cocoa beans now being obtainable from jungle trees in 12w18a, they are no longer as rare.

Trivia

 * In snapshot 12w03a Cocoa Bean Pods can be seen on jungle leaves, Jeb has stated he might be adding them as a drop from leaves much like Apples if he can't find a way for players to farm them. This was eventually added in the 12w18a snapshot.