Zone 9 without protection? The seller had a distinct advantage by keeping the plant in a container. When it did get cold, he could bring the plant indoors...whether he admits it or not.

If you experience low temps, even one night unprotected will do it, your tree will get fried. If you nick the bark and it is still a bright green, you have a small chance the tree will recover. But you must protect it for the remainder of winter.

cocoa trees are not sub-tropical, even down here they get scorched in the winter, I cant imagine one surviving a zone 9 winter. they are also understory trees so like filtered sunlight

The seller definitely mislead you. There's no way a cocoa will survive even close to freezing temps.

I will try to nick the bark to check it. Is there any prefered point to do it without harming the tree?
Some days ago I was planting a pineapple near the tree and found some long white roots, I believe they're from the cocoa tree. Is that their natural color? I've never seen a live cocoa tree before nor been to the tropics till I bought one.
My tree is rather small (about 1m tall) and is sheltered by a giant physalis from rain and ocassional light frost.
Most days here are sunny with clear sky, maybe it's the freak cold wind that caused this, because I live near the coast and it's both cold and humid.

if its dead after a while it will be a dried up stick and wont snap back when you bend it, if that makes sense.

Hopefully you'll be luckier then me. I had a mature Theobroma cocao that bloomed all last summer. No pods but hundreds of flowers. Temps in my greenhouse dropped into the upper 40's a few nights and that was enough to do it in. At first the trunk was still green when nicked but it continued dying back. I haven't trashed it yet in the hopes that maybe the base under the soil is still viable but I kind of doubt it. That was the 3rd cacao I've lost in the last 10 years. I think it's time for me to give up. lol

im surprised so many people grow cacao in their greenhouse. the fruit isnt that good out of hand and besides homemade chocolate, they're not very versatile. they are ultratropical, very difficult to grow outside the tropics.

I recommend you all try growing a pickering mango, they cant take short frezzes, stay in a 25 gallon container indefintely at about 6 feet, and will produce plenty of excellent flavored mangos within a few years.

Dwarf mangos and papayas do very well in the greenhouse. I really like the pulp surrounding cocao seeds. Fermenting, drying, roasting and grinding the beans is a PITA and the drink isn't anything like processed cocao but it's fun. A novelty. I get my pods from PR.

My cocoa tree is been dried up for about 3 months and dropped just 2 leaves. Now the spring is near and it hasn't dropped any leaves nor do I see any of them growing. It just seems like it hibernated.
As I write this temperature outside is exactly as 10C and humidity at 67%.
Temperatures at night in summer may drop to 10C but mainly they're at 18-20C. Most tropicals plant do just fine in here, they may get a little burned from low temps but they survive, it's not much of an issue.
That's why I'm asking if the cocoa tree is deciduous or not?
I know it may not survive to adulthood, but I've never seen one around here, so I decided to take the chances in the hope it may adapt slowly to the climate, which is not severe.

No, it's an evergreen. Requires temps in the 80 F and above range, humidity around 80-100%

My 2 plants overwinter indoors with a humidifier in the room. Doubt they would survive long outside in a typical Southern Illinois winter...

Ghana they survive in cold rainy season weather