The Story of Hot Chocolate

Drinking Chocolate

The story behind our fascination with drinking chocolate, and the new chapter being written by Liquid Chocolat.

The fascinating history of chocolate dates back to the Olmecs and the Mayan cultures of Mesoamerica who succeeded them. Chocolate residue has been found in jars dating back to 1100BC in Honduras and around 600 - 800 BC in Belize. The drink was available to all social classes, although the wealthy drank it from elaborately decorated vessels. The Maya ground the cocoa beans into a paste, mixed it with water, cornmeal to thicken and chillies. They then poured this mixture back and forth between two jugs in order to create a thick foam on the top. This chocolate drink was central to the social life in Mesoamerica and was drunk as special occasions such as weddings and births.

By 1400 the Aztecs had gained control of a large part of Mesoamerica and adopted cacao into their culture. To the Aztecs, chocolate was a source of spiritual wisdom, tremendous energy and enhanced sexual powers. The Emperor Montezuma was reputed to get through fifty flagons of chocolate a day, always fortifying himself with a cup before entering his harem. Because of its renowned energy boosting properties chocolate was also given to Aztec warriors to fortify them on military campaigns. They prepared the drink in a similar way to the Mayans and flavoured it with chillies and vanilla.

The Spanish colonists were infatuated by the chocolate mystique. The explorer Hernán Cortés, who called the drink ‘chocolatl’ proclaimed that; “A cup of this precious drink enables a man to walk for a whole day without food”. Upon his return to Spain in 1528, Cortés introduced drinking chocolate to the court of King Charles V and it soon became a fashionable drink among the Spanish upper class.

The first recorded shipment of chocolate to the Old World for commercial purposes was in 1585 and although it was still being served as a beverage, modifications to the recipe were made to make it more palatable to the Europeans. Sugar was added to counteract the natural bitterness and the chilli was removed and replaced with vanilla, cinnamon and other exotic spices. These changes to the taste broadened the appeal of chocolate and it became a luxury item among European nobility. A further change to the preparation of chocolate came in the late 17th century following Hans Sloane’s visit to Jamaica. He found the drink more palatable when mixed with milk rather than water, and brought the recipe back with him to London.

During the 16th century chocolate began its journey into Europe and arrived in Britain at the same time as tea from Asia and coffee from Africa. Documentary evidence of the first chocolate house in London appeared in 1657, and soon the coffee and chocolate houses were the place to be seen for the wealthy upper classes. The diarist Samuel Pepys was an ardent fan of chocolate or “Jocolatte” and a regular frequenter of chocolate houses strongly believing in the restorative powers of chocolate.

In 1828 a young Dutchman invented a manually operated hydraulic press capable of squeezing out the cocoa butter from the cocoa mass. This left a dry cake which could be ground into cocoa powder. The result was a modern cocoa powder which proved much easier to make a chocolate drink with. The invention of Van Houten’s press also paved the way for the development of solid chocolate to eat.

Where it all started to go wrong…

Cocoa powder remained the basis for a popular drink up until around the 1970’s, usually prepared with hot water rather than milk and drunk just before bedtime. However a ‘convenient’ version of this drink started to appear on the market, as a ready-mix made with sugar, milk powder and a little cocoa. It seemed to catch on and over the succeeding decades became the popular view of what drinking chocolate represented.

Without realising it, drinking chocolate has marginalised itself to something that was considered either an overly indulgent treat, due to the sheer sweetness of it, or a drink for children. It certainly was no longer a credible alternative to tea or coffee. That was until we launched our Liquid Chocolat drinking chocolate, and created a new chapter in the hot chocolate story!

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