The Story of Hot Chocolate, You Can Call Me Joshua

WARNING: If you’re on a sugar diet, this article may tempt you. 79% risk. I’m just kidding. Here we go! SLURP! Sorry, I was just taking a sip of my hot chocolate (Ok I’m not actually drinking hot chocolate now, it was just for the intro).

I love hot chocolate, it’s like my coffee. Not as intense as most people but it’s definitely one of my favorite drinks. Right above milkshakes, then there’s smoothies, but that’s a whole other story. I thought that today I’d share a bit of history about hot chocolate.

Here’s a funny joke… Chocolate comes from cocoa.

Cocoa comes from a tree.

Tree’s are plants.

Therefore chocolate = Salad. Period.

The first hot chocolate was made by the Maya civilization in Mexico. After the Spanish drew out the Aztec people they brought the cocoa beans back to Spain where it grew popular. Although it was still drank bitter.

When sweet hot chocolate was invented it became a luxury drink to the Europeans. Even after the first chocolate house was opened the drink costed 50 to 70 pence a pound which is about 60 to 85 in US today. It wasn’t even called hot chocolate. It was just called chocolate.

In 1828 the first cocoa powder producing machine was created in the Netherlands. This eventually led to the discovery of solid chocolate, or chocolate bars. That’s when the name chocolate referred to the chocolate bar instead of the drink now called hot chocolate. What a history lesson!

Oh did you know there’s more than one way to drink hot chocolate? While I was in Italy we stopped by a cafe and I ordered my usual, hot chocolate. But when they gave me the cup I was confused. There in front of me was like 3 ounces of HOT chocolate. Literal melted chocolate. In a small shot glass. That was a first. It’s just the way some Italians make it. The Spanish drink it same way. In fact they have hot chocolate and churros for breakfast!

And that wasn’t the first time. While in Belgium we were at a famous town called Bruges and the way they make hot chocolate is quite interesting. They heat up a cup of milk and give you a chocolate block on a stick which you then stir in your milk until it melts.

Fun fact: Did you know hot chocolate has certain health benefits? (Don’t tell your kids) the drink helps treat fever and liver disease. An explorer said small amounts of it helped stomach disorders. But that’s probably the original kind of hot chocolate, not the sugery kind. Studies show that cocoa contains more antioxidants than red wine and green tea thus preventing heart disease. WHAT!

There’s actually a special kind of hot chocolate thats my most favorite. It was in Edinburgh at a cafe called Love Crumbs when I tasted a cup of fresh caramel hot chocolate. It tastes as good as it sounds. The creamy caramel texture with the silky substance of the chocolate, oh it was so amazing.