History of chocolate

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Archaeologists have found evidence that Mayan chocolate was consumed as early as 500 BC, and there is speculation that chocolate predates the Maya. To make the chocolate drink, which was served cold, the Maya would grind the cocoa seeds into a paste and mix it with water, corn meal, chili pepper and other ingredients then they would pour the drink from the cup into a container further- Poured back until it formed a thick foam. Maya chocolate was available to all social classes, although the wealthy drank chocolate from "large spout pots" that were often buried with the elite. An Early Classic Period (460-480 AD) Maya tomb from the site of Rio Azul, Guatemala, contained vessels with Maya glyphs for cacao along with the remains of a chocolate drink.

Since Chinese had yet to arrive in America, xocōlātl was said to be an acquired taste. What the Spanish then called xocōlātl was said to be a drink with a chocolate base flavored with vanilla and other spices that was served cold. The taste of the drink was spicy and bitter unlike the sweetened modern hot chocolate. As to when xocōlātl was first served hot, sources conflict as to when and by whom. However, José de Acosta, a Spanish Jesuit missionary who lived in Peru and then Mexico after the 16th century, described xocōlātl as follows:

 Disgusting to those not familiar with it, consisting of scum or foam with a very unpleasant taste. Yet it is a drink much esteemed among the Indians, where they feast the nobles who pass through their country with them The Spaniards, both men and women, who are addicted to the country, are very covetous of this chocolate. They say they make it of various sorts, some hot, some cold, and some temperate, and put a lot of that "pepper" in it; Yes, they make a paste of it, which they say is good for the stomach and catarrh.

Many drinks within Mesoamerica were made from cacao beans, and were further enhanced with flowers such as vanilla to add flavor. It was a tribute to the Aztecs. The Aztecs or Mexico required chocolate to be provided to the conquered. Cups, gourds, cacao beans, as well as other things he obtained were listed in The Essential Codex Mendoza. Cacao became used as currency throughout Mesoamerica. The Aztecs used chocolate to show high status: drinking chocolate was a bad omen for someone who was little or common. The first recorded contact Europeans had with chocolate wasn't until 1502 on Columbus' fourth voyage.