Hot Chocolate: An Extremely Brief History

Haiti Hot chocolate jar — Haiti Hot Chocolate Jar

Many of you will already be familiar with our classic Lucocoa hot chocolate which is made from our award-winning 60% Haiti chocolate (and for that we thank you!). In addition, you may have recently tried our cosy hot chocolate collection too, with warming blends of fig and orange or cinnamon and nutmeg. If not, bet you still know the feeling of being wrapped up on a crisp day with a comforting mug of hot chocolate cupped in your hands, right?

Did you know, though, that the long history of drinking chocolate is far less sedate and placid than that? Let us fill you in with an extremely brief trip through the history of drinking chocolate.

Pre-Olmec, Mayan and Aztec ‘hot’ chocolate

Drinking chocolate predates eating chocolate by nearly 4000 years[1], with evidence of Mexican pre-Olmec civilisations drinking the beverage as early as 1750BC[2]. Pre-Olmecs, then Mayans and Aztecs followed, began crushing fermented and dried cocoa beans between two heavy stones to form a rough paste, it was then dried and grated directly into water to make drinking chocolate[3]. Dozens of local natural extracts such as vanilla, honey and magnolia were then added to the drink to boost the flavour and health benefits[4].

Although it sounds similar, this drink would be hardly recognisable compared to the hot chocolate we know today. Firstly, it would have had a thin foam on top from being poured between cups, much like ‘pulled’ tea. Secondly, as it was made directly from coarsely, hand-ground beans, so it would have been rather grainy! Lastly, if you were an Aztec, you would have likely drunk your chocolate cold.

Still, it was an extremely important and high-status substance, closely associated with ceremonies like initiation rites and weddings[5] and endowed with mythical properties. For example, the Aztec emperor, Montezuma II, was said to have had 50 cups a day from a golden goblet so that he could keep his energy and libido high[6]. Meanwhile, there is evidence that ‘Aztec sacrifice victims who felt too melancholy to join in ritual dancing before their death were often given a gourd of chocolate (tinged with the blood of previous victims) to cheer them up’[7].

Travel across the Atlantic

With colonisation, cocoa spread to the Caribbean and was harvested on plantations just like sugar. Sir Hans Soane, (who has parts of West London named after him) claims to have 'invented' milk chocolate drinks after going to Jamaica and seeing people make hot chocolate with cocoa, eggs, and vanilla. However, before this in the first half of the 16th C[8], cocoa beans and the accompanying drink made their way back to Spain with the colonisation of Central America and the Caribbean. Through diplomacy, royal marriage and expelled migrant communities, cocoa and drinking cocoa spread throughout Europe[9], gradually gaining in popularity as additions were made to sweeten and refine the bitter drink. (There is still much to be said on this history, and this is in no way inclusive of all the details. But we felt it important to mention this).

All manner of embellishments were made to make the liquid more palatable to Europeans, including cane sugar, citrus peel, jasmine, vanilla, cinnamon, powdered cloves, rosewater, chilli pepper, musk, and ambergris[10] (a very valuable substance regurgitated by sperm whales[11]…probably an acquired taste!).

Chocolate houses

The ingredients needed to make drinking chocolate were expensive luxuries and the infusion required specialist skills and equipment to make, with dedicated spaces needed to produce and sell drinking chocolate. In England, King George I had a dedicated chocolate kitchen designed and built by Sir Christopher Wren - which you can still visit now at Hampton Court Palace[12] - but for the non-royal aristocracy, ‘chocolate houses’ began to pop-up all over Europe and their colonies in the 17th C. Catering to the growing throng of customers, the first American chocolate houses opened in Boston in 1682 and the craze became popular in Florence and Venice in the early 1700s[13]. However, first there were the London chocolate houses.

‘The most fashionable hell in London’

Following the first chocolate house’s opening in Aldgate in 1657, a cluster began to grow up around St. James’ Park, just a stone’s throw from the royal quarters. Mirroring the ‘coffee houses’ that had popped up just a few years before, chocolate houses were almost all exclusively upper-class, male spaces where men could gamble, gossip, talk politics and scheme while drinking chocolate, after paying the entrance fee.

Hogarth captured one of the first and most notorious – White’s – in his engraving series The Rake’s Progress. In Plate 6 you can see a fight and a fire breaking out in the background. So, these were far from tranquil places and were labelled as ‘the most fashionable hell in London’[14]. Many of the chocolate houses of 17th and 18th C London still exist today as private member’s clubs, with White’s serving as the venue for Prince Charles’ stag do[15].

Hot chocolate at Lucocoa’s

While the Lucocoa chocolate house does not exist yet, we are reclaiming the tradition! Our blog shares the name of one of the most prominent chocolate houses – The Cocoa Tree. However, instead of the debauchery and Machiavellian scheming of the original chocolate house, we use our virtual space to promote education about real ethically-made chocolate and the issues facing the industry that discerning customers should be aware of.

If you feel compelled to connect IRL too, we serve vegan hot chocolate every Saturday from 9 am – 2:30 pm at our Spa Terminus factory shop in Bermondsey. Drop in any weekend to learn more or see how small-batch bean-to-bar chocolate is made…debauchery and vices are optional, but chocolate drinking is a must!

If you’d like to learn more about the history of chocolate, we recommend the following resources:

- The 18th Century Chocolate champions - The British Museum:

https://blog.britishmuseum.org/the-18th-century-chocolate-champions/

- A brief history of chocolate – Smithsonian magazine:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/a-brief-history-of-chocolate-21860917/

- What we know about the earliest history of chocolate – Smithsonian magazine: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/archaeology-chocolate-180954243/

- The bittersweet history of chocolate – Time magazine:

https://time.com/4693048/chocolate-history-museum/

[1] https://www.scienceofcooking.com/chocolate/history-of-chocolate.htm

[2] https://www.scienceofcooking.com/chocolate/history-of-chocolate.htm

[3] https://time.com/4693048/chocolate-history-museum/

[4] https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/archaeology-chocolate-180954243/