The ancient Maya Indians, living in the Yucatan Peninsula (southern part of Mexico), discovered the Cacao tree around 600 AD. The cocoa trees grew wild in the tropical rain forest. Initially the Maya Indians harvested the fruit from the forest, but later they started to clear lowland areas to grow their cocoa trees – these areas are the first known Cacao plantations.

The Maya culture had complex set of religious ceremonies, cocoa beans were used in worship of the merchant God, Ek Chuah, who was also the god of the cocoa fruit and so cocoa was naturally used in celebrations of him. Because of their value, the beans were also used as gifts for special occasions.

due to their value, it was natural , that cocoa beans were used as currency. Early explorers of Central America discovered that 4 cacao beans would buy a pumpkin, 10 would buy a hare and 100 as much as a human slave. Merchants also traded for commodities using cocoa beans and It was the merchants who later carried the icocoa beans into Aztec country where they were introduced through their trade.

The Aztecs, originally an ancient nomadic people, were unable to grow cocoa trees themselves, largely due to the dryer climate. So they completely relied on either trade or wars to obtain the precious cocoa bean. The Aztecs introduced a taxation tribute to be paid to them by all their war-conquered provinces in the form of cocoa beans. The Aztecs had many gods and Quetzalcoatl, the creator god and provider of agriculture god, was especially associated with cocoa. Big temples to honour him, was built in Tenochtitlan. In the early 16^th century The Emperor Montezuma revered him in particular.

The Aztecs consumed a kind of chocolate luxury drink in large quantities, described as a finely ground, reddish, bitter, vanilla, wild bee honey, chilli watered and foamy drink.

Don Cortes discovered Mexico and the Aztec civilization in 1517, when he sailed from Cuba and landed on the coast near Veracruz, where they then made their way to Tenochtitlan to explore the riches of the Emperor Montezuma and the Aztecs. The emperor introduced Don Cortes to the luxury drink they called ’chocolatl’ and it was served to him in a gold goblet.

When Cortes returned to Spain in 1528 he brought with him his ships loaded with cocoa beans and equipment for making the chocolate drink. The rich Spaniards were quick to enjoy the fashionable drink, but it took nearly another century for the chocolate drink to spread across Europe. The Spaniards tried to keep the secret to themselves.

While Cortes is credited with realizing the commercial value of the cocoa bean, it is actually believed that Christopher Columbus brought cocoa beans back to Europe from his fourth visit to the New World between 1502 and 1504. But the many other new and exciting things in his cargo probably made the dried bean look uninteresting.

English and Dutch sailors captured Spanish ships returning from the New World, completely failed to recognize the importance of the valuable cocoa bean cargo. Sailors calling the beans ‘sheep’s droppings’, threw the beans overboard.

In an attempt to make the drink more suitable to the Spanish taste, the pharmaceutical skills of monks were employed to process the beans and to devise a recipe including the use of cinnamon, Nutmeg and sugar and chilli was omitted and the drink was found to be better when served hot.

Francesco Carletti, an Italian traveler, visited Central America and experienced first hand how the Indians used and prepared the cocoa beans and by 1606 the chocolate drink was well known and enjoyed in Italy.

Through the marriage King Louis XIII of France to Anne, daughter of Philip II of Spain in 1615, the exclusive drink was adopted at the French court. France conquered Cuba and Haiti in 1684 and set up their own plantations there, which increased the supply.

The Dutch got stuck in to break the Spanish monopoly on cocoa in the 17^th century, when they conquered Curacao they were able to open up the trade of the bean.

Visitors to Italy is said to have brought the drink to Germany in 1646 and King Charles II court experienced the secret chocolate drink in the 1650’s when it became very popular for English, but only for the wealthy, because of the very high import duty. But gradually chocolate became more easily available.

The first advertisement for a chocolate drink seen in London, was in 1657 where it read: “In Bishopsgate St, In Queen’s Head Alley, at a Frenchman’s house, is an excellent West Indian drink called Chocolate to be sold, where you may have it ready at any time and also unmade at reasonable rates”.

Soon other chocolate houses opened, where people could meet and enjoy the rich chocolate drinks, some quite bitter to taste, while engaging in discussion either of serious political, business or affairs of the day or simply gossiping.

Samuel Pepy’s Diary states:

Thursday 24 November 1664 - “About noon out with Commissioner Pett, and he and I to a Coffee-house, to drink jocalatte, very good”. He later noted that ‘Jocalatte’ was the ultimate hangover cure!

Among the many Chocolate Houses, the most famous was White’s Chocolate House in St. James Street. It opened in 1693 by Italian immigrant, Frances White. The chocolate drinks were made from blocks of solid cocoa and from ca. 1700 the English improved the drink by adding milk. During the late 18^th century many of the chocolate houses disappeared to become gentlemen’s clubs and White’s Chocolate House remains an exclusive gentlemen’s club today.

From their family grocery shop in Birmingham, John Cadbury started experimenting with drinking chocolate and produced a range of cocoa and drinking chocolates with beans imported from West Indies, South and Central America and added sugar. By 1831 the cocoa and drinking chocolate part of the business had expanded into a small factory in Crooked Lane to become ‘manufacturer of drinking chocolate and cocoa’ – the foundation of Cadbury. A pricelist from 1842 lists sixteen different lines of drinking chocolate and cocoa in cake and powder forms. Eating chocolate was introduced by John Cadbury during 1849 and in 1866, George, the son of John Cadbury bought a press developed by Van Houten in Holland. This press enabled the production of a new cocoa essence that was advertised as ‘Absolutely pure – Therefore Best’. Little known though is the fact that Fry & Sons of Bristol in 1847 sold a ‘Chocolate Delicieux a Manger’ – this product is by many accredited as being the first chocolate bar for eating. Fry & Sons later merged with Cadbury in 1919.

The Swiss manufacturer Daniel Peters of Vevey created the first milk chocolate bar in 1875 using powdered milk, but later went on to use condensed milk to perfect his recipe. For a while the Swiss milk chocolate was dominating the market, but Cadbury’s caught up.