By: Gracie Hanlon

Since it is winter time, it is perfect weather for staying inside and warming up with one of the most popular winter drinks: Hot chocolate. This is the history of how people created the famous drink we know today. 

Hot chocolate goes way back, dating all the way back to 2,500-3,000 years ago, created in Mexico by Aztec and Mayan people. The “cocoa” was very important to their culture, they called it “xocolatl”. This explains why Mexican hot chocolate is one of my personal favorites. 

The original Mexican hot cocoa consisted of: Cocoa seeds, cornmeal, chili peppers, and what sets it apart from American hot chocolate is that they used water! It is still that way today, normally in the US your hot cocoa drink will be made from hot steamy milk but Mexican hot chocolate is the opposite. 

The original drink was served cold. (I guess this is because Mexico does not get that cold throughout the year) The drink was described as “cold and spicy” and was consumed by all classes of people. Everyone loved hot chocolate, well I guess not hot chocolate but the drink was popular. 

But hot chocolate soon evolved into something different. It began to spread across the world in the early 1500’s. An explorer brought the cocoa to Europe. It was beloved by the Spanish, but only the upper class. They were the ones to make it warm and get rid of chili peppers. The drink was now more of a dessert, it was sweetened but it wasn’t until the 1700’s that their drink spread across Europe. 

Once it hit London, the trend was everywhere. The English loved to drink it as a sweet treat for after dinner. They started chocolate houses where they sold it and they were very popular at the time. Chocolate houses had a similar concept to coffee houses. Chocolate was also expensive, so the English really dedicated time and money into the delicious drink. It was also consumed when sick. 

Now, we can microwave hot chocolate and enjoy a cup in as little as a few minutes. But the question is when did it come to be that way: When did hot chocolate become instant? 

Hot chocolate at the time was for when you got sick, it was even being sold in English pharmacies, but it was soon rebranded by different businesses and the drink was even more popular. 

In the Netherlands, in 1828, Coenraad Johannes van Houten invented a powder producing machine which helped with the process of making hot chocolate. This important discovery led to chocolate bars. So without the first spicy hot chocolate, we wouldn’t have any of our favorite chocolate bars today. The machine created a chocolate powder which made it easier to stir into milk or water so that was where the instant idea began. 

Tracing the very first business or brand is difficult, but Cadbury decided to sell Hans Sloane’s recipe, which was created as a remedy. It was the first brand of hot chocolate. With many others following, like Swiss Miss, possibly the most famous brand of hot chocolate, was launched to stores in 1961, and remains popular today. 

All in all, hot chocolate is a classic winter drink that has been around for a lot longer than most would think. I hope that you learned something about your favorite winter drink and let me know which you prefer hot chocolate or eggnog because I say hot chocolate, all the way!