Mesoamerica and Ancient Chocolate

Dr. Michael D. Coe

Sophie D. Coe and Michael D. Coe

It begins some 4,000 years ago in the jungles of Mexico and Central America with the chocolate tree, Theobroma Cacao, and the complex processes necessary to transform its bitter seeds into what is now known as chocolate. This was centuries before chocolate was consumed in generally unsweetened liquid form and used as currency by the Maya and the Aztecs after them. The Spanish conquest of Central America introduced chocolate to Europe, where it first became the drink of kings and aristocrats and then was popularized in coffeehouses. Industrialization in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries made chocolate available to all, and now, in our own time, it has become once again a luxury item.

MAYAN HOT CHOCOLATE

AZTEC HOT CHOCOLATE

MICHAEL D. COE AT YALE UNIVERSITY

PEABODY MUSEUM OF ARCHEOLOGY AND ETHNOLOGY AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY