Cocoa And Chocolate
The Tree, The Bean The Beverage

14 THE COCOA AND CHOCOLATE INDUSTRY fiery proud,” with tastes as magnificent as his pride, and his imperial sway was like that of an Oriental despot, both in severity and splendour. Prescott, in his classic work on The Conquest of Mexico, states that “ the emperor took no other beverage than the chocolatl, a potation of chocolate, fiavoured with vanilla and other spices, and so prepared as to be reduced to a froth of the consistency of honey, which gradually dissolved in the mouth and was taken cold.’’ At one banquet they brought in 50 great jars and drank it from golden gobiets, while 2,000 jars were served to the guards and attendants. So writes Bernal Diaz del Castillo, who was present at the feast. And reading between the lines one knows that the Spaniards, despite their arrogance, were impressed. Whether they enjoyed this amazing beverage is another matter, for one must remember that it contained no sugar. The Aztecs had never seen a sugar-cane, although the Spaniards knew it well, having a few years before introduced it into the West Indies. The Mexicans used cacao beans, as others use cowrie shells to-day, as a medium of exchange. The lords of Mexico paid tribute to their emperor in cacao beans. It is not easy to fix the valne of this currency. One reads that a tolerably good slave could be obtained for 100 beans, so either slaves were cheap or cacao dear. A more exact idea of their value can be obtained from the statement of Thomas Cavendish (1586) to the effect that 150 beans were exchangeable for a Real of Plate (about 6d.). This would make the cacao worth about Is. 4d. a pound. Considering the purchasing power of a penny in the 16th Century, one can agree that those who drank chocolate then were, both literally and metaphorically, drinking money. 1 he Spaniards with Cortes, and others who came