MUSEUM OF HOT CHOCOLATE

If you were an Aztec warrior in central America six hundred years ago then you might have been thinking of the spicy, and almost certainly cold, beverage that the ruling chief quaffed by the gallon, and that you were sometimes allowed to drink to sustain you on a march... As an insider in the 16th century Spanish court you might have seen it as a luxury for the privileged few, and would have been craving a steaming hot bowl of cocoa made with water and spices. Or as a well-to-do 17th century Londoner, watching on as the King's head fell under the blow from an executioner's axe, you were probably looking forward to a bowl of hot chocolate in one of the leading chocolate houses of the day - possibly made with milk... As a lowly worker in the late eighteenth century you would have been pleased to see just-about-affordable cocoas on sale in your local grocery or apothecary shops. It would have been a treat for breakfast.

Primary location: United Kingdom