What's that delicious frothy drink on the bench beside this Maya ruler? Why its chocolate of course!

Theobroma cacao is native to the Americas and was consumed in the form of a spicy beverage by the Maya elite long before it became a Hershey's Chocolate bar. 1/8

"Chocolate" has to go through a lot of processing.

The core ingredient comes from the seeds of the Theobroma cacao tree. Seed pods grow from the tree's trunk, though many early European illustrators assumed this was a mistake and drew the pods on branches 2/8

Since the trees, were living in their back yard however, ancient Maya artists always correctly placed the seed pods along the trunk of the tree, like in the tree drawn in the center of this codex vase. 3/8

Inside of the pod, the seeds are encased in a white pulp that first has to be removed. Modern processing techniques, actually allow the pulp to ferment for a brief period of time. This helps remove the pulp from the seeds and helps develop the flavor you know and love. 4/8

After this fermentation process, the beans are dried and ground up to create something akin to the bitter cocoa powder that you can buy in the grocery store today. 5/8

Maya rulers turned this processed cacao into a foamy drink, not with milk (since they had no domesticated milk animals) but with water.

Honey was used to sweeten the beverage & chili peppers were added for a kick. The drink was then whisked until it produced a foam. 6/8

An amazing Cacao Pot was found in the tomb of a Maya ruler at the city of Rio Azul, Guatemala.

@ajtzib translated the glyphs on the vessel, which read 'His cup for chocolate.' Furthermore, chemical residue inside the vessel showed it had indeed been used to drink chocolate. 7/8

With every bite of chocolate you take, there's a line that ties you back to the rulers of the long abandoned Maya cities now overgrown by jungle Central American jungles. Enjoy! 8/8