hot chocolate pots

Image above: French silver chocolate pot, ca. 1765

Chocolate Pots: Chocolate was both currency and food to the Aztecs — Montezuma spent his afternoons sipping bitter chocolate flavored with vanilla, cloves and pepper. When chocolate was discovered by Spanish explorers, they were so enamored with the Aztec drink that they took it back to Spain, and although they tried to keep the new discovery under wraps, hot chocolate quickly became the luxury drink of Europe. Louis XIV’s wife, Marie-Thérèse, had a servant whose sole responsibility was to supply the queen and her ladies with daily cups of chocolate.