Hot, dark and smooth pleasure...

Oh, Brazil!
Sometimes you just feel like you could indulge yourself in that hot, dark and smooth pleasure that carries a little spice in your everyday life...

I've had a taste for a hot chacolate for a while now, to add fuel to the fire, I just read something about it.

The trouble is the american "hot chocolates" are anything but the chocolate and they make them with water to delute it even more! Oooh, 99.9% caffeine free! Can you believe it? Next thing they will water-down the beer. Shit they've done it already!

So I looked on the Web:

A recipe from 1644 of Antonio Colmenero de Ledesma is: 100 cacao beans 2 chillis ( black pepper may be substituted ) A handful of anise "ear flower" 2 mecasuchiles [ mecaxochitl ] (lacking the above two spices, powdered roses of Alexandria may be used) 1 vanilla 2 oz [ 60 g ] cinnamon 12 almonds and as many hazelnuts 1/2 lb [ 450 g ] sugar.

Well, it is a shame I don't have these basic (?) ingredients in my cupboard!

I found a good article at

http://www.ambergriscaye.com/pages/mayan/cacao.html

Boil up 12 ounces of water -- pour into a blender which has --

6 large Jabenero Chilli Peppers
2 ounces honey
2 table spoons (heaping) Roma Cacoa "powder"

Blend thoroughly.

Drink in tiny sips -- over at least one hour!!
For the people that may try this -- start with 1/4 of one jabenaro pepper. It takes about two years to "build" up to a real chocolatl drinker!!

I will need to go and hunt for a cocoa powder and some good chillies to start with...

I will stick to basics:

cocoa powder,
milk,
chilli,
vanilla / cinamon,
honey