During this time, cocoa was consumed as a drink called, "xocoatl" which meant warm liquid. Reportedly, the Aztec ruler Emperor Moctezuma, is said to have drunken 50 or more portions daily. Until 1492, the Old World knew nothing about chocolate and cocao beans. When Christopher Columbus returned from American with cocao beans, the King and Queen of Spain did not realize the commercial significance it would have on the rest of the Old World. In 1519, the Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés brought chocolate back from his conquest to Spain, where it stayed hidden in the monasteries for about 100 years.

A New World Luxury
In the early 1600s, with the decline of Spain as a power, the knowledge of chocolate spread through France, Italy, Germany and England. In the Court of France, xocoatl reigned as the official drink, and when the Spanish Princess María Teresa was betrothed to Louis XIV of France in 1615, she gave him chocolates as an engagement gift.

In London where cocoa cost 10 to 15 shillings per pound (In 1657 10 shillings had the same buying power as $98.88 current dollars.), only the rich and noble could afford the expensive drink. As the process for manufacturing chocolate advanced and the steam engine resulted in the mass production of the product, the price of chocolate dropped and all were able to obtain it. In 1828, the invention of the cocoa press further dropped the price of chocolate.

Fifty years later, an English company introduced the first solid “eating chocolate” with the development of fondant chocolate. Then in 1876, in Switzerland, Daniel Peter created milk chocolate by adding milk to the chocolate.