Hot Chocolate

Today is a very exciting day! My order of hot chocolate "wafers" arrived from Kakawa (see link below) and I was finally able to sample one of their concoctions. Kakawa is based in Sante Fe and they have dedicated themselves to discovering and recreating ancient drinking chocolate recipes. They have ancient Aztec, Mayan and Zapotec recipes as well as the first European recipes from the 1600's up to 1800. I found their website back in the summer and bookmarked it, thinking this would make a great winter treat. They make their hot chocolate by grinding spices, chillis, and other aromatic ingredients and blending them with bittersweet chocolate, forming wafers or balls that you then mix with hot water and whisk until fully melted and blended into a hot chocolate drink.
Today I sampled Aztec Warrior, a blend of unsweetened chocolate, herbs, flowers, nuts, chilli and vanilla. This is a recipe that was considered a favorite of rulers and warriors throughout Mesoamerica. It is very aromatic: almond, allspice and vanilla seem to be the dominant flavors, with a little chilli kick, but not too much. It is intentionally unsweetended as that is how chocolate was consumed back in the day. So I drank mine unsweetened, just enjoying the contrast between the bitter chocolate, the chilli kick and the sweet spices. You could, of course, add a teaspoon of sugar if you wished, but I would not recommend too much as there is something to be said for experiencing a recipe based on the ancient tradition of chocolate drinking. I did find it to be a bit heavy on what seemed like almond extract. I like that flavor but it could be a little lighter, in my opinion. I initially thought these wafers would be easy to make at home, but the more I sipped the more I noticed the different flavors underlying the almond.
These hot chocolate elixirs, as they are called, are not inexpensive, but they are a fun treat and probably could be recreated by creative types in your own kitchen, sparing you a great deal of money. On the other hand, the menu at Kakawa is quite extensive, tempting you with all sorts of magical chocolate elixirs from Mesoamerica to European blends, like 1631 Spanish, 1775 Marie Antoinette, to "modern" American 1790's Jeffersonian and Havana Rum.
As a bonus, your order arrives with a page and a half of information about the health benefits of chocolate!