Ancient civilizations have been drinking Cacao for at least 5,000 years that we know.
It was held sacred by the Olmecs, Mayans, Toltecs and Aztecs. Traces of Theobromine have been found as far down as in Ecuador and as high up as New Mexico in the U.S..
Cacao was used as part of rituals and even traded cacao seeds as currency.
In the 1500s, Christopher Columbus came across Cacao, saw how important it was for the people, and brought it back to Europe where it became a commodity. They even had Cacao cafes in Paris at some point, but then they found ways to over-process it for a smoother taste & mouth feel, which removed the Spirit of Cacao, and it became sold as “chocolate.”
The first chocolate bar was created in England. The rest is history.
I will add more about the history of Cacao to this blog post soon :)
For now, you can read about it here:
https://www.cacaomama.com/history-spirit
https://purekakaw.com/pages/history-of-cacao