Cacao is a Mayan word, not an Aztec word. It is also likely that much of the
early development of chocolate was by the Mayan people. However it was the Aztecs
which the Spanish Conquistadores met, the classic Mayan civilisation having dissapeared about 600 years before.
The Olmec people were living in the Mexico area from 1500-400 BC, the Kakawa from about 1000 BC.
The Classic Maya were around from 250 - 900 AD (the "Classic Maya Collapse"). Cocoa appears in Post
classic writings as "god food". The maya would have drunk warm, frothy chocolate drinks with vanilla added.
They also ate a "gruel" made from maize, water and cocoa.
The Aztecs added chilli, and drunk cold chocolate. They used cocoa beans as
money. A backpack held 24000 beans.
To maintain the palace court of Nezahualcoyth, king of Texcoco, needed 32000 beans a day, or 11680000 per year,
equavalent to 486 backpack loads. Motecuhzoma Xocoytzin held 40000 loads in Tenochtitlan, which is 960 million beans.
Cocoa beans were often counterfeited, commonly with clay replicas.
The daily wage of a porter was 100 beans, a turkey hen cost 100, a cock cost 200 beans. A rabbit cost 100, a small rabbit
only 30 beans, a tukey egg was worth 3 beans, and a tomato only 1.
The Aztecs drank Cocahuatl, made from ground seeds, mixed with water and poured between basins
in order to get the required froth. Cheap versions were mixed with maize. Various flavours were added (chilli, honey,
vanilla, flowers, black pepper, cinnamon) but was drunk only by the elite, at the end of a meal.
The Spanish Conquistadores
didn't like the drink, but the Italians were more open minded.
The Spaniards started drinking it hot and sweetened, flavoured with cinnamon and aniseed. They also
produced a tablet of ground cocoa to use with water and sugar.