Many chocolatiers hang up their molds and close their doors for the summer because it is normally too hot to work with chocolate and it’s also typically the only time chocolatiers can get away from it all before the busy holiday gift-giving season kicks in. But our team of Choclatique artisans and chocolatiers continue to run our Chocolate Studios in Southern California all year ‘round. The warmer weather does make it a little more challenging (but not impossible) to ship our boxed chocolates, but the summer months do not affect our ability to ship our fantastic Drinking Chocolate Beverage Mixes. In fact, iced chocolate beverages mixes are some of the most refreshing drinks you can enjoy on a hot summer day.
Even the earliest residents of the New World knew about chocolate as a cold beverage. It is a well know fact that chocolate has been enjoyed as a beverage for thousands of years. The Olmecs, thought to be the oldest civilization of the Americas (1500-400 BC), were probably the first to use cacao, followed by the Maya; they drank cold cacao-based beverages by the gallon, all made from beans off their Chontalpa plantations from what is now eastern Tabasco. Chocolatl, the original cacao recipe was a thick, foamy, slightly fermented mix of ground cacao beans, water, wine and peppers. I think of it as a kind of chocolate beer!
After the Spanish conquered the native civilizations, it didn’t take them long to begin heating the Chocolatl and sweetening it with sugar. Later, the mixture was introduced in England where the Brits added milk to the blend for an after-dinner hot beverage similar to what we now consume for breakfast.
Today, most chocolate beverages are actually made with cocoa, not chocolate. There is a big difference between the taste of cocoa-based beverages and those made with chocolate. Sometimes the terms are incorrectly used interchangeably; 
technically they are as different as milk chocolate and bittersweet dark chocolate. Cocoa-based beverages are made from cocoa powder—chocolate, pressed free of all its richness, meaning that the fat of cocoa butter has been reduced. Hot or iced chocolate beverages are from chocolate (not cocoa) melted into cream. The latter is a much richer, decadent beverage. And, that’s exactly how we blend our chocolate drinking mixes at Choclatique.
Choclatique Dark Chocolate Drinking Mix is a blend of our award-winning crushed dark chocolate and select cocoa powders, pure Tahitian vanilla and Hawaiian cane sugar. Our special ingredients are all-natural making for a richer, more flavorful hot or iced chocolate beverage.
But we don’t stop there… we now offer Choclatique Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Drinking Mix made with our lightly roasted, high-protein peanut flour, and Choclatique Dark Chocolate Cinnamon Drinking Mix made with the finest and most intense Saigon cinnamon. This fall we will be introducing our new Choclatique Dark Chocolate Mocha Drinking Mix, made with imported Italian espresso.
For those who want to try a sample of each this summer we are offering our Chocolate Trifecta—a delightfully tasty trio that has a flavor for everyone… zesty Cinnamon Drinking Chocolate, nutty Peanut Butter Swirl Drinking Chocolate, and our original rich Dark Chocolate Drinking Chocolate at a 20% discount on Choclatique’s Drinking Chocolate Sampler.
How to Make Really Cool or Iced Chocolate!
For hot drinking chocolate—simply add 4 tablespoons of the Dark Chocolate Drinking Chocolate Mix of your choice to cold milk (whole, 2%, 1%, non-fat or soy); whisk and heat for a steamy cold-weather chocolate treat. Add a dollop of whipped cream or a marshmallow for a wonderfully warm chocolaty indulgence.
For iced drinking chocolate—simply add Drinking Chocolate Mix to cold milk (whole, 2%, 1%, non-fat or soy) and blend with ice for a summer time refresher. Add a dollop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream for an iced chocolaty treat.
In many westernized countries, the 21st birthday is a milestone symbolizing that a youth has come “of-age.” The age of twenty-one is usually the time when one is considered to be fully adult, able to sign contracts and drink alcohol. This was the case when our youngest chocolatier, Pedro, celebrated his 21st birthday with his co-workers at Choclatique. I must confess I didn’t know that he was only 19 years old when he graduated culinary school and came to work with us as a chocolatier’s apprentice. “P” has really come a long way in such a short period of time,” says Karen, Senior Choclatique Chocolatier. “He is one of the best new chocolatier we have. Pedro not only loves his work, but he is a lover of everything chocolate and is one of the best tasters in the Chocolate Studio.”
