For centuries, chocolate was consumed only as a bitter, spicy liquid known as xocolatl . It was a luxury reserved for the elite, warriors, and royalty like Montezuma II.

The Aztecs used cacao beans to buy everything from food to services; for instance, four beans could buy a rabbit, while 100 beans could buy a slave.

When Spanish conquistadors brought cacao back in the 1500s, it remained a symbol of extreme wealth, sipped only by aristocrats in the courts of Europe. 2. The Industrial Revolution and the First Bars