Modern Caribbean Hot Chocolate

It is 1966; we’re in Barbados in the countryside, and a barefoot boy is returning home from school. He has had a long day, but before dinner, he must take a bath and get himself ready to sit at the table. Grate, grate, boil. It hits him like a ton of bricks, the chocolate express; this is the only chocolate he knows. Unlike Western boys who have a candy-filled Easter, Halloween, and Christmas, this spicy, mellow tea is his only chocolate escape. He takes his first sip and smiles from within