Europe has a Taste for It

By the beginning of the seventeenth century, all the trade routes had been well established and documented and maps drawn up. Information about the trade winds and other navigational systems were available to sailors. Exporting cocoa beans to Europe became an important trade. Providing they were carefully stowed, the dry beans were able to withstand the long sea voyage. Antonio Carletti, an Italian, took cocoa to Italy in 1606, after his travels in South America, and from there the news about cocoa travelled swiftly into Germany and Austria. At that time chocolate was enjoyed almost exclusively in liquid form, but it was not like the sweet drink of today. Milk was not added to it. Rather it was strongly concentrated with the addition of hot peppers and spices. Cocoa was still a very expensive commodity, and would only have been served in the most aristocratic circles in Europe.