Cocoa bean drinks? How to make Fresh Hot Chocolate?

[StillShaving]

Most of us reading this forum really enjoy our Coffee and/or Tea, trying out different varieties and different ways of preparing our favorite beverage. But what about drinks made from Cocoa beans, that which might be otherwise be called Hot Chocolate? Most of what I have ever drank has been those instant powders that contain sugar to be mixed with hot water or milk. But knowing how instant Tea and instant Coffee tastes compared to their fresh alternatives I believe Hot Chocolate as I know it must be way below its potential. I only did a brief internet search to find a few articles which touch on the history of Cocoa:

• The Culture of the Cocoa Bean
• History of Cocoa

Given its origins in the Americas I wonder how much of the Cocoa drink culture has been lost over time, or whether it arrived on the world stage after a point where different local cultures could adapt it and tailor it to local needs? Or are its flavors simply one-dimensional when compared to the complexities of Tea and Coffee? I am interested in others recommendations regarding making hot/cold chocolate drinks. I am especially interested in:

• Ingredients:
  • Are their specific prepackaged hot chocolate brands to look for?
  • Ways to use high quality chocolate not intended to be drank (e.g. candy)?
  • Sources for fresh roasted beans suitable for grinding and then cooking/drinking?
• Recipes for preparing?
• Anyone tried to home roast green cocoa beans? Is there even a consumer market for this?

 

[_JP_]

I do know that the Incas would grind the beans with either something like a mortal and pestal, or something like a rolling pin. I'm interested to see of there is a source for whole cocoa beans.

 

[SiBurning]

Normally, I make hot chocolate with chocolate. I do have cocoa nibs. Will grind them fine and try making hot chocolate or syrup or something. The only difference between the nibs and chocolate is the processing (tempering) and sugar (and maybe vanilla and other flavors). As for cocoa, it's just chocolate with some of the cocoa butter removed , so a drink made with nibs or chocolate will just have more fat in the form of cocoa butter. The powdered drink packets I've seen are just cocoa, sugar, vanilla and other flavors, and maybe the occasional additive that you can take or leave.

You can get raw cocoa beans and roast them. I'm not sure it's something I want to deal with. The chaff on coffee beans is rather thin, but it's pretty bulky on a cocoa bean. Sounds like quite a mess, and I'm just not set up for it. However, you put the bug in my head and that usually leads to bad things...

 

[SiBurning]

Failure #1.

Tried grinding cocoa nibs in a Cuisinart electric burr mill and the Skerton hand mill. Both failed. At lower settings--anything close to making cocoa powder--the fat content and moisture make it clump and stick together and prevents it from falling through. At higher settings, it merely grinds smaller chunks of nib. Washing the hand grinder in hot water, I could see little spots of melted chocolate. I'm not trying this on my Baratza--at least until I figure out how I'd clean the innards of melted chocolate.

I'm not sure, but nibs might still contain a certain amount of stuff (husks) that doesn't belong in chocolate.

Online, people are saying they freeze the nibs before putting them through a grinder. They also say they end up with a paste, sort of like melted chocolate, so I'm still not ready to test the Baratza, even with frozen nibs.

On a side note, I no longer own the Cuisinart. Hopefully, some of the parts will get recycled and made into something more useful in their next incarnation.

 

[jwhite]

I like to fool around with chocolate, the nibs can be used to make a chocolate drink similar to what the native peoples drank and introduced to the conquistadors. The grinding of the nibs does release the coco butter, a good thing in my opinion but you'll not get as smooth a texture in a food processor. A mortar and pestle are necessary. I don't remember the exact recipe but I do remember that it contained nibs ground to a smooth paste, Cinnamon and chillies and was mixed with hot water and whipped until frothy, it was not sweet at all. For hot chocolate I use a good quality moderate cacao content chocolate, something in the neighborhood of 60%, cream and milk. The cream is brought to a simmer and removed from the heat, the chopped chocolate is added and allowed to sit until it softens. The mixture is stirred until the chocolate an cream is fully incorporated. essentially you're making a moderately thin ganache, while still warm replace over low heat and while whisking slowly add scalded milk until the desired consistency is reached for drinking. Higher cacao chocolate may be used but some sugar may be needed to sweeten.

 

[gearchow]

I haven't made decent hot chooclate in a long time.

When I lived in Santa Cruz, I bought a large bag of Valobra cocoa powder and a large chunk of dark chocolate (and i can't remember if it was bitter or semi-sweet) from Donnelly Chocolates on Mission St. Same ingredients they use to make their chocolates. I don't remember the recipe it's been so long, but it was almost too wonderful.

Now we just dig out the Hersheys dark chocolate syrup, squirt into low fat milk and microwave it.

-jim

 

[JoshuaNY]

Most of my hot chocolates come from a big Swiss Miss carton. To me, it is by far the best pre-packaged stuff.
When I am in the mood for something a little more indulgent. I melt a few ounces of good quality chocolate in milk and put my stick blender to it to froth it up a bit.

If you start from beans/nibs, you gotta add sugar and stuff anyway. So I think a quality chocolate bar works quite well.

 

[StillShaving]

Thanks for the all feedback. I am interested in making a tasty hot chocolate, but going back to the fundamental elements does appear a little daunting. Maybe I will start with some pre-made chocolate.

Given the parallels between independent coffee shops and home coffee preparation (both using fresh roasted beans, care in the coffee extraction, etc.). I was hoping there might be some parallels between quality chocolate shops and trying the same at home. Where if Cocoa beans had only 10% of the flavor variance of coffee, it would still be a treat to experiment with the different flavors and ways of preparation.

But with my limited research and knowledge I am beginning to see that chocolate making must be a more centralized or large scale activity. Which is then further processed into different chocolate candies, but not something done at a local scale.

 

[gearchow]

I read an article sometime ago - and can't remember where - that talked about how there are all of these different varieties of Cocoa beans (or same variety and different growing conditions) and they have all wonderful variations just like coffee. But there isn't a market for it or something that prevents these beans - in whatever form - being available to the boutique market like coffee beans.

-jim

 

[shah8]

The different sp. of Theobroma holds more interests to rare-fruiters, then, I guess. Cacao fruits are quite tasty, especially those of Theobroma grandiflora...

 

[jwhite]

Thanks for the all feedback. I am interested in making a tasty hot chocolate, but going back to the fundamental elements does appear a little daunting. Maybe I will start with some pre-made chocolate.

Given the parallels between independent coffee shops and home coffee preparation (both using fresh roasted beans, care in the coffee extraction, etc.). I was hoping there might be some parallels between quality chocolate shops and trying the same at home. Where if Cocoa beans had only 10% of the flavor variance of coffee, it would still be a treat to experiment with the different flavors and ways of preparation.

But with my limited research and knowledge I am beginning to see that chocolate making must be a more centralized or large scale activity. Which is then further processed into different chocolate candies, but not something done at a local scale.

Turning the beans into chocolate does require some specialty equipment above and beyond what the typical home owner can provide, but there are differences between growing regions, blenders and manufacturers. I find the aromatic and tactile differences between estate and regional chocolates every bit as complex and varied as tea, coffee, wine, cheese, or any natural product that depends on artisanel skill and high quality agricultural products. El Rey is where I get the majority of my chocolate for candy making and baking, they provide good info as well.

 

[StillShaving]

The El Rey website does look inviting. I also just discovered TCHO as their operation was featured on a short documentary about chocolate making by KQED's Quest TV.

I found the part about growing, harvesting and processing to be interesting. Their 10 minute documentary can be seen here: The Sweet Science of Chocolate

 

[gearchow]

The El Rey website does look inviting. I also just discovered TCHO as their operation was featured on a short documentary about chocolate making by KQED's Quest TV.

I found the part about growing, harvesting and processing to be interesting. Their 10 minute documentary can be seen here: The Sweet Science of Chocolate

nice!

I just might get a small bag of the chocolate drink mix from TCHO to try. There is something about coffee beans and chocolate that makes me want to buy them.

-jim

 

[JoshuaNY]

I just watched a Good Eats special on chocolate. Alton brown made a hot chocolate. Not exactly what you were asking for, but alot closer then a packet.

He ground up cocoa nibs and steeped them in hot milk, then combined it with chopped bittersweet chocolate and other ingredients. It looked pretty good to me. Might be worth trying. I attached a link below.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/cocoa-nib-hot-chocolate-recipe/index.html

 

[Bob the aged Lurcher]

There is a Nigel Slater recipe for hot chocolate that involves dark chocolate, cream, milk and vanilla which is based on the old RN recipe, I shall root it out and post it. It is simple to do and tastes good.

 

[Edcculus]

I just wanted to add my 2 cents about chocolate making, and specifically why some of you have discovered that grinding cocoa nibs doesn't work.


As you have discovered, cocoa nibs have a much higher fat content than say coffee beans. The production of chocolate actually starts when the pods are picked. They are allowed to sit for a few days until it begins to ferment. From there, the nibs are taken from the pod and roasted. The roasted nibs are then ground into a paste called cocoa mass they then melt the mass to make chocolate liquor which can be poured into molds and sold as unsweetened bakers chocolate, or the basis for what a candy maker would turn into a chocolate bar.


They also produce 2 products from cocoa mass: cocoa powder and cocoa butter. By pressing the Mass, they can extract the fat (cocoa butter) from the solids (cocoa powder). In fact, white chocolate is just cocoa butter, vanilla and sugar.


Chocolate drinks were consumed by the Myans who made a frothy bitter drink from the beans. From what I understand, they would grind up the roasted nibs in something similar to a mortar and pestle to make the cocoa mass. They would then put it in a vessel, add water and pour it back and forth to make a huge frothy head. The drink was spiced with vanilla and chile peppers. I suppose this is something that could be done at home, but the grinding would take a LOT of effort. Unlike coffee where you steep grinds in water to extract the goodness, cocoa nibs need to be ground up so fine that its not gritty because of the solids being directly in the food or drink.




I've never experimented, but I suppose the easiest way to make hot chocolate from scratch would be to start with a block of unsweetened chocolate. Don't get it from the baking aisle. Find somewhere like this link (I just did a google search) http://www.cocoasupply.com/index.php?cPath=39 that seems like they supply good chocolate in a variety of forms from different varietals of cocoa plants.

 

[mycholatez]

Hey,

I also want to know about it. Actually, I love hot chocolate and chocolate recipe. Therefor, I bought chocolate tempering machine and really it's a very good. I love to using this. Can anyone share best hot chocolate recipe with me. Thanks for your answer.

 

[Slash McCoy]

Most of us reading this forum really enjoy our Coffee and/or Tea, trying out different varieties and different ways of preparing our favorite beverage. But what about drinks made from Cocoa beans, that which might be otherwise be called Hot Chocolate? Most of what I have ever drank has been those instant powders that contain sugar to be mixed with hot water or milk. But knowing how instant Tea and instant Coffee tastes compared to their fresh alternatives I believe Hot Chocolate as I know it must be way below its potential. I only did a brief internet search to find a few articles which touch on the history of Cocoa:

• The Culture of the Cocoa Bean
• History of Cocoa

Given its origins in the Americas I wonder how much of the Cocoa drink culture has been lost over time, or whether it arrived on the world stage after a point where different local cultures could adapt it and tailor it to local needs? Or are its flavors simply one-dimensional when compared to the complexities of Tea and Coffee? I am interested in others recommendations regarding making hot/cold chocolate drinks. I am especially interested in:

• Ingredients:
  • Are their specific prepackaged hot chocolate brands to look for?
  • Ways to use high quality chocolate not intended to be drank (e.g. candy)?
  • Sources for fresh roasted beans suitable for grinding and then cooking/drinking?
• Recipes for preparing?
• • Anyone tried to home roast green cocoa beans? Is there even a consumer market for this?

• 
  

I had a few cacao trees on my farm in Belize. Yes, that is the proper spelling. The beans are not always roasted. They are, however, always fermented. The fermentation process is critical and I won't pretend that I know how to do it properly, or even how to do it at all. We liked the pulp of the pods, and didn't have enough trees to make it worthwhile to process beans to sell to Hershey, the main buyer of cacao in Belize. The trees also require a lot of care, and a very different growing method from other tree crops, and my land was just not suited for making it pay.

Here is the wiki. Cocoa bean - Wikipedia

Cacao is used to make mole, as well as for drinking and making chocolate.

Mexican hot chocolate usually contains other spices such as cinnamon or cardamon. It is also usually extremely heavily sweetened, often with piloncillo which is a very raw form of sugar with a lot more flavor than the gringo palate is used to. It is an acquired taste, but you might give it a try. Look in the Mexican food aisle in your local grocery. Abuelita (owned by Hershey) is one brand that comes to mind, but there are others. You will find more variety in a Hispanic grocery.

I had some packets of Swiss Miss laying around the boat and I stirred one into milk, which I frothed and used for cappuccino. Not bad. After using up all the Swiss Miss I decided I liked regular cappuccino better than mochaccino.

 

[Mycon]

I guess that Crio Bru isn't well-known outside of this state. I think this is exactly what OP is looking for: Crio Bru
You can get it from Amazon too!

It's essentially cocoa beans that are roasted and ground like coffee. The result is completely different from any hot chocolate that you might be familiar with. It's almost a dark dark chocolate coffee hybrid.

Edit: Wow, I just realized how old this thread is. Oh well

 

[CurtisB81]

Best I know of Drinking Chocolate