SERVES 2 This is the correct spelling, and if the descriptions of the Cortez party are correct, then this is the drink. When the Aztecs were drinking a beverage made from the cacao tree it tasted nothing like what we know in our time.

The drink that Montezuma loved, and supposedly drank by the potful, had hot pepper in it and no sugar at all. After reading some of the responses of the Europeans to the beverage, I have developed the following easy recipe. I doubt that you will be drinking this every morning but it is fun to try now and then. That's it. Heat the chicken stock and season it with the cocoa, Tabasco, vanilla, and cinnamon.