intoxicating: the Indians esteem it above everything, wherever they are accustomed to it Benzoni and other visitors reported that the Maya and Aztecs flavored their chocolate drinks with a number of different ingredients, including aromatic flowers, vanilla, chilli, wild honey, and achiote (p 423) The Europeans then began to add their own flavorings, among them sugar, cinnamon, cloves, anise, almonds, hazel-nuts, vanilla, orange-flower water, and musk According to the English Jesuit Thomas Gage, they dried the cocoa beans and spices, ground them up and mixed them together, and heated them to melt the cocoa butter and form a paste Then they scraped the paste onto a large leaf or piece of paper, allowed it to solidify, and then peeled it off as a large tablet According to Gage, there were several ways of preparing chocolate, both hot and cold The one most used in Mexico is to take it hot with atole [a maize gruel], dissolving a tablet in hot water, and then stirring and beating it in the cup with a molinet, and when it is well stirred to a scum or froth, then to fill the cup with hot atole, and so drink it sup by sup The first European “factories” for making the spiced chocolate paste were built in Spain around 1580, and within 70 years chocolate had found its way into Italy, France, and England These countries purged the drink of most added flavorings except sugar and vanilla At first, vendors of lemonade sold it in Paris; coffeehouses — themselves an innovation — served it London But by the late 17th century, chocolate houses were thriving in London as a kind of specialty coffeehouse The idea of making hot chocolate from milk seems to have arisen in these places ... France, and England These countries purged the drink of most added flavorings except sugar and vanilla At first, vendors of lemonade sold it in Paris; coffeehouses — themselves an innovation — served... served it London But by the late 17th century, chocolate houses were thriving in London as a kind of specialty coffeehouse The idea of making hot chocolate from milk seems to have arisen in these places.. .The one most used in Mexico is to take it hot with atole [a maize gruel], dissolving a tablet in hot water, and then stirring and beating it in the cup with a molinet, and when it is well stirred to a scum or froth,