consumption by the elite class. Later, the tree came to be known as cacao from proto-Mixe-Zoqueqn family of languages, during Olmec civilisation (1150–300 BC). Later, this culture moved to Mayan civilisation by the Izapan civilisation of the lowlands of Chialas of Mexico, Peten of Guatemala and Belize. Historians believe that the word, chocolate or chocolatl originate from the Nahuatl word, xocoatl or cacahuatl meaning ‘bitter water’. Some believe that it is a combination of the Mayan words, choco and haa and the Nauhatl term, atl which resulted in the term ‘chocolate’. There is also another theory according to linguists that the word chicolatl originated from the word, chico-li meaning ‘to beat’ or ‘to stir’ and not chocoatl. It was a Swedish who gave the cocoa plant its binomial, Theobroma cacao which literally meant the ‘food of the Gods’. During 450–500 AD, clay vessels were made for drinking the chocolate, as a status symbol by Mayans. At the end of Mayan civilisation (200 BC to 1550 AD) cocoa beans had become a major Mesoamerican commodity. We know that chocolates are made from cocoa beans that have been cultivated for millions of years in the South American rainforests. The archaeological surveys account for the physical residues of chocolate in some Mayan pots which suggest that Mayans drank chocolate some 2600 years ago. It is also believed that the cocoa plant was cultivated in the Amazon for more than 4000 years. Archaeological evidence comes from the recovery of cocoa beans at Uaxactun, Guatemala (1947) and also from the preserved wood fragments of the cocoa tree at Belize sites (1981) and Pulltrouser area (1984). Similarly, the residue analysis from the ceramic vessels from an early classic period (460–480 AD) tomb at Rio Azul in North-Eastern Guatemala has revealed the presence of theobromine and caffeine. History also accounts for the worshipping of the cocoa tree by the Mayans and Aztecs who offered chocolate to the God as an offering. The cocoa beans were brewed along with maize and capsicum which resulted in a spicy bitter-sweet drink which after fermentation was used for the ceremonies by Aztecs (1500 AD). Aztecs also treated cocoa beans as currency and paid their taxes too, and the beans were used as a currency throughout Mesoamerica by the time the Aztec empire fell (1376–1520 AD). Mythically, the cocoa tree has been linked to Quetzacoatl, the God of agriculture of Mexicans. Chocolate came to Europe in the 16th century by a Spanish explorer, Don Hernan Cortes (1519). The tradition of drinking hot chocolate began in Spain where the drink was served to travelers and was a common drink with the nobility. Christopher Columbus introduced the chocolate into Spain (1502). The cocoa tree was introduced to the Asia in 1560 and to the Africa in 1590. The chocolate was served in the Spanish court during 1600 to 1650 and it arrived in London in 1657. Later, the drink entered France, and was introduced to England in the 17th century by Sir Hans Sloane. Initially, the brew was sold as medicine by apothecaries in England. C. J. Van Houton, a Dutch chocolate master invented the ‘cocoa press’ (1828) which helped to squeeze out cocoa butter from the beans