Finding the name
How the monk came to chocolate.
The history of the shokomonk started many, many years ago somewhere in Central America when Spanish conquistadors, first to mention Hernan Cortez, came to claim the treasures and wealth of Maya and Aztecs. Early on their journey the conquistadors learned about an uncommon but valuable currency, the cocoa bean. But although the Spanish knew of the high value of cocoa on the “new” continent, it still took some years until its real value was discovered and appreciated.
Along with conquistadors, adventurers and noble people representatives of the Christian church came to the continent to spread the catholic belief and to evangelise the native people. Some of these monks started to live peacefully with the Maya and got to know their culture with its rituals and habits. One of these was an exotic, creamy drink consisting of different spices, water and a brown something: chocolate.
But no matter how high the Native People praised this drink, it was just too bitter to meet the taste of the immigrated Europeans. Nevertheless the Christian monks started to try variations of the chocolate drink and after many experiments with a lot of different spices and ingredients they found that cane sugar turned the bitter brewage into a sweet treat. This recipe was not that different to today’s drinking chocolate. The monks brought their mixture back to Europe, more precisely to the Spanish court of Prince Philipp.
There are documents proving that the monks gave a pot of chocolate to the Spanish monarchy in 1544 – the first step of the successful journey of cocoa in Europe. Monasteries in that time traded a lot with each other and so the cocoa trade all about Europe started. In 1585 the first listed cargo made its way to Sevilla from Veracruz by merchant ship.
The shokomonk is a symbol for these monks who saw how unique cocoa is and who brought it to us. The diversity of the shokomonk flavours is an homage to the first experiments of the monks with cocoa and spices. The shokomonk’s ambition is to provide the perfect treat for every taste.
