Making cinnamon/chocolate bars for hot cocoa. Photos courtesy of Audrey & Dan from Uncornered Market

Did you know there’s a town in Guatemala called El Chocolate? It’s true.

It’s a sign of the times. Guatemalans love, love, love chocolate.

They grow it. They drink it. But for some reason, they just don’t eat a lot of it.

In fact, they drink chocolate way more than they eat the stuff.

I have first-hand reports from my pen-pal Audrey (of Uncornered Market), that they had a surprisingly difficult time finding a regular bar of chocolate to eat during their stay in Guatemala. Amazing.

The only bars they could find were dry and crumbly – meant for making hot cocoa. They even participated in a chocolate bar making class (pictured above), in which the learned how to press and decorate the bars, but – again – they were only meant for drink making.

Sounds at once delicious and unusual – which is why I’ll be posting a recipe for Guatemalan hot cocoa in a few days.

It’ll be rich. It’ll be frothy. It’ll be everything you ever dreamed hot cocoa could be. With cinnamon.

Stay tuned.