The Pub Discussion Board

Eric Storm · 2007-08-09 02:58:55

Okay, but here's the question you're raising: If we "learned long ago" to sweeten bitter chocolate, why did we not "learn long ago" to sweeten bitter coffee? They are both amazingly bitter substances on their own. Why did we choose to sweeten one and "acquire a taste" for the other?

It should be mentioned that, since chocolate was originally so expensive that only kings and princes could possibly have drunk hot chocolate, this demotion of the drink has to have happened at some point after chocolate became mass-produced. When it first reached England, it spawned "Chocolate Houses", just like coffee spawned Coffee Houses. Chocolate was sweetened by the Spaniards when they first were introduced to it, because they didn't like the taste of the Aztec version. So chocolate was never enjoyed - at least not in Europe or N. America - as a bitter drink at all. And yet it was originally an adult beverage. So what's the deal with its demotion to kiddie drink?

The commercials can't explain it. Marketers target an audience, they rarely create one. So if they're putting kids in hot cocoa commercials, it's because kids are the ones drinking hot cocoa. So, we're still stuck with, "At what point did cocoa become kid food?"

Net Wolf

Imagineer · 2007-08-09 05:04:27

Doesn't coffee have more caffeine than chocolate? If it's more practical as a stimulant, it doesn't have to taste good.

(edit) Theobromine (the stimulant in chocolate) isn't as powerful as caffeine, according to this page.

Last edited by Imagineer (2007-08-09 05:10:21)

Neitherspace · 2007-08-09 06:43:29

straight coffee tastes like a kick to the crotch

TheNStorm · 2007-08-09 06:59:48

I drink coffee for the taste, smell, and caffeine. With or without flavorings.

Hot chocolate is good too.

I guess since I'm in Montana there's no stigma...

-The N Storm

Eric Storm · 2007-08-09 08:07:20

Okay, granted, coffee is a better stimulant.

On the other hand, cocoa is a much better relaxant and anti-depressant.

Net Wolf

TheNStorm · 2007-08-10 01:04:08

What about just a little coffee in a mocha?

-The N Storm

Eric Storm · 2007-08-10 01:24:53

Hard to be relaxed and wired at the same time... 3dsmile

Net Wolf

TheNStorm · 2007-08-10 01:33:10

Wired!? Who's wired!?

~looks around for more caffeine~ Anyone seen an energy drink around?

-The N Storm

Imagineer · 2007-08-10 01:40:15

Interesting how little cacao is actually in most forms of chocolate we consume. (See original link.) I will be hunting for some proper chocolate now.

Eric Storm · 2007-08-10 02:15:52

You want "proper" chocolate?

Go buy some cocoa powder. That's pretty much all it is: pure cacao beans, ground up and with the cocoa butter removed.

Net Wolf

Chocolate Trivia: Legally, "White Chocolate"... isn't chocolate, because it contains no cocoa solids, only cocoa butter.

Neitherspace · 2007-08-10 06:46:37

The only thing i wonder about white chocolate is why that flavor of ice cream tasted like teramasu(sp)

But speaking of caffeine did u know red bull glows in the dark?

nightsecho · 2007-08-10 20:53:00

thats because it tastes like radioactive waste

Neitherspace · 2007-08-11 07:31:42

yea. ant it cool

Storymaster69 · 2007-08-13 00:48:11

The one and only time I tried Red Bull I managed to force myself to drink perhaps half of it before my uncontrollable urge to puke just about took over.

Imagineer · 2007-08-13 04:38:25

Red Bull sugar free tastes drinkable to me. It tastes a little medicinal, but not quite bad.

Storymaster69 · 2007-08-13 06:49:24

I think it is the active ingredient that acts as the stimulant that turns me off so sugar free likely would not help.

CSquared · 2007-08-13 10:43:51

The active ingredient being Taurine? Guess what that's extracted from... taurine... taurus... bull... yes, that's right. Taurine is extracted from bull semen. Lovely, huh? XD

CSquared

Eric Storm · 2007-08-13 12:03:14

Actually, taurine was named such because it was originally extracted from ox bile, not bull semen.

It should also be noted that taurine has never been shown to actually increase anyone's energy level.

Net Wolf

CSquared · 2007-08-13 12:11:07

I stand corrected. I should know better than to present something I heard somewhere as fact. XD

CSquared

Neitherspace · 2007-08-14 03:10:12

I thought the active ingredient was gurana extract?

Anyway i use to despise it till i out of desperation i drank a can that was warm

I've dug it ever since

* OK I'm wrong it is taurine there is one brand that uses gurana but i forget which one (i thought so/be but its not listed)

btw taurine is a neurotransmitter and nets right it was originally made from Ox Bile (wikipedias article on this is surprisingly well done)

gurana is a berry who's juice is chemically identical to caffeine (but has a different chemical name)

Last edited by Neitherspace (2007-08-14 03:41:11)

The Pub Discussion Board

#26 2007-08-09 02:58:55

Re: New Rules:

#27 2007-08-09 05:04:27

Re: New Rules:

#28 2007-08-09 06:43:29

Re: New Rules:

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#38 2007-08-11 07:31:42

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#40 2007-08-13 04:38:25

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#41 2007-08-13 06:49:24

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