{"id":449,"date":"2015-05-01T00:12:33","date_gmt":"2015-05-01T00:12:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.davidstea.com\/en\/?p=449"},"modified":"2019-08-21T13:51:05","modified_gmt":"2019-08-21T17:51:05","slug":"ingredient-focus-chocolate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.davidstea.com\/en\/ingredient-focus-chocolate\/","title":{"rendered":"Ingredient Focus: Chocolate"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\"><b>Reading Time:<\/b> <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><h3>Chocolate, gotta have chocolate<\/h3>\n<p>If you love chocolate as much as we do, hold on to your mug. This November, we\u2019re bringing back our richest and fudgiest Tea of the Month ever: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.davidstea.com\/ca_en\/tea\/hot-chocolate\/10523DT01VAR0028694.html\"><u>Hot Chocolate<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>So let\u2019s shine the spotlight on the irresistible ingredient that brings this blend to life.<\/p>\n<h3>We\u2019re in love with the cocoa<\/h3>\n<p>So what\u2019s the secret ingredient to making chocolate? Cocoa beans. For starters, the higher the percentage of cocoa, the darker the chocolate will be. Thus, the more cocoa in the blend, the fewer additional ingredients are needed. And much like tea, cocoa will taste different depending on where it\u2019s grown (this is referred to as \u201cterroir\u201d). Getting this flavour profile right is so important that, like tea or wine sommeliers, there\u2019s an entire trade of professional chocolate connoisseurs. Not a bad job to have!<\/p>\n<h3>Chocolate coins<\/h3>\n<p>Imagine a world where you can use chocolate to buy things. Many years ago, it wasn\u2019t such a far-fetched idea, with Aztecs and Mayans using it as a form of currency. In the late 18<sup>th<\/sup> century, it was used to supplement wages during the American revolutionary war. And today, the practice continues with kids using it to barter during school lunches.<\/p>\n<h3>If you\u2019re happy and you know it<\/h3>\n<p>The last time you ate chocolate you may have noticed a slight feeling of euphoria afterwards. While the taste alone can bring you joy, there\u2019s also a chemical effect. That\u2019s because chocolate contains tryptophan and phenyl ethylamine, which trigger the brain to produce endorphins that make us happy. One thing\u2019s for certain\u2026 we can\u2019t eat it without smiling.<\/p>\n<p>Craving dessert yet? Make yourself a cup of hot cocoa and top it off with fluffy <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.davidstea.com\/en\/hot-chocolate-tea-infused-marshmallows\/\"><u>Hot Chocolate tea-infused marshmallows<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.davidstea.com\/en\/hot-chocolate-tea-infused-marshmallows\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-2538 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.davidstea.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/052-HotChocolateMarshmallows_hero.jpg\" alt=\"Hot Chocolate Tea Infused Marshmallows - DAVIDsTEA - Steep Thoughts\" width=\"1024\" height=\"390\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.davidstea.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/052-HotChocolateMarshmallows_hero.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blog.davidstea.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/052-HotChocolateMarshmallows_hero-300x114.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\"><b>Reading Time:<\/b> <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span>If you love chocolate as much as we do, hold on to your mug. This November, we\u2019re bringing back our richest and fudgiest Tea of the Month ever: Hot Chocolate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55,428],"tags":[123,125,124,430],"class_list":["post-449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-ingredient-focus","tag-chocolate","tag-cocoa","tag-dark-chocolate-delight","tag-ingredient-focus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.davidstea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.davidstea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.davidstea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.davidstea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.davidstea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blog.davidstea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10993,"href":"https:\/\/blog.davidstea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449\/revisions\/10993"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.davidstea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.davidstea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.davidstea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.davidstea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}