Theobroma cacao priests lancing their ear lobes (autosacrifice) and covering the cacao with blood as a suitable sacrifice to the gods. The cacao beverage as ritual was used only by men, as it was believed to be toxic for women and children. The first European knowledge about chocolate came in the form of a beverage which was first introduced to the Spanish at their meeting with Moctezuma in the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan in 1519. Cortés and others noted the vast quantities of this beverage the Aztec emperor consumed, and how it was carefully whipped by his attendants beforehand. Examples of cacao
Theobroma bicolor Theobroma bicolor Theobroma bicolor, known commonly as the Mocambo tree, jaguar tree, balamte, or pataxte, among various other common names, is a tree in the genus "Theobroma" (family Malvaceae), which also contains the better-known "Theobroma cacao" (cocoa tree). It is known from Central and South America, including stretches of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. "T. bicolor" is the only species in the "Rhytidocarpus" section of "Theobroma". It was described by Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland in 1808. "T. bicolor" can reach a height of 3–8 metres in open fields, although in the understories of forests