First, a little about our trip to Denver before we start talking about this Mayan Chocolate Iced Coffee. You could always just Jump to the Recipe if you’d like.
In all of the years that we’ve lived in New Mexico, we’ve never been to Denver, Colorado. We’ve been all over the western half of Colorado, but Denver and the surrounding area has alluded us for some reason. That all changed last week. I had a conference in Denver so Bobby arranged his schedule so he could go with me and we do some sightseeing on a couple of afternoons I had off.
One afternoon we drove to Littleton, a small town (suburb) a little southwest of Denver. It was a quaint little place and the old town area had a few shops that were right up my alley. There were two small antique shops housed in century old homes and around the corner on Main Street were two fabulous spice shops. In one of the antique shops I found this 1930’s recipe book that was written as a promotional for Worcester Salt. I thought it to be a perfect match for the 1930’s book that my mother-in-law gave me – The Art of Cooking and Serving, a promotional for Crisco. Both books are a hoot! I’ll be sharing some of the comments and recipes with you in the fall. Just as a teaser, the Worcester Salt book recommends boiling summer squash in salt water for 45 minutes! Would there be anything one could call squash after 45 minutes?
I could have spent hours in the spice shops, sniffing and tasting and chatting up with the wonderful people that worked there. Here are the of highlights from each shop.
In Penzeys Spices, I was drawn to the large assortment of dried peppers. Many I knew, but some were new to me. I bought a bag of crushed Aleppo peppers because I had never heard of them and I loved the unique smell. The other thing that caught my eye was the assortment of curry blends. I couldn’t help smelling most of them and would have loved to have bought a small bottle of each, but resisted. Overall, I was able to control myself and only bought the peppers, a bottle of smoked paprika and small bottle of Herbes de Provence.
Just down Main Street was another fabulous shop – Savory Spice, a more laid back atmosphere than Penzey’s and a somewhat different focus. For example, instead of having curry blends, Savory Spice had the individual spices that go into curries. One thing I was specifically looking for were curry leaves and it had them! It also had a variety of salts blended with different herbs and spices. I actually resisted purchasing any of these even after smelling several of them. I have too many salt blends already!
What I couldn’t resist was the cocoa powder section – an assortment of different cocoa powders and blends. The moment I saw the Mayan Cocoa, I knew I had to have it. It’s a blend of “Dutch cocoa, chile peppers, cinnamon and vanilla powder”. The first thing I made when we got home was this Mayan Chocolate Iced Coffee – a sweet chocolate coffee with a real kick. I have the feeling that the 4 ounce bag of Mayan cocoa I bought isn’t going to last very long.
Mayan Chocolate Iced Coffee
A spicy iced coffee delight that uses a Mayan spice coffee mix. Just use some leftover coffee from the morning, stir in the Mayan spice and pour over ice. Easy!
*See Kitchen Notes for more information.
- 2 cups strong coffee, leftover or freshly made
- 1 tsp. Mayan Cocoa Powder
- 1 tsp. honey
- 1 cup Vanilla Almond Milk
- Add the coffee to a mixing bowl. If it isn’t warm, heat for 1 minute in the microwave.
- Add the cocoa powder and honey. Whisk to dissolve.
- Add 1 cup almond milk. Stir to combine.
- Add crushed ice or cubes to two glasses. Divide the coffee mixture between the two glasses.
Mayan Cocoa – The amount of Mayan cocoa you use depends on the specific blend. The blend I bought was pretty spicy. The first time I made this I used 2 tsp. and it was much too spicy. In fact, the coffee was so overpowered by the chile powder that it was hard to taste the coffee. For the next batch I cut the cocoa blend in half and that was perfect.
Honey – Once you add the Vanilla Almond Milk, you should do a taste test for sweetness. If it’s not sweet enough, just add more honey.
Almond Milk – We have become addicted to Vanilla Almond Milk for our iced coffees, chais and lattes. However, if you’re not an almond milk fan, I’m sure milk, cream or soy would work just fine. It’s your preference.
Other Denver Highlights
The Red Rocks Amphitheater – An amazing place! Large vertical rocks that angle upward and form a natural amphitheater with perfect acoustics. We were standing at the very top and could hear the conversations of the people talking on the stage. Performers have included The Beatles, U2 and Sting. In August one can see Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Norah Jones and many others!
We had a lovely lunch at the Red Rock Grill while taking in the view and watching hawks and swallows fly above us. The Bison tamales with mole’ sauce were delicious!
Denver Art Museum – Spent an afternoon going through most of the exhibits then ended up a Dazzle’s.
Dazzle – A comfortable jazz club in downtown Denver where we spent a couple of hours drinking beer (Bobby) and Tequila Sunrises (me). It was National Tequila Day afterall. 🙂
Ya Ya Euro Bistro – You know it has to be good when you go there twice in one short week! The Mulligatawny Mussels took my breath away! I usually don’t eat mussels, but we ordered these twice. Lots and lots of mussels steamed in a curry sauce with dried apricots, apples and Basmati rice. Couldn’t get enough of these! And then there was the dessert – Belgian Chocolate Souffle with raspberry coulis and vanilla ice cream. The server recommended the Dashe Late Harvest Zinfandel to go with it and she was right – it was a perfect complement to this dessert!
What a great time we had!
This post is not a promotional for any product or business. All comments and opinions are my own.
Hello!
I JUST stumbled upon your website looking for a recipe for some Guajillo powder I recently purchased. And I came across your red sauce with powder recipe. I then started cruising your recipes and found this!!
We are going back to the Yucatan in about 3 months we just came back in March and I did not purchase any Mayan cocoa powder. But you bet when we go back I will be buying some! We went into a couple of Mayan chocolate stores and I could kick myself for not buying any.
We love the Yucatan and will be going to Valladolid soon. I can’t wait to buy some Mayan at cocoa powder from the Yucatan and try your recipe! I will be looking at all of your recipes tonight as I sit with my glass of wine! What a great website! So glad I stumbled upon it. Thank you
Sounds like such fun, I would go crazy with all those spice shops too 🙂 We do a a few Savory Spice shops here…in fact I have some of that Mayan cocoa…love this and will have to give it a try soon!
Great pic, your stunning!!! What a delish way to sip away a summer morning!! thanks~
Thanks Vianney!!!! What a sweet comment!
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I am featuring your recipe this week on Allergy-Free Wednesdays 🙂
I love coffee and am drooling over this amazing drink recipe. Thank you so much for sharing this tasty treat on Allergy-Free Wednesdays.
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It is funny, I have traveled through, or visited most of the United States. BUT still have never visited Colorado….crazy right! AND I lived in Arizona for 15 years…
That bundle of spices you got looks fantastic, I have never had Mayan Coco Powder. Since I can’t drink milk, I live on soy and almond milk. I love your recipe even more now:-) Perfect treat in the hot summer days! Hugs, Terra
What a nice cup of ice coffee (I usually made it with whiskey cream in a shaker) and what a beautiful picture of you!! 🙂
Thanks Darlin!!!! Whiskey cream – sounds perfect!!! Will definitely have to try it. 🙂
I just pinned your great recipe, thanks for sharing with Full Plate Thursday.
Miz Helen
Just look at that! I can’t wait to try it! And I love that you’re so thorough and provide kitchen notes. I will surely be back…
Stop by my Meatless Monday hop if you’d like 😉
http://jessica-healthymommyhealthybaby.blogspot.com/2012/08/meatless-monday-return-of-meatless.html
I have been trying to figure out how to make Mayan hot chocolate for years! This post as reignited that desire.
Plus, I love coffee. This sounds fantastic.
Oh MJ! I’m glad you had such a wonderful time in Colorado! What a great find…that old cookbook! I am always keeping an eye out for old cookbooks when I go thrift store shopping. I can usually find a couple of long lost recipes from them. So I am looking forward to what you will share in the fall. I have a Penzey’s spice store in my neighborhood. (really good vanilla beans!) But I would love to find a store on a smaller, more quaint scale that would sell cocoas and chocolates. This coffee has such an amazing blend of flavors….I can’t wait to try it! And you look great my friend! : )
I am glad you had a fun trip!!!
The last picture is gorgeous!!!
You know I love both iced tea and coffee .. Your recipes are always fabulous so this one is what I have to make soon…
Those old cookbooks are always a hoot!
The coffee sounds delicious…Red Rocks is a trip, I’d love to go back…
LL
This looks amazing!!!
I have several Savory Spice Shop spices…their blends are fabulous too!
Forget Starbucks. Your Mayan iced chocolate-coffee sounds way better than anything ordered in line there. 😉
What lovely spices! This coffee sounds delightful and very yummy!
Sounds like the perfect trip! I’m addicted to chai, so I think I’ll have to try that Mayan Chocolate Truffle Chai. I think I could have spent all day in the spice shop too! 🙂
What a funny city name! The squash recipe reminds me of the fact that many older people in my family cook the vegetables much too long…
I have never prepared iced coffee. In fact I never order iced coffee either (I suppose because it’s always sweetened and I don’t like sweet coffee), but I love coffee cold desserts, so I’m sure I would love your mayan chocolate coffee. The mayan cocoa powder sounds excellent.
I have recently discovered almond milk and started to use it as a normal milk substitute. It works great (although I have never used vanilla almond milk).
Thanks Sissi! Plain almond milk would work just fine and you really don’t need to add honey if you don’t like it sweet.
Lordy, they should have paid you for a promotional tour because now we all want to go!!
I couldn’t have resisted the mayan cocoa powder either! How cool is that stuff?
It seems that you had a fabulous trip! Never tasted such a combo, it sounds great MJ!
i can spend hours in a good spice store! And I always have to restrain myself – there’s only so much I’m realistically going to use. Nice recipe. I’m not big on iced coffee, but this looks exceptional. Super flavors. And I’m always a sucker for travel pictures, so thanks for including some!
Thanks John! Put a bookstore next to a spice store and I would the whole day there! 🙂
Sounds like you guys had a great time. You’ll have to make me one of these drinks some day. I like cold coffee drinks. I was thinking about you the other day as I was frying up a mess of bream. I should have taken a picture but we wolfed them down before I thought of it. Maybe next time. We’ve found a place to fish, even though it is a fur piece off. I love weekend trips anyway.
I haven’t had fried bream since we left Louisiana! I’m envious! I will definitely make you this coffee. I know how much you love spicy, so I know you’ll love this!
Wow, what a summer treat! The almond vanilla milk must add a remarkably smooth, sweet dimension to this otherwise, robust and spicy drink. Magnificent as usual, Mj!
I loved your last picture MJ, the smile on eyour face says it all!
I could spend hours in spice shops, I am enchanted by all the different spices, mixes and herbs.
Your iced coffee sounds like a wonderful treat in this blazzing hot summer
Thank you Sawsan! 🙂 I’m with you. If Bobby hadn’t been with me, I would have spent the entire afternoon in those two shops!
I love iced coffee so I’m gonna have to try your blend. Hope you got my email about the photo contest … I see you have another great food story photo with the salt so I hope you submit it 🙂
Happy Wednesday!
Thanks CJ! I was thinking about that photo story as well. I’ll probably submit it for next week. I did get your email and have voted even!
That cold coffee drink is exactly what I need right now!
The Red Rocks Amphitheatre looks amazing!
I have a sister in Denver so we usually just end up at her house and not shopping…I’ll have to change that with our next visit! And you’ve put me in the mood for a Penzey’s run 🙂
MJ! That’s such a great picture of you! I’m loving the combination of Mayan cocoa powder and honey here!
Thank you! 🙂
I wouldn’t know where to buy vanilla almond milk in my parts of Europe, but the iced coffee sounds refreshing. And I love your squash quote from the old cookbook. Goes to show that people could survive without a blender:)
Thanks! If you can’t find almond milk, cream, milk, or soy milk works great! Yep – the squash would definitely be a puree after 45 minutes! 🙂
The Red Rocks Amphitheatre sounds awesome! Denver is such a nice place!! I loved Mayan coffee…
A lot of nice flavours in the drink, nice combination of flavours
I wish I had known you were so close I would have loved to meet you while vacationing in Breckenridge. Your cookbook sounds like a riot. I can only imagine what people thought of squash after cooking it back then.
Your trip sounds like everything you hoped it would be. Thank you for sharing it with us
Oh Darn! Another place I’ve never been to – Breckenridge! Would love to have met you! Those cookbooks are crazy! Can’t wait to have more time to really go through them in detail. Thanks!
Yayyyyyy!!! I don’t know what I’m more excited about… the Mayan chocolate iced coffee or the fact you found curry leaves!! I hope they meet your expectations. I used both the dried and the fresh variety. You need to fry them in the oil to get them to flavor the dish… and they are edible. I love hot chocolate and I’m sure this variety of iced chocolate must be fantastic. I’m so happy you and your sweetheart had a fabulous time in CO. 🙂
Thanks Ramona! I was worried about buying dried leaves, so it’s good to hear that you use both. Thanks for the information on frying them first! Did not know that! Can’t wait to use them in one of your wonderful dishes!
Love both iced coffee and tea and I also love the sweet and spicy combo 🙂 Need to look out for Mayan Cocoa powder here!
I’ve never been to Denver either, but would love to visit!The amphitheater looks amazing and so do you 🙂
Thanks Soni!! You’re sweet! You would definitely love the Mayan Cocoa! Great stuff!
I’ve never been able to get on board with mayan cocoa or chocolate. Maybe I just never had a good one, but the spicy flavour just isn’t a good mix with the taste of cocoa/chocolate in my opinion. I love the look of the drink though, even though I might have to “wreck it” and switch the mayan cocoa for regular stuff (sorry 🙁 ).
Lovely photo of the amphitheatre by the way… that is one enormous diagonal rock!
Bobby had to get use to the spice with chocolate as well, but I think the turning moment was the first time we had Black Mole’! OMG! Hey – there’s nothing wrong with chocolate coffee – that’s for sure!!! Thanks Charles!
The Denver Amphitheater looks amazing! I studied a little bit about Geology and I really enjoy looking at rocks and formation. Glad to hear you had a great trip and I hope one day I can visit there too. Now your iced coffee! Hmmm!! I love both iced coffee and iced tea and quite picky about good flavor, so I would love to taste your recipe!! I have some products from Savory Spice Shop and they are great!! I’m curious about Mayan cocoa powder now. =)
Thanks Nami! The amphitheater was amazing! You would find the history of it quite interesting. I’m thrilled to have discovered Savory spice and I can buy on-line! Yea!!! I know you’re not big on spicy food, but I think you might like the Mayan cocoa. You should check it out.
This Mayan cold coffee sounds amazing!!!
I love your Mayan twist on iced coffee my friend this looks wonderful 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Yum! This sounds so easy and delicious!
What a great photo at the end of the post! It sounds like you had a fun trip…and that iced coffee. Oh my. Definitely kicks it up a notch!
Thanks Cucina! 🙂
Hi MJ, sounds like you had a lovely time even if you were semi working, LOL. I am a huge iced coffee drinker and this sounds right up my alley. Chocolate and peppers, I love the candy bars too. Not sure is my subscription form is totally working, I have been having a time with it most of today. If I have to change the plug-in I will manually resubscribe you. Thanks for letting me know, it is quite irritating when things don’t go smoothly. Hope you are having a great day.
Thanks Suzi! I got your email and now I’m subscribed! Hopefully, I won’t miss anymore posts!
This sounds just awesome! Oh and I LOVE old cookery books. I have a few books which belonged to my Grandmother and they are sooo funny though they’re meant to be very serious!
Thank you for posting this wonderful drink!
Thanks Vicki! I have to laugh at some of the things I read in those old cookbooks. But then I guess many of us don’t cook like our mothers did. I know I don’t. My mom put Crisco in everything!
I’m glad you had a good time in Denver! I love Savory Spice Shop!! I’ll have to get some Mayan cocoa now 🙂
Thanks Jane! I found Savory Spice on-line so I’m thrilled!