Back in 1000 AD there was a place where cocoa was in demand, and toasts were made to the goodness of the gorgeous bean...a place now referred to as New Mexico, USA. As strange as it might seem, New Mexico was at the epicenter of the glorious bean:

People in AD 1000 may have made drinks from cacao, which researchers thought had arrived in what is now the U.S. in the 15th century. [Read]