History of the New World in a mocha (Vowell)

The more history I learn, the more the world fills up with stories. Just the other day, I was in my neighborhood Starbucks . . .. I was enjoying a chocolatey caffé mocha when it occurred to me that to drink a mocha is to gulp down the entire history of the New World. From the Spanish exportation of Aztec cacao, and the Dutch invention of the chemical process for making cocoa, on down to the capitalist empire of Hershey, PA, and the lifestyle marketing of Seattle's Starbucks, the modern mocha is a bittersweet concoction of imperialism, genocide, invention, and consumerism served with whipped cream on top. No wonder it costs so much. 

Sarah Vowell, The Partly Cloudy Patriot (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002), p. 42