Filipino Tsokolate (Tablea Hot Chocolate)
Pure roasted cacao tablets (tablea) dissolved in boiling water, simmered slowly with milk, sweetened with muscovado sugar and frothed with a wooden batirol. Thick, grainy and deeply chocolatey.
Cacao crossed the Pacific on Spain's Manila galleons. SBS Filipino (Australia's public broadcaster) says that, according to some historical accounts, cacao reached the Philippines from Acapulco in 1670, that the first trees were Criollo, and that Filipinos grew it in Laguna, Cebu and Bohol under Spanish rule and soon made their own hot chocolate from tablea, a Spanish word for tablets. Wikipedia describes tsokolate as a thick, grainy drink of tablea (roasted, ground cacao pressed into discs or balls) dissolved in water and milk, sweetened with muscovado and whisked with a wooden batirol or batidor, served at breakfast or merienda and especially at Christmas. In José Rizal's novel "Noli Me Tangere" (1887), a character claims a priest signals his servant with "eh" for thick chocolate (espeso) for important guests and "ah" for watered-down chocolate (aguado) for everyone else, and some cafés still use the names "chocolate eh" and "chocolate ah".
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Why it works the kitchen science
Water first
Tablea is pure ground cacao with all its cocoa butter; boiling water melts the fat and loosens the solids before the milk goes in, so the milk does not need to boil.
The long, slow simmer
30 minutes lets the coarse cacao particles soften and swell, which thickens the drink and makes it smoother, though it always keeps a little grain.
Step by step
- Step 1
Bring the water to a boil in a small, heavy saucepan over high heat, about 2 minutes.
- Step 2
Turn the heat to medium-low, drop in the tablea and mash it with a batirol or wooden spoon as it softens, 3 to 4 minutes, until it is a loose dark paste in the water.
- Step 3
Pour in the milk and bring it back to a gentle simmer, just a few lazy bubbles (about 190°F to 200°F).
- Step 4
Simmer at least 30 minutes, uncovered, stirring every 5 minutes and scraping the bottom so bits of tablea do not stick and scorch. It slowly turns thick and smooth.
- Step 5
Stir in the sugar and the salt, if using, and taste. Add more sugar or another tablet if you want it sweeter or thicker.
- Step 6
Froth it: stand the batirol in the pot and roll it fast between your palms for 1 minute, or whisk hard, until foamy.
- Step 7
Pour into cups and serve warm.
Filipino Tsokolate (Tablea Hot Chocolate)
Serves 2 (about 1 cup each) · about 2 cups · 45 min total
- 1 cup water
- 1 oz (30 g) unsweetened tablea (2 large or 3 small tablets), plus more for a thicker cup
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 tbsp muscovado or dark brown sugar, or to taste
- Pinch of salt (optional)
Method
- Bring the water to a boil in a small, heavy saucepan over high heat, about 2 minutes.
- Turn the heat to medium-low, drop in the tablea and mash it with a batirol or wooden spoon as it softens, 3 to 4 minutes, until it is a loose dark paste in the water.
- Pour in the milk and bring it back to a gentle simmer, just a few lazy bubbles (about 190°F to 200°F).
- Simmer at least 30 minutes, uncovered, stirring every 5 minutes and scraping the bottom so bits of tablea do not stick and scorch. It slowly turns thick and smooth.
- Stir in the sugar and the salt, if using, and taste. Add more sugar or another tablet if you want it sweeter or thicker.
- Froth it: stand the batirol in the pot and roll it fast between your palms for 1 minute, or whisk hard, until foamy.
- Pour into cups and serve warm.
Adapted from SBS Filipino, "Pinoy favourites: Tsokolate" by Claudette Centeno-Calixto (July 27, 2018, updated December 5, 2018). SBS gives no serving count; its 1 cup water and 1 cup milk make about 2 cups, so we call it 2. SBS calls for "2 blocks" of tablea; blocks vary by brand (store listings seen through search results imply roughly 12 to 18 g each), so we give 1 oz (30 g). Pepper.ph's guide (Jica Simpas) suggests 2 to 3 tablets per cup for thickness. Muscovado follows Wikipedia; SBS just says sugar. Temperatures are ours; SBS says light to medium heat and a gentle simmer of at least 30 minutes. sbs.com.au. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (3)
Tips
- Pepper.ph says 2 to 3 tablets per cup of liquid, depending on how thick you want it, and that evaporated milk, low-fat milk or oat milk all work.
- Some tablea is already sweetened; taste before adding sugar.
- Serve with pandesal or ensaymada for dunking. Leftover tablea makes champorado, chocolate rice porridge.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Cacao arrived in the Philippines in 1670. Disputed: SBS attributes 1670 to "some historical accounts" and a Vera Files article repeats it; a Calbayog writer, seen through search results, argues friars may have brought it by the end of the 16th century.
- "Chocolate eh" and "chocolate ah" come from Rizal. Documented as an anecdote in "Noli Me Tangere" (1887) per Wikipedia, which notes the narrator himself doubts the story; other origins suggested online were not verified.
- Never use cocoa powder. Folklore: Wikipedia says substituting cocoa powder is "strongly frowned upon"; it is a strong preference, not a rule.
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