Hot Days on the Beach Call for a Hot Drink

At Jamaica’s Royal Plantation, staffers prepare every step in the process, from cocoa pods to hot chocolate in the cup.

The hottest drink at the five-star, Royal Plantation Ocho Rios, Jamaica, comes served in a simple enamel cup. It’s hot chocolate made from fresh cocoa grown just a few miles from the hotel and carefully prepared and served every Friday morning.

“Hot chocolate isn’t the first thing you think of sipping after a dip in the ocean or a walk on the beach, but we find it to be the perfect alternative delight for our guests,” says Jaime Stewart, managing director of Royal Plantation. “This service is a way for us to showcase something special and indigenous to Jamaica, giving our guests a true taste of this special place they are visiting.”

Served on an elevated terrace overlooking one of Royal Plantation’s two private beaches, hot chocolate service begins long before the cups are laid out. Royal Plantation staffers prepare every step in the process from cocoa pods to hot chocolate in the cup. First, they select the finest pods, and then the interior seeds or beans are extracted for fermentation, roasting and drying.

The prepared cocoa is grated, and then boiled with water and coconut milk. Locally grown cinnamon is added to the mixture, making a truly traditional delicacy and giving guests the opportunity to sample something important to the Jamaican culture. Guests can add more coconut milk, sugar or other traditional hot-chocolate toppers and enjoy a piece of hardo—a simple, hard-dough bread consisting of flour, salt and yeast. As the name suggests, this rustic loaf is a little heavier than other breads.

Marjorie Parkin, who has been making hot chocolate since her childhood, is responsible for preparing and serving the cocoa at Royal Plantation. Parkin also shares with guests  some of the legend and lore surrounding this crop: Grown predominantly along the equator, the crop only thrives on a few Caribbean Islands. The trees require shade, heat and rain—just what Jamaica’s Blue Mountains provide. Jamaican cocoa is highly prized in the international market as it comes from the Criollo variety of tree, which produces a cocoa with a superior flavor and quality. Among chocolate connoisseurs it is known as the “prince of cocoas.”

It is said that Sir Hans Sloane, while visiting Jamaica in the seventeenth century, tinkered with the local methods of preparing cocoa for drinking by mixing it with milk. Upon returning to England, he had his milk chocolate manufactured for apothecaries. Later Cadbury was inspired by his recipe.

Perched on two private white-sand beaches overlooking the Caribbean, Royal Plantation in Ocho Rios, Jamaica is a British Colonial-inspired 74 ocean-view suite beach hideaway with a three-bedroom private villa. A member of The Leading Small Hotels of The World and Leading Spas of the World, Royal Plantation is also the recipient of three American Academy of Hospitality Science Five Star Diamond Awards and winner of the Resort and Great Hotels Connoisseurs Choice Award for 2004. It is Green Globe Certified. Visit www.royalplantation.com.

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