(1) Cocoa is a hot beverage made from cocoa powder, generally served sweetened. It is the evolution of the original chocolate, which was a spiced, cold drink of the Maya and Aztecs (and still made by their descendants in Mexico today) brought to Spain by the Conquistadors. While the Maya used honey as a sweetener in their cacahuatl, the Aztecs drank their xocoatl unsweetened. Some people also refer to cocoa powder as cocoa; but the word alone refers to the beverage. See cocoa powder, Dutched, and natural process cocoa. (2) From the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Standards of Identity: Cocoa or cocoa powder is the product made by removing part of the fat (i.e., cocoa butter) from the cocoa bean and grinding the remaining material to a powder. Under U.S. regulations, “cocoa” and “cocoa powder” can be used synonymously.

Some products in the U.S. use the term “% cocoa” interchangeably with “% cacao.” The “% cocoa” on these products really is intended to refer to the total content of ingredients from cacao, not just the amount of cocoa powder. Because this use of the term “% cocoa” may create confusion for consumers, the Chocolate Manufacturers Association encourages the use of the term “% cacao.”

The difference between cocoa and hot chocolate: Cocoa is made from cocoa powder, hot chocolate is made from shaved chocolate. Hot chocolate is richer because chocolate contains the cocoa butter that was removed during the processing of cocoa (and finer chocolate has extra cocoa butter added on top of that). However, you can add a teaspoon or more of unsalted butter to a cup of cocoa to compensate. Some people also add the butter to hot chocolate, for an even richer experience—it’s better than making the beverage with half and half or cream.