> "dances_with_barka..." wrote:
> Cortes reported that Montezuma drank fifty goblets of
> (non-sweetened) cocoa beverage before entering his
> harem.

Cortes wasn't very good at "estimating" a lot of "facts"
about indigenous Mesoamerican cultures.

I'd also like to know how many ounces of beverage
the goblet contained.

This source says that he drank up to fifty cups in
the course of any given day, not in a concentrated
period immediately preceding intercourse with his
wives:

http://tinyurl.com/29t6py

> A goblet of cocoa was expensive to make in
> pre-mechanized society. Even if the laborers were
> nominally slaves, they had to be fed, clothed, housed,
> etc. In fact, the houseservants of a sovereign are
> normally well kept.
>
> Is it possible to estimate an equivelant 2007 value of
> a goblet of Montezuma's cocoa drink?

The Mexica and the Maya used cacao beans as one
form of currency, so in effect, Moctezuma The Second
(Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin) was drinking money.

http://www.chocolatesource.com/trivia/index.asp

http://www.chocolate.org/montezuma.html

http://www.elcastillodelcacao.com/cacao.html

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