Cocoa Tea {Saint Lucia}

Cocoa tea. It's a ubiquitous breakfast beverage on the island of Saint Lucia made from the abundance of locally-grown cacao. I decided to give it a try as our dessert course from Saint Lucia.

• 2 C water

• ½ cup crushed cacao nibs

• 1 t freshly grated cinnamon

• caviar and pod from one vanilla bean

• 1 C milk

• Sugar to sweeten (optional)

Usually cocoa tea is made with grated cocoa; I had nibs that the boys crushed with a mortar and pestle. Thank goodness for Kitchen Elves.

Pour water, crushed cacao nibs, cinnamon, vanilla caviar, and vanilla pod in a medium saucepan and bring to boil. Let it boil for a few minutes. Then remove it from the heat and steep for 10 minutes. Add in the milk and stir to combine. Heat to steaming, but not boiling. Add the sugar to sweeten - I used about 1/3 C organic granulated sugar. Strain to serve.

For the smalls, I served as is. For the talls, I spiked it with some dark rum. That's quintessentially Caribbean, right?!?

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