Champurrado Vs Mexican Hot Chocolate: What's The Difference?

Around the holidays, hot drinks abound. Whether it's a simple tea or cocktail made with hot chicken broth, everyone wants a little comfort in a cup. Well, thankfully, in Mexican culture we have a few different options. 

When Mexican families gather to feast for the holidays they might enjoy a hot cup of Champurrado or Mexican hot chocolate. The two are often confused as the same thing by those not familiar with the drinks, but there are some key differences in their history and their ingredients. Champurrado is considered a type of atole and contains corn flour whereas, Mexican hot chocolate on its own is not an atole nor does it have corn flour in it. 

You might now be wondering what an atole is. Atole is a hot Mexican beverage made by steeping brown sugar cane and cinnamon in water and then adding corn flour and milk to thicken. People will add in their own variations of ingredients which is what makes Champurrado a type of atole. Here's a deeper dive into what makes these two cozy drinks unique. 

Along with the corn flour that separates champurrado from Mexican hot chocolate, the drink also also contains mexican chocolate (hence the confusion), milk, cinnamon, and raw cane sugar (called piloncillo). The drink is thicker and creamier than the average hot chocolate, but just as sweet and comforting.

Champurrado is also more closely associated with Day of the Dead celebrations, as it dates back to ancient times in Mexico.Civilizations like the Maya, Toltec, and Aztec learned to roast beans from the cacao trees, resulting in a paste that they would put in their drinks at celebrations.

Corn flour is made from dried and finely ground corn that goes through a process called nixtamalization. This process dates back to Mesoamerica and its people who treated corn kernels chemically in an alkaline solution with lye or calcium hydroxide. The Mesoamericans were the first to discover that our bodies can better absorb the niacin (vitamin B3) found in corn through this process. The lye came from wood fire ashes or the dust from limestone rocks they used to cook and scrape corn cobs.

The term itself, nixtamalization, comes from the Aztec language, Nahuatl. Nextli means "lime ashes" and tamalli means "unformed/cooked corn dough," which makes sense because corn flour is also used to make another traditional Mexican food — tamales.

Mexican hot chocolate also has a long history dating back to the Aztec and Mayan cultures. Spanish colonizers highly prized Mexican chocolate and were amazed at how the cacao tree's fruit was chewed and ground up into a drink by the Aztec and Maya.

When it was first made by the native people of these cultures, the drink contained spices and corn meal and was served cold during rituals. However, after Spanish colonizers brought the drink back to Europe and spread their influence among these ancient cultures, it has evolved a bit over time. Now, traditionally, Mexican hot chocolate is made using Mexican chocolate (thicker and rougher in texture), milk, and a frother. The frothy aspect comes either whisking the drink or pouring it into a blender, but not from any sort of whipped cream. Some people like to add spices to bring it back to ancient times, but that's up to personal preference.

No offense to lovers of boozy eggnog or even those who perk up with egg nog in coffee, I'm just nogged out. Considering trying one of these rich, chocolatey Mexican celebration drinks at your next big occasion this season.