Tsokolate

Tsokolate (Tagalog: [tʃoko'late] choh-koh-LAH-teh), also spelled chocolate is a native Filipino thick hot chocolate drink. It is made from tabliya or tablea, tablets of pure ground roasted cacao beans, dissolved in water and milk. Like in Spanish and Mexican versions of hot chocolate, the drink is traditionally made in a tsokolatera and briskly mixed with a wooden baton called the molinillo (also called batidor or batirol), causing the drink to be characteristically frothy. Tsokolate is typically sweetened with a bit of muscovado sugar, and has a distinctive grainy texture.

While today coffee is far more common, tsokolate is traditionally consumed at breakfast and/or merienda (afternoon snack time) as a substitute for or alongside coffee (which it predated in the country), traditionally paired with traditional kakanin delicacies or pandesal and other types of traditional Filipino pastries. It is also popular during Christmas season in the Philippines, particularly among children.