In which culture is the first chocolate drink believed to have been created?

The first chocolate drink is believed to have been created by the Maya around 2,500–3,000 years ago. It is a drink (a cocoa drink) which was an essential part of Aztec culture by 1400 AD, by which they referred to as xocōlātl. The drink became popular in Europe (Spain) after being introduced from Mexico in the New World.

The Mayan hot chocolate was a heated drink which consisted of shaved chocolate, melted chocolate or cocoa powder in heated milk or water. Usually a sweetener such as honey was added. Historians have now found evidence that Mayans believed drinking hot chocolate was good for the entire body, especially the heart. It was used medicinally to treat many various ailments.

Prior to using it as a hot drink, archaeologists founded physical evidence that Mayan chocolate consumption occurred as early as 500 BC, and there is speculation that chocolate predates even the Mayans. To make the chocolate drink, which was at first served cold, the Maya ground cocoa seeds into a paste and mixed it with water, cornmeal, chili peppers, and other ingredients. They then poured the drink back and forth from a cup to a pot until a thick foam developed.

Chocolate was available to Maya of all social classes, although the wealthy drank chocolate from "large spouted vessels" that were often buried with elites. An early Classic period (460-480 AD) Mayan tomb from the site of Rio Azul, Guatemala, had vessels with the Maya glyph for cacao on them with residue of a chocolate drink.