Chocolate or Tsokolate has been known in the Philippines since the time of the Spanish missionaries, when they first brought cacao plants over to be cultivated here. It was a sign of affluence to drink tsokolate-eh, a thick, almost syrupy brew often served with churros. The beverage was mixed using a batirol, an adaptation of the molinillo of the Aztecs by the Spaniards to mix the drink they learned to love from the South American Indians. The molinillo is still found today in South American stores and homes and is used to make their version of tsokolate. While the affluent had their tsokolate-eh, the common people had their tsokolate-ah, thinner, watered down, but was still made using the wooden batirol.