you might try blanching them like you would nuts? I dunno it's the best thought I have, I'll ask at school, I know just the instructor to ask, he knows like everything about chocolate.

I've been reading (mostly online, but that's cuase i'm at work) about natives and cocoa beans.

These are not specifically to address your issue, but some things you might want to try, for teh "fun" of it, as you seem adventerous in your chocolate.

1) one thing often done was to "roast" the beans in the dirt of a covered fire (that is, the coals only) over night - it more "bakes" them than really roasts them,but it apparently brings out different aspects to the drink.

2) drink the drink with well ground beans, KEEPING the beans in the drink as you drink it (ack).

3) most of the drinks listed were with water only, not milk (ack), but it creates a more bitter flavor.

4) instead of suger, try these different sweatners, all found in various history books. Honey; dates or other local fruits (most of them had names I didn't konw, sorry); flower petals from ediable flowers.

ohh, i just read that the beans you are bying are "roasted", i read RAW and thought, uncooked, not unprocessed. :-) guess #1 is irrevelant.

5) add chili pods to teh water as you boil.

6) add mushrooms to teh water as you boil. (hum, let's guess what *kind* of mushrooms those were, given that the ancients drank this for ummm... "effect" more than taste or health. grins wide. peyote works,too, but i don't have peyote on hand. grins again).

7) ground with chili then simmerd thick, and served on yellow sweet potatoes or other sweet roots. (a traditional mole sauce?).

anyhow, how are you grinding the beans, if i can ask...