If you have a sweet tooth and would define yourself as a chocolate lover, then this article might interest you — but only if you have a spare $260 to spend on a 1.5-ounce bar of chocolate.
The chocolate, naturally, is handmade and consists of only the finest Ecuadorian cacao harvested from the rare cacao seeds which grow on the coast. According to the makers of the To’ak chocolate, the cacao seeds are fermented and converted into liquid chocolate, which is then hand-molded into bars.
As well as a bunch of calories and a huge expense, each small bar contains 81 percent cacao and is made using a unique 36-step procedure.
Carl Schweizer, the co-founder of To’ak said proudly about his chocolate , “It is the most expensive pure dark chocolate in the world without any fancy stuff like gold leaves or diamonds in it to increase its value. We produce our chocolate in the country of origin and focus a single origin that sums only 14 small farmers. Being so small permits us to be 100 percent involved in absolutely every step of making chocolate – from earth to tree to bean to bar.”
Of course, the packaging that the luxury chocolate comes in is also of the highest quality; it is made of Spanish elm, which is the same wood used to ferment the cacao beans, and is numbered individually.
Inside the box is a pair of specially made wooden tongs , which are to be used to pick up the delicate chocolate to prevent oily fingertips from altering its taste.
Only 574 bars of the To’ak chocolate were produced and sold last year.
The company’s other founder, Jerry Toth, said, “We make chocolate with the same care and precision as we know it from fine wine and premium small batch whiskey. And just like fine wine, To’ak is to be savored in a particular sequence. Using the wooden tongs, you’ve got to break the bar along the incised lines. Then, pick up the piece, smell it, and let it melt on the palate without chewing, breathing through your nose to take in all the complexity.”
To’ak in English translates as Earth and tree in the company’s attempt to show people, “It comes from the land.”
