We sample some of these luxury dark chocolates that are made from the oldest and rarest cacao variety on earth to find out
It's hard not to love chocolate. The velvety texture and sweet flavour, not to mention the nutritional benefits or happiness that comes with eating it, are but some of the reasons to indulge in this decadent treat, but what if the chocolate costs as much as dinner at a fine dining restaurant? To'ak makes luxury chocolate from the world’s rarest and most prized cacao variety, the Ecuadorian Nacional, which results in limited edition bars of single-origin dark chocolate—the most expensive of which is priced at US$490 (HK$3,895) for 50g.
We spoke to To'ak's CEO James Le Compte to find out how a rainforest conservation project in Ecuador turned into one of the world's most expensive chocolate brands, why it costs so much and what it tastes like.
See also: The best chocolate producers in Asia
What is To’ak Chocolate?
To'ak makes extremely limited editions of single-origin Ecuadorian dark chocolate [Origin Bars are typically limited to only 150 bars per edition; Signature Bars are typically limited to 1,000 per edition] and is celebrated for its cask-aged editions, unique emphasis on specific harvest seasons, and elegant packaging and design. We also pay farmers the highest cacao prices in the continent and are leading the movement in nursing an ancient cacao variety back from the brink of extinction.
The rare Ecuadorian cacao variety called Nacional traces its genetic lineage back at least 5,300 years, but in 1916, an outbreak of Witches’ Broom disease destroyed it. By the dawn of the 21st century, this famed variety was believed to be extinct.
So, how did it all start?
To’ak was born from a rainforest conservation project that co-founder Jerry Toth started in Ecuador in 2007. Through his nonprofit organisation Third Millennium Alliance (TMA), he helped create the Jama-Coaque Ecological Reserve, which currently protects over 1,500 acres of coastal rainforest in Ecuador. It was here that he began cultivating cacao trees and making chocolate in a thatched bamboo house in the middle of the forest.
The house was totally off-the-grid and didn’t have electricity, so initially the entire process was done by hand. He roasted the cacao beans in a big iron pot over a wood fire and then dehusked the beans, one by one. Jerry then used an old hand grinder to manually grind the beans. The unforgettably powerful aroma that wafted from that grinder was his first cue that Ecuadorian cacao was unlike any other.
After years of honing his passion, Jerry linked up with the other co-founders, Carl Schweizer, an Austrian design specialist, and Dennise Valencia who was born and raised in the capital city of Quito and a member of Ecuador’s economic solidarity movement. Later, they were joined by a fourth-generation Ecuadorian cacao farmer, Servio Pachard and myself. Together, our mission was to radically change the way the world experiences dark chocolate.
