Luxury chocolates
Luxury dark chocolates
Showing all 10 results
-
An unusually dry and cloudy growing season, combined with a mild roast and minimal conching, has produced arguably the most floral edition of To’ak chocolate thus far. This rendition is 100% cacao, without any extra cacao butter or other additives. Pure dark chocolate from the valley of Piedra de Plata.
Flavor Description
Mochaccino, roasted almonds, floralNose: Floral, green olives, fresh wood.
Palate: Roasted almonds, mochaccino, jasmine.
Finish: Perfumed coffee with roasted almonds on top.
Pairing Recommendations
Creamy or nutty cheeses pair beautifully—they serve to neutralize some of the bitterness and bring out the nutty notes. Think mild brie, triple-cremes, and Alpine-style cheeses. For spirits, Zacapa 23 rum is a top choice. Properly aged Cognac or Tequila and a wide range of whiskies will all work well. In the realm of wines, go with a super sweet fortified wine like Pedro Ximenez sherry.
Appellation: Piedra de Plata
Variety: Heirloom Nacional
Fermentation: 4-5 days
Roast: Medium
Conch: None
-
The goal with Dark was to highlight the emblematic characteristics of Nacional cacao from the Arriba growing region in Ecuador – akin to the French province of Burgundy in the wine world.
The higher cacao percentage, longer fermentation time, and relatively shorter conch time have produced a strongly floral aroma that continues to intermingle with red fruits and earthy notes on the palate.
Nose: Flowers and herbs, trace of nuts.
Palate: Floral, woody, herbal, earthy, berries.
Finish: Long, dark, rich and herbal.
-
The 2017 harvest, blessed with optimal growing conditions, lent itself to an approachable and well-balanced edition of To’ak Chocolate, subtly hitting on all of the signature flavor notes (fruit, flowers, nutty and woody) associated with heirloom Nacional cacao. A celebration of coastal Ecuadorian terroir.
To’ak signature series.
Nose: Faintly floral with green grass and hints of fresh eucalyptus.
Palate: Pistachio, orange bitters, black cherry, hints of espresso.
Finish: Fresh oak and subtle notes of toffee and honey.
Vegan. gluten and lactose free.
-
Start with heirloom Nacional cacao from Piedra de Plata, add torrential El Niño rains followed by an unexpected drought during the critical ripening period, and top it off with an unusually late harvest forced by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake. Single-origin Ecuadorian dark chocolate at its most complex.
To’ak origin series.
Nose: Wood with a touch of flowers.
Palate: Ripe banana, mint/eucalyptus, earthy red fruits.
Finish: Muscular, enigmatic, highly complex.
Variety: Heirloom Nacional
Vegan. gluten and lactose free.
Can be purchased only on preorder!
-
Palo Santo wood, renowned for its fragrant essential oils, is actually native to the forests of coastal Ecuador. It grows wild in the very same province in which To’ak was born. Our most fragrant edition of To’ak chocolate aged with this powerfully aromatic wood = profoundly exotic flavor profile, to say the least.
To’ak signature series.
Nose: Citrusy pine, touch of mint.
Palate: Opens with sweet resinous wood, mint and lemon peel with the suggestion of clove enter on the mid-palate, stewed dates and fresh pine on the back-end.
Finish: Coffee, dates, and pine.
Vegan. gluten and lactose free.
-
The cacao for this chocolate was sourced from two small farms on the Galapagos Islands. It’s the first single-origin chocolate ever produced from this unique part of our world. Ecuador’s Nacional cacao grown in the singular ecological conditions of the Galapagos has produced a truly terroir-driven chocolate with a special tempering that imitates the soft fudge texture.
To’ak signature series.
Nose: Cinnabon, raisins, whole wheat, floral buquet.
Palate: Floral, cookies & fudge, nutmeg, brown fruits.
Finish: Caramel, cinnamon, sweet bread.
Vegan, lactose and gluten free.
-
Palo Santo wood, renowned for its fragrant essential oils, is actually native to the forests of coastal Ecuador. It grows wild in the very same province in which To’ak was born. Our most fragrant edition of To’ak chocolate aged with this powerfully aromatic wood = profoundly exotic flavor profile, to say the least…
To’ak origin series.
Nose: Citrusy pine, touch of mint.
Palate: Opens with sweet resinous wood, mint and lemon peel with the suggestion of clove enter on the mid-palate, stewed dates and fresh pine on the back-end.
Finish: Coffee, dates, and pine.
Vegan. gluten and lactose free.
Can be purchased only on preorder!
-
Start with heirloom Nacional cacao from Piedra de Plata, add torrential El Niño rains followed by an unexpected drought during the critical ripening period, and top it off with an unusually late harvest forced by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake. Single-origin Ecuadorian dark chocolate at its most complex.
To’ak signature series.
Nose: Wood with a touch of flowers.
Palate: Ripe banana, mint/eucalyptus, earthy red fruits.
Finish: Muscular, enigmatic, highly complex.
Variety: Heirloom Nacional
Vegan. gluten and lactose free.
-
To’ak’s inaugural Art Series edition is also our very first blend, inspired by the late Oswaldo Guayasamín—Ecuador’s most celebrated artist. Two vintage editions of To’ak chocolate with totally different personalities carefully blended into a beautiful and exceptionally well-balanced expression of Ecuadorian dark chocolate.
Ecuador’s native son, Oswaldo Guayasamín, is one of Latin America’s most celebrated artists. His work has been on display in many of the finest museums and galleries in the world. In 1976, Guayasamín and his children created the Fundación Guayasamín with the mission to honor Ecuador’s rich indigenous culture and history. In service of this mission, To’ak and Fundación Guayasamín co-created a special edition of dark chocolate that pays tribute to the ancient history and culture of Ecuador in a way that has never been done before.
Art is part of our DNA. At To’ak, we’ve never been satisfied with simply making chocolate. Ultimately what we present to the world is a work of art, and dark chocolate is our medium of expression. As artists who live and work in Ecuador, we are keenly aware of Guayasamín’s legacy. One element that has particularly drawn our attention is his depiction of sharp contrasts. Guayasamín painted about cruelty as well as tenderness, life and death, desperation and hope. He explored both the light and the darkness within the human condition.
With each edition of chocolate, our goal is to faithfully express the unique aromas and flavor profile of Nacional cacao. But just as a person cannot be defined by any single characteristic or mood, Nacional cacao has many different faces. In 2015, we launched two expressions of chocolate, each representing different ends of the spectrum in terms of flavor profile and character. Our 2015 “Light” edition was soft, subtle, nuanced. Our 2015 “Dark” edition was raw, powerful, unapologetic.
We released both of these editions to the public in 2015, but separately. We allowed people the opportunity to experience both sides of the Nacional flavor personality but only side-by-side. For the Art Series, we created our very first blend, using chocolate aged from our 2015 harvest. We integrated our “Light” and “Dark” editions into a single unified expression, which we call the Duality Blend. This metaphor extends beyond flavor and can also been interpreted in the context of our work on the land. In the drawing by Guayasamín that accompanies this edition, we see an indigenous man that has been beaten down by cruelty, and yet he is planting a tree. In spite of the suffering that he bears, what he offers is an expression of hope.
Something similar can be seen in the destruction of habitat and the loss of ancient food varieties. Over 93% of the world’s food varieties have been lost over an 80-year span. The next in line is Ancient Nacional cacao in Ecuador, which is on the brink of extinction. Under the shadow of destruction, we at To’ak are currently planting as many Ancient Nacional cacao seedlings as we can, to give new life to this culinary treasure. This is our hope for the future.
To metaphorically describe his connection to the past, Guayasamín once said that his hands have been painting for more than five thousand years. Interestingly, Nacional cacao also traces its roots back by roughly 5,000 years in Ecuador. In this rare edition of chocolate, we are celebrating that which is far older than any of us and transcends time. We are celebrating the human experience in all of its many shades.
To’ak art series.
Nose: Tobacco, caramel, floral, woody.
Palate: Woody, buttery caramel, tobacco, honey, dark fruits, softly floral, earthy, nutty.
Finish: Honey, toffee, earthy, nutty.
Variety: Heirloom Nacional
Vegan, lactose and gluten free.
-
To’ak’s first ever 100% cacao bar has become an office favorite. Surprisingly light, with a hint of sweetness, it reminds us of an 80% bar.
In 2016 the valley of Piedra de Plata experienced the torrential rains of El Niño followed by an unexpected drought during the critical ripening period, and top it off an unusually late harvest was forced by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake. This is single-origin 100% Ecuadorian dark chocolate at its finest.
To’ak signature series.
Nose: Berries, floral, forest floor.
Palate: Floral, berries, mint, red wine, forest floor.
Finish: Sweet floral berries and tannic red wine.
Variety: Heirloom Nacional
Vegan, lactose and gluten free.
