Would YOU spend £169 on chocolate? World’s most expensive bar on sale made from the finest cacao... and is so delicate you have to eat it with wooden tongs • • •
To’ak chocolate retails at $260 (£169) a bar weighing just 1.5 ounces Contains a cocoa bean measuring between 7mm and 8mm in the centre Is eaten with wooden tongs to make it easier to smell the aroma of the bar
You will have to fork out a few beans if you fancy this chocolate as it is said to be the world’s most expensive bar. To’ak chocolate, which translated to ‘earth’ and ‘tree’ in ancient Ecuadorian dialects, costs a whopping $260 (£169) per bar. Despite its hefty price tag the handmade treat is surprisingly light, in fact it is so delicate that each bar weighs just 1.5 ounces.
The To’ak chocolate bar is said to be the world’s most expensive pure chocolate bar costing £169
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It is eaten using wooden tongs, or tasting utensils, so that it is easier to perceive the chocolate›s aroma on the nose. The creators of the snack say that one of the reasons for To›ak›s price tag is that 95 per cent of chocolate is made using mass-produced beans, whereas their chocolate comes from the remaining five per cent, known as fine grade cacao. Each step towards making the bar - which is 81 per cent cacao mass and the rest sugar - is meticulous, requiring 36 steps to make the bar.
The chocolate bar is presented in a wooden gift box complete Arriba Appelation map and wooden tongs that are used to eat the treat to best enhance the chocolate›s aroma
Rare cacao seeds are first harvested from the coast of Ecuador, before they are fermented and turned into liquid chocolate. This liquid chocolate is then hand-moulded and a single, hand-selected, handmeasured and shelled cacao bean is placed in the centre - this must fit perfectly and measure between 7mm and 8mm. Though there are other chocolates out there with higher price tags, To›ak claim their chocolate is the most expensive pure chocolate - with no expensive additions. Jerry Toth, co-founder of To›ak, says that their approach to chocolate is similar to that of other luxury food products with high price tags.
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This chocolate is then hand-moulded and a single, hand-selected, hand-measured and shelled cacao bean is placed in the centre of each bar - this must fit perfectly and measure between 7mm and 8mm
‚We make chocolate with the same care and precision as we know it from fine wine and premium small batch whiskey.›
Rare cacao seeds are first harvested from the coast of Ecuador in order to create the chocolate bar
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Carl Schweizer, co-founder of To›ak, added: ‹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% involved in absolutely every step of making chocolate: from earth to tree to bean to bar.›
Carl Schweizer (pictured) is the co-founder of the company
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To’ak uses the oldest and rarest cacao variety on earth to make extremely limited editions of single-origin Ecuadorian dark chocolate. It’s flagship edition was aged for three years in a French Oak Cognac Cask and retails for $365 per bar, considered the most expensive chocolate in the world. Each bar is packaged in a hand-crafted Spanish Elm wood box with the individual bar number engraved on the back. It includes a 116-page booklet and specially designed tasting utensils that are used to explore the signature aroma of heirloom Ecuadorian cacao. To’ak is also working on-the-ground in Ecuador to conserve history’s most prized variety of cacao before it goes extinct. To’ak has been featured in Forbes, L.A. Times, Robb Report, Fortune Magazine, TV channels such as BBC, CNBC, CNN, and FOX, and over a hundred other publications across six continents.
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