As for me, the answer is an emphatic yes, I would. And I will. Probably this week, even.
But, would you? This chocolate, called To’ak Chocolate, is made in Ecuador at a Finca Sarita farm just outside the city of Calceta in the Manabi Province.
Servio Pachard Vera is the production manager, and he gets the organic cacao beans from a nearby mountain slope where, according to The Guardian, native heirloom Arriba cacao still grows. Nowadays, most species of cacao trees are hybridized, which makes these native organic beauties especially rare.
Once the harvested beans are brought to Pachard Vera, he ferments them for five to seven days, then spreads them out on mesh racks to dry under a clear plastic roof. After about a week of this, the beans are sent to an area off-site for roasting.
“It’s a clean production,” Pachard Vera says, The Guardian reports. “Everything is symbiotic, in equilibrium, in peace and harmony.”
The chocolate itself comes in a Spanish elm wood box, according to Tasting Table, and features a pair of wooden tongs, so that you can eat the chocolate without tainting the taste of it with the oil from your fingers. A single bar costs a whopping $260, with Vintage 2014 editions running at $315 and $345. Of course this is all due to the rarity and high standards the chocolate is held to, but who can say if it’s worth the extra money unless you taste it?
Pachard Vera also offers tours of the farm, and guests are allowed to stay the night for $15. This price includes meals as well, much cheaper than a bar of the chocolate. But doesn’t that make you all the more curious? I know I am.