How We Make Our Herbal Chocolates
To’ak is a “tree to bar” chocolate maker. Our work begins on the land, working with local farmers to responsibly cultivate Ecuador’s prized heirloom Nacional cacao before taking it through the process of making chocolate. Our chocolate is single-origin. This is significant because single-origin chocolate tends to highlight the unique flavors and aromas created by the soil and climate of a particular region, and that is especially true of our collection of herbal chocolate.
Dark Chocolates With Inviting Herbal and Spice Flavors
Highlighting the characteristics of Nacional cacao from the Arriba growing region in Ecuador, akin to the French province of Burgundy in the wine world, our Rain Harvest 2015 Dark has a strongly floral aroma. It has a woody, earthy, herbal flavor with notes of berries, and has a lovely rich and herbal finish.
We chose to age the same 2015 Dark edition with Palo Santo. Palo Santo is a tree that grows in the coastal dry forests of Ecuador and is rich in terpenes, the primary constituent of essential oils. Its name means sacred wood, as it is often burned as incense to produce a remarkably fragrant smoke. After maturing for three years, our Palo Santo Aged edition is easily the most fragrant To’ak chocolate, with a tantalizing flavor profile of coconut, mint, and citrusy pine. We also decided to pair our 2015 Dark edition with Kampot pepper, Cambodia’s finest pepper. Known for its jasmine-like floral aroma and subtle fruitiness on the palate, Kampot pepper transcends what is generally associated with pepper. Matured for three years, our Kampot Pepper Aged edition has an intricate flavor profile that’s floral with shades of peppery spice, nuts, and plums.
Rain Harvest 2018 is arguably the most floral edition of To’ak chocolate. The 2018 growing season was the driest in the Piedra de Plata valley, and this coupled with mild roasting and minimal conching resulted in a flower-forward chocolate. Elegantly nutty, with long-lasting floral notes, this is a chocolate bar that showcases Nacional’s hallmark flavor.
Our Andean Alder Aged edition is a bit wilder. The result of aging our Vintage 2014 edition in a wood vessel made from Ecuadorian Alder that grows wild in the Andes Mountains, this chocolate bar is unquestionably unique. Flavorful and aromatic, it carries notes of oregano, berries, and woodfire.
Spanish Elm Aged is another of our wood-matured chocolates. Aging since 2016 in a wood vessel made of Spanish Elm, the same wood we use to ferment our cacao, this chocolate’s flavor and aroma has grown in complexity. Savory and sweet, it carries hints of smoke and berries with a creamy finish.
As pioneers in the field of aged chocolate, we have also experimented with cask aging, drawing inspiration from whisky and how a well-aged spirit often derives up to 80% of its aroma and flavor from its barrel. Our Tequila Cask Aged chocolate is the result of maturing our Harvest 2015 edition in one of Don Julio González’s tequila casks. Delightfully fruity, it has a vanilla and agave twang. For our Bourbon Cask Aged chocolate, we aged our 2017 edition for two years in a bourbon barrel from the renowned Woodford Reserve, one of the oldest distilling sites in Kentucky. The chocolate has a rich nutty cacao flavor with hints of vanilla and clove, and a finish that carries traces of smoke and oak.
View our herbal chocolate bars to learn more about them, and what they pair well with.
