Kampot Pepper Aged
50g (1.76 oz)
Ingredients
80.5% Cacao beans, cane sugar
Story
The world’s most celebrated pepper meets the world’s most luxurious dark chocolate.
Flavor Profile
Floral spice, pepper, earthy, nuts, plums
Cacao's Story
The world’s most celebrated pepper meets the world’s most luxurious dark chocolate.
Kampot Pepper Aged
Cambodia's Finest Pepper and Ecuador's Finest Cacao
The importance of terroir, specifically in the context of To’ak chocolate, has drawn our attention to other artisanal producers in the world whose products are also strongly shaped by land and weather. This fascination led us to Cambodian province of Kampot, which has been growing the world’s finest pepper for centuries. The growing conditions and flavor profile of Kampot pepper both have several interesting parallels with Ecuadorian cacao—which aroused our curiosity.
The most prized sparkling wine in the world is produced in Champagne. The Italian town of Gorgonzola is famous for its cheese, and the Japanese city of Kobe is renowned for its marbled beef. In the realm of pepper, this distinction is held by the Cambodian province of Kampot. It has officially been awarded the prestigious Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) for its pepper—a certification that protects terroir-driven regional products such as Champagne, Cognac, Roquefort cheese, and Tequila.
Grown at the nexus of mountains and sea, the flavor profile of Kampot pepper transcends everything that is generally associated with pepper. It is known for a jasmine-like floral aroma combined with a subtle fruitiness on the palate, underpinned by powerful spice. We wanted to know how our chocolate would taste after aging it with this enticing range of aromas. This had never been done before, so there was only one way to find out. We imported the finest Kampot pepper in the world, from our friends at Kadodé, and began to experiment.
We tried it with several editions of our chocolate and discovered that the best match was with our 2015 harvest, specifically with an 80.5% cacao percentage. This was possibly the most floral edition of chocolate that we’ve ever made, and it’s also proven well-adapted to acquire spicy flavors. The floral components of both chocolate and pepper work together, and are likewise enlivened by the robust spice. Meanwhile the strength of this particular chocolate, in terms of its tannic structure, provides enough weight to stand up to the spice and not be overwhelmed.
This is a remarkable chocolate to enjoy on its own or pair with añejo tequila, rye whisky and/or various different ranges of cheese. It also includes a very special bonus. With each bar of this edition, we include an 18-gram sample of red Kampot pepper—the very same pepper that was used to aged our chocolate.
Kampot pepper has won the esteem of many of the finest chefs in the world, such as Olivier Roellinger. We encourage you to use this pepper for whichever culinary adventures you wish to embark upon.
2015 Weather Chart
Floral Shades of Spice
Floral
Pepper
Earthy
Nuts
Kampot Pepper Aged
Flavor Profile
Nose: A fresh herbal tone with rich chocolatey notes enlivened by floral spice.
Palate: Earthy, hints of nuts and dark fruits, pepper comes in at the mid-palate with hints of wood and coffee, spice and citrus on the backend.
Finish: Smooth buttery texture, floral shades of pepper with hints of wood and coffee, long alluring finish.
Flavor Wheel:
Pairs well with...
Whisky
Other Spirits
Cheese
Our Brand Promises
100% Satisfaaction and No-Melt Guarantee
We are confident you’ll love our chocolate as much as we do. Please contact us if, for any reason, you’re not completely satisfied.
Our guarantee covers any reasonable dissatisfaction with the product and damage or loss in transit. The guarantee is valid for 30 days from the date of purchase, providing you have proof of purchase and a photo of any reported damage.
To make a claim, please contact us by phone, email, or chat.
Fast Worldwide Shipping
We aim to ship your chocolate with the utmost care, ensuring it arrives quickly and in perfect condition.
We ship worldwide with FedEx, UPS, or USPS. For full details, please view our Shipping Policy.
Regenerative Cacao that Supports Conservation
We’re using cacao trees to help restore forest on degraded agricultural land. It’s one element of a holistic regenerative agroforestry project that combines cacao trees with a diversity of tall native shade trees, fruit trees, and other food crops like bananas and plantains.
We’re doing this in partnership with TMA (Third Millennium Alliance), a nonprofit rainforest conservation organization that has been protecting and restoring forests in Ecuador since 2007.
For the full story, please read our blog article: Using Cacao to Reverse Deforestation.
Direct & Transparent Trade
We pay a farmgate price that is 3-8x the standard market price for “wet cacao" — well above the fair trade premium. To the best of our knowledge, these are the highest cacao prices on the continent.