260美元一块的巧克力什么样

    并不是所有的可可豆都符合要求。托特指出：“我们的可可豆要经过6道手工挑选程序，在每个阶段，我们都会挑出个头太小、不够成熟、过于成熟、或者发酵不够完美的豆子。”最后一道工序需要花费三天时间，他们要逐个检查每颗可可豆，对它们是否适合做巧克力进行评价。

    弃置不用的可可豆会被拿回树林做肥料，或是卖给其他厂家做稍微低端的巧克力产品。托特表示：“在今年的生产期间，我们实际上生产了900多块巧克力，但我们发现其中三分之一表面上有瑕疵，所以我们会把这些挑出来，用做进行各种品尝或陈化试验。”剩下的574块巧克力才是值得包装的，也是最终投放市场的产品。托特的目标是2015年将产量提高一倍，达到1200块，但这也要取决于包括天气在内的一系列因素。

    除了推出2015年的雨林巧克力(Rain Harvest)之外，这支团队目前还在陈化2014年的部分巧克力。托特补充道：“我们不是要把它们陈化成巧克力块，而是在调温和出模之前先将巧克力脂陈化。和酿酒一样，（在受控的温度设置下）少量地长期接触氧气，有助于软化巧克力中的丹宁并减少其中的酸。2015年，我们也将推出大约400块2014年的1年珍藏巧克力。”

    托特表示，这种可可豆和巧克力如此珍贵的原因在于它的复杂性和平衡度，这主要归功于它的产地。他表示：“我认为这种巧克力的特殊之处是，吃下去后还有丰富变化的后味，这与拉塔河谷的土壤有很大关系。”

    这种巧克力的复杂性，使得它与威士忌、干邑白兰地或朗姆酒等高端酒非常相配。现在你可以在美国的三家零售店品尝这种巧克力，该公司很快还会增加一家零售店。

    据托特称，干邑白兰地是最配这种巧克力的酒，而凯尔特XO和法拉宾XO更是绝配。他补充道：“朗姆酒绝对也是上上之选，剑鱼号21年和15年特藏陈年朗姆酒则是首选品牌。”

    他还表示：“如果说干邑是天赐之配，朗姆酒也相当不错，那么威士忌则是最复杂的，有些威士忌搭配起来令人非常赞叹，有些则不行。在苏格兰威士忌里，阿德贝格、拉加维林和布鲁莱迪等泥炭威士忌都不行，橡木威士忌也不是很好。最好的苏格兰威士忌是雪莉桶或波特酒桶里窑藏的威士忌。亚伯乐威士忌大概是最好的。百富15年和21年（在波特酒桶里珍藏）就很不错。”

    托特表示，最绝妙的搭配就是派比•范温克威士忌。他解释道：“这不仅仅因为这款酒享有的大名，还因为派比•范温克威士忌和To’ak巧克力的细微之处难分伯仲。品一口派比•范温克，尝一口To’ak巧克力，这种感觉绝对值得拥有，哪怕只有一次。”

    Not all beans pass muster. “Our beans are subjected to six different phases of hand-selection—in each phase, we remove beans that are deemed too small, under-ripe or over-ripe or imperfectly fermented,” notes Toth. The final selection process took three days of inspecting the beans one-by-one and making value judgments on their suitability.

    Unused beans were returned to the forest floor and now serve as nutrition for the soil or were sold to producers of lower-grade chocolate products. “At production time this year, we actually produced over 900 bars, but roughly one-third of them were found to have blemishes on the surface, so they were separated from the rest and are being used for various tasting and aging experiments,” says Toth. The remaining 574 bars, deemed worthy for packaging, are the only bars we have released to the public.” The goal for 2015’s harvest is to produce just over double that amount, around 1,200, depending on a number of factors including climate.

    In addition to the 2015 Rain Harvest release, the team is currently aging a portion of its 2014 harvest. “We are not aging them as bars—rather, we are aging the chocolate mass prior to tempering and formation into bars,” adds Toth. “As with wine, slight and long-term access to oxygen (in a controlled temperature setting) helps soften the tannins of chocolate and rounds out the acidity. In 2015, we will also be releasing about 400 bars of 2014 One-Year Reserve.”

    Toth says what makes the beans prized and the chocolate so strong is its complexity and balance, and he thanks the growing region for that. “What I think is special, particularly with our chocolate—and this has a lot to do with terroir of Piedra de Plata—is the wealth of secondary flavor characteristics that evolve from one second to the next,” he says.

    The chocolate’s complexity is partly what makes it such a good candidate for pairings with high-end alcohol like cognac, whiskey and rum. Three, soon to be four, retail locations throughout the U.S. offer tastings.

    Cognac is the best spirit pairing, according to Toth, preferring Kelt XO and Frapin XO as top choices. “Rum is the other definite winner,” he adds. “El Dorado 21 year and El Dorado 15 year are top choices in the rum category.”

    “If Cognac is the most divine, and rum quite nice, whiskey is the most complex,” he says. “Some whiskies are amazing, others are not. In the realm of Scotch, peaty whiskies, such as Ardbeg, Lagavulin, Bruichladdich do not work—the peatiness overwhelms the chocolate. Very oaky whiskies are also not great. The best Scotch whiskies are whiskies that are aged or finished in sherry casks or port-aged casks. Aberlour is arguably the best. Balvenie 15 year and 21 year (in port wood) is quite interesting.”

    The best pairing of all, says Toth, is the Pappy Van Winkle. “Not only because of the name, but really, the nuances of both Pappy and of To’ak somehow manage to stand on equal ground,” he explains. “A mouthful of Pappy Van Winkle and To’ak Chocolate is an experience that is worth having, even if only once.”

    To’ak巧克力和与之搭配的酒品目前在芝加哥、洛杉矶和旧金山湾区有售。该公司官网也在销售成品巧克力。每块50克的巧克力都会搭配一款木盒，以及一本厚达116页的黑巧克力品鉴指南，也就是说，你并不能把这260美元都吃下肚子。（财富中文网）

    译者：朴成奎

    To’ak Chocolates and pairing are available in Chicago (both Lush Wine & Spirits retail locations), Los Angeles (Wally’s Wine & Spirits), and in the San Francisco Bay Area (Beltramo’s Wine & Spirits in Menlo Park). Individual bars can be purchased on the To’ak website. Each 50 gram bar comes packaged in a wooden box and accompanied by a 116-page booklet that includes an extensive guide to dark chocolate tasting, so not all of your $260 will go down your gullet.