????并不是所有的可可豆都符合要求。托特指出：“我們的可可豆要經(jīng)過6道手工挑選程序，在每個階段，我們都會挑出個頭太小、不夠成熟、過于成熟、或者發(fā)酵不夠完美的豆子。”最后一道工序需要花費(fèi)三天時間，他們要逐個檢查每顆可可豆，對它們是否適合做巧克力進(jìn)行評價。

????棄置不用的可可豆會被拿回樹林做肥料，或是賣給其他廠家做稍微低端的巧克力產(chǎn)品。托特表示：“在今年的生產(chǎn)期間，我們實(shí)際上生產(chǎn)了900多塊巧克力，但我們發(fā)現(xiàn)其中三分之一表面上有瑕疵，所以我們會把這些挑出來，用做進(jìn)行各種品嘗或陳化試驗(yàn)。”剩下的574塊巧克力才是值得包裝的，也是最終投放市場的產(chǎn)品。托特的目標(biāo)是2015年將產(chǎn)量提高一倍，達(dá)到1200塊，但這也要取決于包括天氣在內(nèi)的一系列因素。

????除了推出2015年的雨林巧克力(Rain Harvest)之外，這支團(tuán)隊(duì)目前還在陳化2014年的部分巧克力。托特補(bǔ)充道：“我們不是要把它們陳化成巧克力塊，而是在調(diào)溫和出模之前先將巧克力脂陳化。和釀酒一樣，（在受控的溫度設(shè)置下）少量地長期接觸氧氣，有助于軟化巧克力中的丹寧并減少其中的酸。2015年，我們也將推出大約400塊2014年的1年珍藏巧克力。”

????托特表示，這種可可豆和巧克力如此珍貴的原因在于它的復(fù)雜性和平衡度，這主要?dú)w功于它的產(chǎn)地。他表示：“我認(rèn)為這種巧克力的特殊之處是，吃下去后還有豐富變化的后味，這與拉塔河谷的土壤有很大關(guān)系。”

????這種巧克力的復(fù)雜性，使得它與威士忌、干邑白蘭地或朗姆酒等高端酒非常相配。現(xiàn)在你可以在美國的三家零售店品嘗這種巧克力，該公司很快還會增加一家零售店。

????據(jù)托特稱，干邑白蘭地是最配這種巧克力的酒，而凱爾特XO和法拉賓XO更是絕配。他補(bǔ)充道：“朗姆酒絕對也是上上之選，劍魚號21年和15年特藏陳年朗姆酒則是首選品牌。”

????他還表示：“如果說干邑是天賜之配，朗姆酒也相當(dāng)不錯，那么威士忌則是最復(fù)雜的，有些威士忌搭配起來令人非常贊嘆，有些則不行。在蘇格蘭威士忌里，阿德貝格、拉加維林和布魯萊迪等泥炭威士忌都不行，橡木威士忌也不是很好。最好的蘇格蘭威士忌是雪莉桶或波特酒桶里窯藏的威士忌。亞伯樂威士忌大概是最好的。百富15年和21年（在波特酒桶里珍藏）就很不錯。”

????托特表示，最絕妙的搭配就是派比?范溫克威士忌。他解釋道：“這不僅僅因?yàn)檫@款酒享有的大名，還因?yàn)榕杀?范溫克威士忌和To’ak巧克力的細(xì)微之處難分伯仲。品一口派比?范溫克，嘗一口To’ak巧克力，這種感覺絕對值得擁有，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巧克力和與之搭配的酒品目前在芝加哥、洛杉磯和舊金山灣區(qū)有售。該公司官網(wǎng)也在銷售成品巧克力。每塊50克的巧克力都會搭配一款木盒，以及一本厚達(dá)116頁的黑巧克力品鑒指南，也就是說，你并不能把這260美元都吃下肚子。（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

????譯者：樸成奎

????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.