Treat yourself to the world’s most expensive chocolates

The CEO Magazine ^ | 4/16/2019 | Jodie Darlington

[simpson96]

Chocolate has been described as ‘a poor man’s Champagne’, and that’s certainly true if you’re talking about the confectionery you find in the supermarket.

However, more than 1,000 years ago, the ancient Maya regarded chocolate as the ‘food of the gods’. In fact, the Maya even used fermented and dried cacao beans as a form of currency, trading the beans like coins.

Today, chocolate is available all around the world – although its quality and price varies considerably.

While some chocoholics are satisfied with any brand as long as they get their fix, true devotees liken it to vintage wine or whiskey. They’re willing to pay a high premium to get their hands on the best of the best.

Here, we profile five of the world’s most expensive chocolates and find out why they’re worthy of their hefty price tags.

1. Art Series Guayasamin by To’ak, A$968

Ecuadorian chocolate company To’ak produces the most expensive chocolate in the world, routinely charging more than A$400 for a single 50-gram bar of chocolate.

“If it were up to us, we would rather be called the world’s most valuable chocolate,” Co-Founder Jerry Toth says.

To’ak ages its rare cacao beans in a French oak cognac cask for four years. “For the same reason that whisky brands charge more for their older bottles, we charge more for our older editions of chocolate,” Jerry explains.

The Art Series Blend combines two vintage editions of To’ak chocolate, creating “a beautiful and exceptionally well-balanced expression of Ecuadorian dark chocolate”. This special edition is made from 77 per cent cacao beans and has a six-week waiting list from date of order.

[Gen.Blather]

Pretty much, I will avoid buying anything presented as “the most expensive, “

[GnuThere]

I see the problem - as is the case with other types of luxury items, it appears the packaging probably cost more than the chocolate ;)

[nwrep]

Packaging, marketing, promotional materials...

[heshtesh]

I tend to live within my means, Choceur chocolate covered almonds with caramel and sea salt at Aldis 3.99 a bag, works every time.

[SamAdams76]

Everything is relative. For a multi-millionaire, paying those $80 chocolates is roughly the equivalent of you paying for those $3.99 bags of chocolates at Aldis. To them, it's pocket change.

But diminishing returns do come into play at a certain point. I've developed a taste for fine wines over the years but I find that a $15 bottle of well chosen wine is almost just as good as a $100 bottle "five star" wine. In fact, I can appreciate a lot of wines under $10 a bottle. Which is good because if I had to pay $100 for a bottle of wine all the time, I'd be in the poorhouse.

[Vendome]

I’ve had truffles by Le Livre and Mirrabelle

Never heard of the other ones

I wish Richart were still in America

OMG

[Jolla]

Having drank French wine for years was happy to see Trader Joes bring in some $50-$60 Margo, Pomerol, tried 4-5 over a couple of months and was a bit disappointed. Went back to my $15 St Emilion Grand Cru for the house wine. Headed to France for a few months next year, they send us lots of Bordeaux, want to try the Burgundy wines they don’t send us.

[redangus]

Hershey’s at Walgreen’s cost about $2.00.

[ClearBlueSky]

Of what I’ve had-no thousand dollar boxes for me- the best chocolate is Belgian.Kron. Local-Elmers.Their Heavenly Hash and Easter chocolate is the best! Drugstore-Nestle is better than Hershey, tho I won’t turn much chocolate down. No nuts-that’s just a way to cheat you out of chocolate.

[Innovative]

I don’t want the “most expensive”, I want “the best”.

I find that at least one of the best is See’s Candies.

I love their marzipan and the truffles.

[JohnnyP]

Before I went low carb, I used to buy uncut slabs of their chocolate nut fudge and eat it like a candy bar.

Those were the days, then I found out I was close to being diabetic.

[Moltke]

Published in the CEO Magazine.

I guess this is the kind of valuable knowledge every CEO must have.

[Thank You Rush]

IMO - the best are:
Frangos:

https://www.bing.com/shop?q=frango+mints&FORM=SHOPPA&originIGUID=A51007A8F9704ACFAB5EC39C44E1E8A5

and

Esther Price:
http://www.estherprice.com/

[ConservativeWarrior]

Reminds me of Jerry Seinfeld buying his morning coffee in NYC. Each day he parked in a tow-away zone, and each day he’d get a $300 parking ticket.

But to him, even with the ticket, his coffee cost the equivalent of our 50 cents.

[bgill]

You could buy a boat load of Hershey’s chocolate for the price of a box of the expensive stuff. I’d rather have the boat load.

[Kommodor]

Aldi’s has some surprisingly good stuff, if you can find the imported chocolates, etc. I recall buying something like a pack of dark chocolate Kit-Kat clones there that were delicious.

[9YearLurker]

Yeah, if you need to spend near this equivalent for the “best of” pretty much anything to make your life satisfying, there is something wrong with your life.

[YogicCowboy]

Lindt & Sprungli costs $3.00 when on sale for members. I get the 90%. I prefer it over any other brand I have tried.

I used to get Valrhona from Trader Joe’s, before I discovered the above.

I do not care about the tastes of others on anything. I care about my own tastes.

If I know nothing about something, I will first listen to others, experiment, then go it alone.

[avenir]

<Best bang for the buck in the See's line.