Q: Do you have a media kit? Can I request samples or an interview?

Media Kit and Press Releases Yes, we have a media kit with high resolution photos, press releases, and other product related information. Please submit some basic information here to receive the access details. Request access to To'ak Chocolate Media Kit Request an Interview We would be pleased to provide a phone or video interview for your article/publication. Please request an interview and we will get in touch shortly. Request an Interview Do you Provide Samples to the Media? Sometimes we do, yes. Please contact us through one of the forms above and let us know who you write for, what type of story you’re working on, and how we can help you.

Q: Is your chocolate certified fair trade?

Fair Trade Yes, all of our chocolate is certified Fair Trade TSA, with the exception of our Galapagos edition. The cacao for our Galapagos edition is sourced from only two small farms, both of which abide by Fair Trade standards. Their decision to not certify their farms was an economic one: they don’t produce enough cacao to cover the cost and administrative burden of Fair Trade certification. Read about our social and environmental commitments (including how we are paying the highest prices to farmers, going beyond certification, up-cycling product, and protecting endangered varieties of cacao). More Questions? Use a keyword or phrase in the search box above or contact us via phone, SMS, WhatsApp, email or social and we are happy to help.

Question 1

How much do you pay your farmers?

Accepted Answer

Direct (or Participatory) Trade leads to better prices for farmers

We pay a farmgate price that is 3-8x the standard market price for “wet cacao.” Most cacao growers in Ecuador have no other choice but to sell their unfermented cacao to local intermediaries who typically pay $25 for a 100-pound sack. We pay $75-200 per sack of wet cacao, depending on the age of the trees that the cacao was harvested from—with the oldest trees fetching the highest price.

Why do we pay so much for this cacao? A few reasons. For one, it’s one of the rarest and most prized cacao variety in the world, which was previously believed to be extinct. We’re also in the process of preserving and restoring Heirloom Nacional cacao with our rainforest conservation partner Third Millennium Alliance.

Read about our social and environmental commitments (including how we are paying some of the highest prices to farmers, going beyond certification, up-cycling product, and protecting endangered varieties of cacao).

Further Reading

Timeline for To'ak Chocolate and Third Millennium Alliance's Conservation Project

The Different Grades of Ecuadorian Cacao

The Chocolate & Art Experience

Includes

One-hour privately-guided art tour of the former residence of Oswaldo Guayasamín, Ecuador's most renowned modern artist
One-hour privately-guided To'ak chocolate tasting in Guayasamín's wine cellar (off limits to the general public)
Optional pairing of chocolate with whisky or alternative spirit plus bottled water
Access to the Capilla del Hombre art gallery (non-guided)
Special tour-only pricing on To'ak Chocolate products

Art: Guests are welcomed to the former residence of Oswaldo Guayasamín through a private entrance, not accessible to the general public. The first half of the two-hour privately guided tour will start with a walk through the former residence of Guayasamín where a guide will share Guayasamín's passion for art and culture and explain the most significant pieces of his private art collection. Guests will visit Guayasamín's most intimate chambers including his bedroom and workshop.

Chocolate: The second half of the tour will take place in Guayasamín's wine cellar, where he entertained notable guests and his closest friends. An intimate setting around a table. In front of each person is a tasting plate with a raw cacao bean and samples of at least four different editions of To’ak chocolate. Akin to a wine tasting, a member of To’ak’s production team guides everyone through a comprehensive tasting and pairing experience, with a focus on Ecuador’s famous Nacional cacao variety. Cacao genetics, terroir, fermentation methods, barrel-aging, and other production decisions are all explained in the context of how these variables influence the aroma and flavor profile of each

How to book: Visit https://toakchocolate.com/tour to book online.

Availability: Tuesday to Friday (except Ecuadorian national holidays) from 10am to 5pm or outside these hours by special appointment.

Additional information about the Chocolate & Art Experience

Is booking required in advance?

What days and times is it available?

Is the tour private?

Is transport included in the tour?

Can our tour guide participate?

What languages can the tour be offered in?

Should we bring anything with us?

Is the chocolate and/or the art available for purchase during the event?

Where is the entrance to the tour?

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What instructions should I give to my taxi/Uber driver?

A Private Tasting?

We are available to offer you a private tasting in your hotel, function center or at your home.

A guided dark chocolate tasting is a sensory exploration of terroir, varietal, origin, and craftsmanship on the same level of sophistication associated with wine and whisky tasting. As an additional option, pairing dark chocolate with certain wines and spirits offers yet another level of pleasure and complexity to the experience.

How does this look in practice? An intimate setting around a table. In front of each person is a tasting plate with a raw cacao bean and samples of at least five different editions of To’ak chocolate. Each person is also served a flight of dessert wine and spirits, if this option is selected. Akin to a wine tasting, a member of To’ak’s production team guides everyone through a comprehensive tasting and pairing experience, with a focus on Ecuador’s famous Nacional cacao variety. Cacao genetics, terroir, fermentation methods, barrel-aging, and other production decisions are all explained in the context of how these variables influence the aroma and flavor profile of each expression of chocolate. Comparable to a course in Wine 101, but with the most luxurious and elaborate dark chocolate on the planet.

More Questions?

Use a keyword or phrase in the search box above or contact us via phone, SMS, WhatsApp, email or social and we are happy to help.

Question 4

What is your Privacy Policy?

Accepted Answer

This Privacy Policy describes how your personal information is collected, used, and shared when you visit or make a purchase from toakchocolate.com (the “Site”).

Personal information we collect

When you visit the Site, we automatically collect certain information about your device, including information about your web browser, IP address, time zone, and some of the cookies that are installed on your device. Additionally, as you browse the Site, we collect information about the individual web pages or products that you view, what websites or search terms referred you to the Site, and information about how you interact with the Site. We refer to this automatically-collected information as “Device Information”.

We collect Device Information using the following technologies:

“Cookies” are data files that are placed on your device or computer and often include an anonymous unique identifier. For more information about cookies, and how to disable cookies, visit http://www.allaboutcookies.org.
“Log files” track actions occurring on the Site, and collect data including your IP address, browser type, Internet service provider, referring/exit pages, and date/time stamps.
“Web beacons”, “tags”, and “pixels” are electronic files used to record information about how you browse the Site.

Additionally when you make a purchase or attempt to make a purchase through the Site, we collect certain information from you, including your name, billing address, shipping address, payment information (including credit card numbers), email address, and phone number. We refer to this information as “Order Information”.

When we talk about “Personal Information” in this Privacy Policy, we are talking both about Device Information and Order Information.

How do we use your personal information?

We use the Order Information that we collect generally to fulfill any orders placed through the Site (including processing your payment information, arranging for shipping, and providing you with invoices and/or order confirmations). Additionally, we use this Order Information to:

Communicate with you;
Screen our orders for potential risk or fraud; and
When in line with the preferences you have shared with us, provide you with information or advertising relating to our products or services.

We use the Device Information that we collect to help us screen for potential risk and fraud (in particular, your IP address), and more generally to improve and optimize our Site (for example, by generating analytics about how our customers browse and interact with the Site, and to assess the success of our marketing and advertising campaigns).

Sharing you personal Information

We share your Personal Information with third parties to help us use your Personal Information, as described above. For example, we use Shopify to power our online store--you can read more about how Shopify uses your Personal Information here: https://www.shopify.com/legal/privacy. We also use Google Analytics to help us understand how our customers use the Site -- you can read more about how Google uses your Personal Information here: https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/. You can also opt-out of Google Analytics here: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

We NEVER sell your personal information nor do we provide it to companies unrelated to the order processing and marketing activities that specifically relate to our business.

Finally, we may also share your Personal Information to comply with applicable laws and regulations, to respond to a subpoena, search warrant or other lawful request for information we receive, or to otherwise protect our rights.

Behavioural advertising

As described above, we use your Personal Information to provide you with targeted advertisements or marketing communications we believe may be of interest to you. For more information about how targeted advertising works, you can visit the Network Advertising Initiative’s (“NAI”) educational page at http://www.networkadvertising.org/understanding-online-advertising/how-does-it-work.

You can opt out of targeted advertising by using the links below:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/settings/?tab=ads
Google: https://www.google.com/settings/ads/anonymous

Additionally, you can opt out of some of these services by visiting the Digital Advertising Alliance’s opt-out portal at: http://optout.aboutads.info/.

Do not track

Please note that we do not alter our Site’s data collection and use practices when we see a Do Not Track signal from your browser.

Your rights

If you are a European resident, you have the right to access personal information we hold about you and to ask that your personal information be corrected, updated, or deleted. If you would like to exercise this right, please contact us through the contact information below.

Additionally, if you are a European resident we note that we are processing your information in order to fulfil contracts we might have with you (for example if you make an order through the Site), or otherwise to pursue our legitimate business interests listed above. Additionally, please note that your information will be transferred outside of Europe, including to Canada and the United States.

Data retention

When you place an order through the Site, we will maintain your Order Information for our records unless and until you ask us to delete this information.

Changes

We may update this privacy policy from time to time in order to reflect, for example, changes to our practices or for other operational, legal or regulatory reasons.

Contact us

For more information about our privacy practices, if you have questions, or if you would like to make a complaint, please contact us by e‑mail at hello@toakchocolate.com.

Question 5

Does your chocolate have an expiration date?

Accepted Answer

Perhaps the question is how long you can wait?

Officially, the shelf life of dark chocolate is two years. Unofficially, it should last much longer than that - there are documented reports of dark chocolate still being edible after 100 years of storage. We have chocolate bars that have been stored in our office for us to six years, that are still in excellent condition. But we don’t recommend waiting that long to eat your chocolate.

Read about our storage recommendations.

USA Orders Only

During the summer months (typically Jun-Sep), most orders will ship from Monday through Wednesday so that they arrive before the weekend. This makes it easier for us to keep your chocolate cool during transit.

The cut-off time for same day shipping is 8am Mountain Time. Therefore, orders received after 8am Wednesday (Mountain Time) will be held for shipping on the following Monday unless otherwise requested by email or phone.

If you need to rush your shipment, regardless of temperature, please write to us at hello@toakchocolate and we will do our best to get the shipment out that same day.

What day will my order ship?

Orders received on Monday and Tuesday will ship the next business day.
Orders received during the rest of the week will be shipped on Monday.

All orders are shipped with ice packs during summer months or when the transit or final destination is warm.

Rest of the world (excluding Ecuador)

All orders are dispatched as per our normal shipping policy.

Ecuador

Orders for Ecuador can be collected from our office in Quito (please contact us) or we deliver to major cities in Ecuador with Servientrega (free of charge).

Sipping Insurance

All online orders (excluding Ecuador) receive complimentary shipping insurance with Route.com. Read the details here.

Overnight

For orders within the USA only, we are able to offer FedEx Overnight express courier service for $30. Cut off time is 8am Mountain Time but if you miss this by a small window please give us a call or send us a message and sometimes we can still dispatch the same day.

Specific arrival date?

If you would like your package to be delivered on/after a specific date please advise us in the "Special Instructions" box during checkout.

How much do you pay your farmers?

Do you offer tastings or tours in Ecuador?

How do you recommend I enjoy my bar of To'ak chocolate?

What is your Privacy Policy?

Does your chocolate have an expiration date?

What is your Summer Shipping Policy (US Orders Only)

Do you have a media kit? Can I request samples or an interview?

Indulgent Drinking Chocolate recipes

Is your chocolate certified fair trade?

Do you offer overnight shipping?