How does To'ak chocolate compare with Jasper and Myrtle, Sweet Pea and Poppy, and Studio Cocoa?

To'ak sources its cacao beans from just 322 trees of the 5300-year-old Nacional species, which was thought to be extinct until 2009. To'ak co-founders Jerry Toth and Carl Schwiezer and harvest master Servio Pachard stumbled across a grove deep in the Piedra de Plata valley of coast Ecuador.

Every couple of years To'ak does a limited-edition run of just 100 bars, which come in little wooden boxes, with wooden eating utensils. The most expensive selection is the cognac cask aged 2014 harvest. At 81 per cent cacao, it's been aged for nine years in a French oak cask, with notes of hibiscus flower, oak, dates and dried plums.

It's $442 for 50g.

But we didn't get to taste that one. Instead To'ak were kind enough to send us a selection from the Alchemy collection. A more reasonable $26 for 56g.

They come in the most beautiful packaging, with illustrations from local artists, interpretations of the flavours on offer.

And what a range of flavours. "Amazonian ants" features lemon ants, a native ingredient used by communities to flavour many dishes, it has a delicate citronella aroma. The "Galapagos orange and salt", features confit orange peel. "Rainforest nuts" features cacay, macambo, sacha inchi and shuar peanuts from different regions of South America.

And we love the idea of "Malva flowers", malva olorosa is an aphrodisiac and also has carminative properties. We had to Google it. It will help relieve flatulence. Handy if you're relying on the aphrodisiac side of it to work.

This is all well and good. But how does it compare to some of Canberra's own high-end chocolate?

We put it up against local favourites Jasper and Myrtle, Sweet Pea and Poppy and Studio Cocao.

Made in Canberra

Tried: Cookies and cream tablette

Price: $13.95 for 95g

Notes: Tannah Moran is a qualified pastry chef who turned to chocolate in 2019. She uses ethically and sustainably sourced chocolate, working with Valrhona chocolate. Most of her additions are also Australian grown.

Verdict: Not overly sweet for a cookies and cream flavour which was most welcome. A slight cookie crunch but there was no evident mouth coating.

Score: 8/10

studiococoa.com.au

Made in Murrumbateman

Tried: 70 per cent dark chocolate with coconut and raspberry

Price: $12.50 for 80g

Notes: Yasmin Coe has been making chocolates for about six years and in 2021 she, and her husband Alistair, the former ACT opposition leader, bought Robyn Rowe Chocolates in Murrumbateman. Chocolate is ethically sourced and they're known for the artisan sprinklings on top, from rose petals to Turkish delight.

Verdict: A proper dark chocolate with depth of flavour but no real bitterness. The coconut and raspberry weren't very prominent.

Score: 7/10

sweetpeapoppy.com.au

Made in Canberra

Tried: Himalayan rock salt and wakame dark chocolate

Price: $10.50 for 70g

Notes: Li Peng Monroe and Peter Channells run this family-owned business out at Fyshwick. They take pride in the traceability of their chocolate and head to Papua New Guinea regularly to talk to farmers.

Verdict: This bar won a bronze medal at the 2016 Royal Melbourne Fine Food Awards but it split the taste testers. We all loved the saltiness of it but the undernotes from the wakame - an edible seaweed - was divisive.

Score: 7/10

jasperandmyrtle.com.au

Made in Ecuador

Tried: Salprieta Peanuts, from the Alchemy collection

Price: $26 for 56g

Notes: Salpretia is a peanut-based ancestral preparation on the Pacific coast of Ecuador.

Verdict: A delicate chocolate, even at 65 per cent cacao. There's a slight bite from the peanuts but no lingering aftertaste.

Score: 8/10

toakchocolate.com

Made in Ecuador

Tried: Caramelised Pop Amaranth, from the Alchemy collection

Price: $26 for 56g

Notes: Roasted popped amaranth - a protein rich ancient grain - is a traditional sweet treat found at roadside stands in Ecuador. The grain is covered with caramel and a delicate layer of cacao butter.

Verdict: No wonder it's so popular. Delicious, with a little popping candy kind of Crunch. Indeed it taste a bit like a high-end Crunch, with crispy bits of caramelly grain.

Verdict: 9/10

toakchocolate.com