o, I know it isn’t Wednesday, or even the day after Wednesday. Here it is, freakin’ FRIDAY, and I’m just now posting my WANT Wednesday. I’ve been neglecting you, my bleaders (blog readers), and you, too, Butter. I sort of fell off the face of the earth since Monday, and boy, was it dark down there.

So, if you know me, you’ll know I love any foodstuffs that requires a intricate and involved knowledge to fully enjoy it. Wine, for example, or beer. And I’m not talking about the Franzia Zinfidel from a box or some Miller Chill. I mean the fancy-pants stuff.

I like fancy cheese, fancy tea, fancy coffee, and, well, fancy stuff. I’m a fancy man. Like this guy. Mostly, I just like the fact that there is so much you can learn about this stuff, and all of it makes a difference in what you pay, where you get it, and what it tastes like.

So when I learned that Louis Rossetto, a co-founder of WIRED magazine, and Tim Childs, a former NASA engineer, are starting a high-tech chocolate company, my interest was piqued. Check out TCHO, their chocolate company’s website.

They created a specific taxonomy for their chocolate, and basically broke it into six categories: Chocolatey (duh), Citrus, Fruity, Floral, Earthy, and Nutty. See Figure 1.

When I go to their website, this is what they have to say:

TCHO is a new kind of chocolate company for a new generation of chocolate enthusiasts.

TCHO is where technology meets chocolate; where Silicon Valley start-up meets San Francisco food culture.

TCHO is obsessively good dark chocolate.

TCHO is direct, transparent connection between the farmers and the consumers, from the pod to the palate, from high concept to sensual experience.

TCHO is an innovative method for you to discover the chocolate you like best.

BoingBoing TV did a big 3-part series on it. Here are the videos. And don’t you dig BB’s Xeni Jardin? If she wanted me to run away with her, I don’t think I could say no.

Now, let’s talk about the price. Right now, they have released two of their categories of chocolate, Chocolatey and Fruity. They come in bars, each of which is 50 grams, which is just over 1.5 ounces. And two bars costs $10.

Now, I know that the ever-cynical Butter will comment on here and tell me that this is a load of crap, that all this is just so the over-eager upper-middle-class consumer can’t wait to throw their money at something that is only marginally better than a Hershey bar. And to some extent, he is right. A lot of that price somes from hyper-marketing to a niche market.

But when it comes to this specialty food, price is a pretty good indicator. Drink from a bottle of pinot grigio that costs $5.99, and then from one that costs $22.99. Eat a piece of freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (from the Parma region of Italy, of course) that sells for $25 a pound, and then eat some that comes from the green Kraft can, selling for $2.99. Drink your tea from a Lipton teabag (3.99 for 50 teabags) and then drink a mug of Berry Bros. Darjeeling, $17 for 4.4 ounces. Almost everyone will taste a difference, and if not — more power to you.

I don’t think I’ll be buying TCHO chocolate any time soon. I really want to try it, but I don’t have that kind of money, or that kind of dedication to chocolate. Maybe once they roll out their full line, and price down a sampler pack, I’ll give it a try, but for now, I’m content to watch videos about how its made.