- Never taste chocolate when you are hungry or full.
- Close your eyes to enhance concentration and focus. Always taste chocolate at room temperature.
- Smell the chocolate before tasting. Use small “bunny niffs”, as it takes approximately 15 – 30 seconds for your nose to recover after each sniff.
- Make sure that the chocolate is in contact with all areas of your mouth and tongue in order to activate the maximum number of taste buds.
- While the chocolate is melting in your mouth, close your eyes and take a deep breath in through your nose before swallowing. Breathe out after swallowing. This allows the aroma of the chocolate to pass through the retro nasal passage twice, thereby maximizing flavor impact.
- Flavor occurs in waves in your mouth – sweetness within 2 seconds; bitterness after about 5 seconds; salty and sour within 3 – 9 seconds.
- Chocolate melts exactly at body temperature, creating a unique velvety smooth “melt-in-your-mouth” texture (aka “mouth feel”), unlike any other food substance.
- Store chocolate in a dry and cool place, never in the refrigerator (moisture ruins chocolate).
Chocolate Tasting Terms/Vocabulary
Appearance
- Glossy, Shiny, Dull, Sugar Bloom, Fat Bloom, Crazing (cracks)
Color
- Black, Dark Brown, Walnut, Medium Brown, Amber, Cream, White
Texture/Mouth feel
- Brittle, Chalky, Coarse, Creamy, Crumbly, Dry, Flat, Flaky, Grainy, Greasy, Gritty, Hard, Powdery, Smooth, Snappy, Soft, Sticky, Thick
Printed with Permission Seneca Klassen / the C-spot®© 2006, 2011
Download Tasting Guide & Flavor Wheel PDF
Download Chocolate Tasting Sheet