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SPECIAL FOCUS

More and more consumers, and especially millennial Let’s Talk Taste
foodies, share their experiences on social media. They Everyone loves chocolate, but how to describe your chocolate taste
are increasingly curious about food and taste. But while experience? How to find words for a proper chocolate taste description?
How to do justice to the complexity and richness of chocolate when
wine, coffee and craft beer could already be tasted, talking about taste? The easy to navigate wheel offers a layered overview
described and discussed in a rigorous and professional of all relevant chocolate and cocoa aromas, taste and mouthfeel.
First inner layer covers 5 basic taste descriptors, 12 basic aroma
way, we lacked a language that did justice to the richness descriptors and 10 mouthfeel descriptors. Second outer layer goes
and complexity of chocolate experiences. beyond only applicable to identify what and better understand what is
meant by f.e. vegetal aromas. The mouthfeel - texture and trigeminal
Containing over 20,000 identifiable chemical compounds, cocoa is descriptors - captures the sensations we experience while tasting
one of the most complex foodstuffs on earth. The sensory language that chocolate. It covers the attributes perceived with the first bite, during the
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we have developed for chocolate, will allow consumers to share their tasting, when the chocolate is melting in your mouth, and after swallowing
passion for a specific chocolate taste much more accurately.
the chocolate. We selected 6 texture descriptors most relevant for
Sensory Evaluation of Chocolates consumers.
Tasting is not the same as eating. It’s all about focusing and paying - Does it feel hard? (at first bite)
attention. Human responses to properties of foods and materials are - Does it feel soft when chewing & moving? (during tasting)
perceived through the five senses (Sight, Hearing, Smell, Taste, Touch). - What about the melting in the mouth? (during tasting)
Sensory evaluation is perception. There is no right and no wrong. - And does it feel coarse, fine and creamy when melting? (during
Step 1: Look Put the chocolate on a well-lit white paper or tablecloth tasting)
to examine its appearance. When looking at the chocolate, pay attention - Depending on the chocolate type, you would need 7 to 9 descriptors
to the overall color, the intensity of color (strong or weak) and the hue from the first inner layer of the wheel to get a clear picture of taste
(shade of red, yellow, grey, violet or other). experience of a chocolate.
Step 2: Touch Close your eyes. Rub the chocolate between your For white chocolate - 7 descriptors:
fingers to assess its touch-sensitivity. Press between your fingers for the Taste: sweetness
melting rate. Bend the chocolate to feel the resistance, and thus hardness. Aroma: dairy; milky & buttery, vanilla, caramel
When touching the chocolate, pay attention to how it feels in your hand. Mouthfeel: creamy, melting
Feel for the touch-sensitivity (soft or hard), melt-in-hand (slow or fast) and For milk chocolates - 8 descriptors:
the hardness. This is just before breaking the chocolate to feel for its Taste: sweetness
resistance (bends or breaks). Aroma: dairy; milky & buttery, vanilla, caramel, cocoa
Step 3: Listen With your eyes still closed, bring the chocolate close Mouthfeel: creamy, melting
to your ear and snap it. When it breaks, listen to evaluate the snap (clear For dark chocolates - 9 descriptors:
or dull). Taste: sweetness, sourness, bitterness
Step 4: Smell Take the chocolate in one hand and rub it in your palm. Aroma: cocoa, roasted, fruity
Bring the chocolate to your nose and cup your hand. Then sniff three Mouthfeel: creamy, melting, astringent
times. When smelling the chocolate, you can discover the bouquet of With chocolate sensory language we can describe chocolate and
aromatic notes, the complexity (low, medium or high) and also the intensity cocoa experiences much more in detail, like wine and coffee lovers
(strong or weak) of it. already do. Seeing all the richness of chocolate taste, chocolate lovers
Step 5: Taste Pinch your nose, then bite the chocolate and let it melt: and chocolate tasters around the world will appreciate it even more!
discover the basic tastes. Release your nose and take a deep breath:
focus on the aromatic notes. Move the chocolate around your palate:
explore the mouthfeel. When tasting you will discover the basic notes, ข้อมูลเพิ่มเติม/Additional Information
aromatic notes and mouthfeel of the chocolate. 1 Barry Callebaut (27.10.2015). Cracking the molecular code – to create a true atlas of
coca. [https://www.barry-callebaut.com/stories/cracking-molecular-code-cre
Consumer Chocolate Sensory Wheel ate-true-atlas-cocoa]
Pairing cocoa and chocolate sensory research with consumer 2 The sensory language in ‘Consumer Chocolate Sensory Wheel’ is based on a
understanding, chocolate professionals developed the Consumer new book ‘Hidden Persuaders in Cocoa & Chocolate - A Flavor Lexicon for Cocoa
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Chocolate Sensory Wheel (Fig. 1) with 87 descriptors, covering the flavor, and Chocolate Sensory Professionals’, written by Global R&D Sensory
Methodologies Manager, Renata Januszewska, with input from Barry Callebaut’s team
texture and aroma of chocolate. A Chocolate Tasting Ritual requires the of chocolate & cocoa scientists & specialists and leading global flavor house
five senses - sight, touch, hearing, smell and taste - and enables chocolate Givaudan. It is the first serious attempt rooted in science to create a sensory language
professionals and consumers to discover new dimensions of chocolate for the chocolate industry.
experience and appreciate chocolate even more. เอกสารอ้างอิง/Reference
News Release “Unraveling the taste of chocolate” Barry Callebaut introduces sensory
language. Cologne/Germany – January 29, 2018
Unraveling the Taste of

Chocolate

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