Sweet, Creamy, Hard, Bitter, Brown, Black, White, Milky, Yumm, Irresistible, Lush, Chocolatey,
Mouth-watering, Fattening, Coloring (your teeth), Melting, Tooth-decaying, Comforting, Satisfying.
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Learn / How To Taste And Appreciate Chocolate
Tasting chocolate for pleasure is a journey of discovery, a most enjoyable way to explore your own palate and
preferences. No two people taste flavors or even experience textures in the same way; you will be amazed at the
different responses you will find among a group of tasters.
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Serious or professional tasters usually taste one type of chocolate at a time, for example, milk chocolate,
bittersweet chocolate, or white chocolate, ideally tasting no more than six samples at one sitting.
Pleasure tasters set their own rules, tasting chocolates from a single manufacturer, or from several, tasting
across several types of chocolate or only from one type at a time.
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Professionals sit in a quiet, odor free room, perhaps with slightly dimmed lights!
Pleasure tasters are much more informal.
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Professionals typically do not talk while tasting, though they may compare notes afterwards.
Pleasure tasters can agree to chat or not. Whether or not sharing of opinions is allowed during the tasting,
sharing afterwards is definitely part of the fun.
Getting Started/Setting Up
You will need:
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Chocolate samples cut or broken into very tiny pieces or shards (because tasters often taste and re-taste). Plan
for providing about 1/3 to ½ oz. of each chocolate sample per taster.
Tasting Placemats Ours features an easy-to-follow, step-by-step guide to the protocol of tasting like a pro, and
provides space for tasters to write their personal tasting notes.
Water (slightly warm), and unsalted, unflavored crackers or matzo for each taster to cleanse the palate between
tastes
Tasting Chocolate? What To Notice
In the past when you’ve eaten a piece of chocolate you’ve probably thought to yourself either “that’s pretty
good,” or “I don’t especially like it.” Chocolate tasting is all about paying attention to the special nuances of
different chocolates in ways you probably haven’t considered before.
Don’t worry. There’s no “right, or wrong” taste. The best chocolate is the one you like. In fact, no two people
perceive aroma or taste flavors exactly the same way. Even the perception of texture —whether something is
smooth and creamy or slightly gritty -- differs from one palate to another. Your individual chocolate palate also
evolves and sharpens over time with experience. Each taster should look for, notice, and describe what pleases
them personally in the chocolates they taste, and what displeases them, as well.
To taste and appreciate chocolate, engage all of your senses.
Look!
APPEARANCE. We eat with our eyes. Appearance is part of the initial pleasure and attraction of chocolate, but not
itself a measure of quality. The color of chocolate varies. It may be ivory, golden, shades of copper brown, deep
reddish, or charcoal brown depending on the type of chocolate, the percentage of cacao in the chocolate, the
presence and quantity of milk or cream, and the source of the beans from which the chocolate was made.
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Chocabulary
PDF - 124 K
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Tasting Placements
PDF - 55 K
An attractive gloss on the surface of chocolate with a tight, fine grain and even-colored showing at cut or broken
edges indicates that the chocolate was well-tempered, and properly cooled and stored. Scuffed or scraped
samples are not necessarily of poor quality, but they are less pleasing to the eye.
Smell!
AROMA. As with wine, some of the first clues to flavor are in the nose. Before even tasting, rub the piece of
chocolate with your thumb to warm and release its aroma. Hold the chocolate to your nose in cupped hands, like
a brandy snifter, to capture and hold the aroma close. Sniff or draw slow breaths. At first chocolate may simply
smell “chocolaty.” But as you compare one piece with another you will notice general differences in richness,
intensity, sweetness and earthiness. You’ll pick up on lower notes and higher notes. The aroma of some chocolates
is faint, while that of others is intense. You may then detect even more specific differences.

Chocabulary
PDF - 124 K
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Tasting Placements
PDF - 55 K
Milk chocolates often give off aromas of milk or cream, or caramel or malt. Dark chocolate aromas may be
characterized by toasted nuts, roasted coffee, dried fruit or wine. Some chocolates have floral or fruity qualities;
others smell more roasted or nutty. As with flavor, each chocolate brand has a signature aroma. This comes from
the blend or selection of beans and their quality, as well as the manufacturer’s roasting and conching methods.
There is no end to the specific notes that you can pick up with practice and no limit to the words that you may use
to describe them.
Seriously accomplished tasters are adept at drawing from their own experience and memory, choosing words
accordingly to describe what they smell and taste. Practice!
Similarly, learn to detect any unpleasant aromas as well. These might be described as harsh, paper, burnt, waxy,
moldy or musty, etc.
Snap It!
TEXTURE is enormously important to the chocolate experience. A smooth and creamy melt-in-your-mouth texture
is so seductive, that many people are more influenced by texture than by flavor.

Chocabulary
PDF - 124 K
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Tasting Placements
PDF - 55 K
Begin by listening for the snap! It’s the first clue to texture. Snap is the feel and sound of a piece of chocolate
when you first break it or bite into it. Snap is easier to appreciate in a thin bar than a thick chunk of chocolate.
Snap is a function of the amount and quality of the cocoa butter in the chocolate, how finely ground the
chocolate particles are, and how well the chocolate was tempered.
White and milk chocolate bars have a gentler snap than dark or semi-sweet chocolate because their milk and
butter fat content make them naturally softer.
Feel and Savor The Melt!
MOUTHFEEL is another word for texture. After looking, smelling, and snapping, place the chocolate in your
mouth. But, resist the urge to chew and eat. Instead, hold the chocolate against the roof of your mouth and pass
your tongue over the bottom of it, noticing first how it melts and then how it feels. Does it melt readily and feel
smooth and creamy, or greasy and slimy? Maybe it resists melting and seems hard or waxy? Does it feel grainy or
gritty, powdery, harsh, or drying?
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Chocabulary
PDF - 124 K
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Tasting Placements
PDF - 55 K
No two palates have the same perception of these textures...it is even possible for the same piece of chocolate to
seem smooth and silky to one taster and dry and powdery to the next!
If the piece of chocolate has melted completely, take another piece so that you can now notice how the chocolate
feels to chew. Is it gummy, sticky, cake-like, fudgy, fast-dissolving, etc.?
Now Taste!
FLAVOR is the ultimate criterion for quality in chocolate. Because texture is so distracting some tasters focus on
flavor first, before considering texture. Either way, flavor begins to fill your mouth from the moment the
chocolate begins to melt on your tongue.
At first there is so much pleasure in tasting the chocolate, it may be difficult to focus on the specifics of flavor. As
with aroma, your first perception may be simply described as “chocolaty” or even just “yummy”! As you begin to
focus, notice several things:

Chocabulary
PDF - 124 K
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Tasting Placements
PDF - 55 K
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Does the flavor come on quickly or slowly?
Does the flavor build and peak or remain constant?
Does the flavor change character from the beginning to the middle to the end?
How long does the flavor last in your mouth? Professional chocolate tasters often look for a “long finish.” This is
simply flavor that lasts a long time in your mouth.
Describing flavor is the most fun and most challenging aspect of chocolate tasting. Everyone gets better with
practice.
Helpful Tips
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Chocabulary
PDF - 124 K
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Tasting Placements
PDF - 55 K
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Relate the flavors that you taste in chocolate to flavors, smells and experiences familiar to you, no matter
how corny or off beat they may be, and whether they are pleasant or unpleasant. Don’t forget food memories.
Chocolate flavor has been compared to strange things like “buttered toast,” “egg custard,” dirty leaves...You may
describe the sweetness in terms of sugar, brown sugar, molasses, honey, caramel or some other sweet food
memory.
Consider tartness, acidity, and bitterness as well. If these are detected, are they pleasing or displeasing to you?
Do you taste vanilla? Does the chocolate taste nutty? What kind of nuts, and are they toasted nuts or raw? Do you
taste fruit, and is it dried fruit or fresh fruit, citrus or other? Do you taste coffee?
Connoisseurs appreciate complexity in chocolate, rather than a single constant flavor. But even connoisseurs
disagree about what they taste and what they like.
Professional tasters also appreciate balance and the overall intensity of the chocolate flavor. Deciding which
chocolates taste "in perfect harmony or balance" or which "strike the perfect intensity" is up to the individual and
is completely personal, and often develops with chocolate tasting experience.
Practice! Beginners may not taste or be able to describe as many flavors as seasoned tasters, but continued
practice is both pleasurable and rewarding.