PROFESSIONAL GUIDE: The Art of Tasting Chocolate
To truly taste we need to engage every sense and tune in our tongues, ears, eyes and noses. Taste is multisensory, it’s emotive, it’s a sensation.
1. Examine the chocolate
In temper, the chocolate should be smooth, shiny and break with a snap, melting evenly on the palette and carrying flavour effectively.
2. Smell the chocolate
Here you should find heady aromas perhaps of citrus, caramel or biscuits.
Take a small amount and place it on your tongue. Rub the chocolate between the roof of your mouth and your tongue to melt the natural fats and activate the release of flavours. Move the melting chocolate all over your palette.
3. Experience the full breadth of the flavour profile
Notice what flavours hit you first, toffee; banana; citrus? Taste is subjective, the exact flavour notes you experience will be unique.
4. Observe how the flavour develops as the chocolate continues to melt
Are there notes of dried fruits or sweet, peppery spices?
5. Savour the aftertaste
The finish of a chocolate is a key indicator of quality. Cocoa that has been well nurtured from seed, carefully fermented and well processed into chocolate will further reveal itself on the palette once the chocolate has been consumed, often continuing to develop and unfold into flavours not found at the start of the tasting journey.
