- How to taste chocolate -

If you want to explore the individual characteristics of the various cocoa beans used and their origins and perhaps find your ideal, then the best way to taste chocolate is to use other comparisons to help you differentiate between the various smells, flavors and textures. This is best performed comparatively with similar cocoa contents of unflavored dark or milk chocolate bars from several manufacturers. This way you will not be distracted by the varying levels of sugar and milk content and your senses will be more focused.

Sight -
First you will discover the differences in color as different beans produce finished chocolate with varying colors from rich reds and coppers to dark browns. This is not a sign of quality and a common myth that the darker chocolate is somehow a better chocolate is certainly not the case.

Smell -
Break a piece of chocolate and smell it. You need to understand what you are sensing, is it floral, fruity, earthy? Like wine tasting there are many associated smells and it is by recognizing them that helps you decide whether it is to your liking, or not. Is the chocolate producing an intense aroma or is it subtle? Smells associated to a poor quality chocolate may be plastic or rubber, this can be due to poor fermentation or artificial drying of the cocoa beans. Another unfavourable sign is a heavy smokiness caused by drying the beans over woodfires (The ideal way to dry cocoa beans is simply under the sun, this is time consuming and therefore more expensive).

Taste -
With a clean palette put a small amount of chocolate in your mouth and let it linger on your tongue for a short while and slowly move it around, extracting all the flavors. The main points to look out for in chocolate are firstly the hit of flavors and how long these last; ideally the flavors should steadily rise and linger rather than a "hit and run" effect. Also, the finest chocolate will produce a serious of flavors so creating a full and varied flavor profile from the first taste to the finish, rather than one level of flavor and that's it. Next are the basic flavors of acidity, bitterness, sweetness and astringency. Is the chocolate too sour or sweet,is the acidity just enough to assist any fruitiness or is it too overpowering. A well balanced sensation of flavors depicts a good chocolate, a monotonous and uninteresting taste and also an overpowering note depicts a poor chocolate.

Texture -
Generally speaking, a silky smooth texture with an absence of any grittiness is the mark of a good chocolate. A gritty texture is due to poor conching of the chocolate (this is a process where the particles are repeatedly broken down). As this has nothing to do with the quality of the bean but the process itself it is placed as the final test of a good chocolate.