Tasting vocabulary, by sense

The basic taste of caffeine or of strong unsweetened coffee. It is felt on the tongue, arrives during the melt and does not dry the mouth.

Also called

bitter

Reference

Caffeine, coffee, kola nut, some beers and grapefruit are the references given in the Cacao of Excellence glossary.

Common mistake

Used for astringency. If the sensation is a drying or roughening of the mouth rather than a taste, it is astringency, however harsh it seems.

Compare with

astringency, metallic bitterness, roast degree

• Where in the process. Across seven Ghanaian heap fermentations, epicatechin and theobromine fell during fermentation, and the levels left in the beans were responsible for how bitter the chocolates were. [25]
• Where in the process. Drying matters as well. In a trial with Nacional cocoa in Ecuador, beans dried at 80 °C gave a more bitter and more astringent liquor than the same beans dried at 60 °C, although cut test and fermentation index showed no difference. [28]
• What it is made of. A study that took roasted nibs apart fraction by fraction, tasting each, found theobromine and caffeine among the bitter compounds, alongside flavan-3-ols and procyanidins that were both bitter and astringent. [2]
• Where in the process. The Cacao of Excellence glossary gives its highest bitterness band to severely under-fermented and unfermented cacao, and its lowest to some ancient Criollo lots. [1]
• What it is made of. In cocoa liquors from the progeny of one Ecuadorian clone, polyphenol content rose with bitterness, with astringency and with a green note. [22]
• How it is perceived. In a time-based study of dark single-origin chocolates, bitterness was the dominant sensation for about three-quarters of the tasting, up to the point of swallowing, whatever the cocoa percentage. [19]

Where bitterness comes from, in detail

A hard, lingering bitterness with a metallic edge, distinct from the rounder bitterness of theobromine.

Also called

roast bitterness

Compare with

bitterness, roast degree, burnt

• Where in the process. Roasted nibs contain 2,5-diketopiperazines, compounds formed from pairs of amino acids, which the study that characterised them described as having a metallic bitter taste. [4]

Sourness: the basic taste of acids. In chocolate it is a total made of several acids that taste different from one another and say different things about the beans.

Also called

sourness, sour, brightness

Common mistake

Treated as one thing. A citrus-like sourness and a vinegar-like sourness are both 'acidic' and have opposite implications; a note should say which.

Compare with

fruit acidity, acetic acidity, lactic acidity, astringency

• What it is made of. Lactic and acetic acids were found to be largely responsible for higher acid flavour scores in chocolate. [5]
• How it is perceived. How intense acidity, bitterness and astringency seem depends on how much chocolate is in the mouth, so pieces compared with each other should be the same size. [1]
• Origin examples. The glossary's reference notes place some well-prepared West African lots in its lowest acidity band and some Dominican, Papua New Guinean and Malaysian lots in a high one. [1]

Where acidity comes from, in detail

Clean sourness of the kind found in citrus and other fresh fruit, with no smell of vinegar.

Also called

citric acidity, bright acidity

Reference

Citric and other fruit acids, in the glossary's wording.

Compare with

acidity, acetic acidity, fresh fruit

• How it is perceived. The Cacao of Excellence protocol scores it as one of four separate acidities that are added to give total acidity. [1]

Where fruit acidity comes from, in detail

Vinegar sourness. Unlike the other acidities it is volatile, so it can be smelled in the piece before it is tasted.

Also called

vinegary, volatile acidity

Reference

Vinegar.

Common mistake

Described as 'fruity' or 'winey'. A sharp smell that catches the nose is acetic acid, not fruit.

Compare with

acidity, fruit acidity, lactic acidity, over-fermented

• Where in the process. How the beans are dried changes how much acid stays in them. Sun-dried and air-blown beans did not differ in acidity and made chocolate that tasters judged favourably; oven-dried beans kept a high concentration of volatile acids and gave a strong off-flavour. [27]
• Where in the process. Removing about a fifth of the pulp before fermentation gave liquors with significantly less volatile acid, without harming the sensory profile. [29]
• What it is made of. Acetic acid, smelling sour, was among the key aroma compounds identified in cocoa powder. [8]
• How it is perceived. The glossary notes that it can be smelled in the sample. [1]

Where acetic acidity comes from, in detail

The soft, non-volatile sourness of yoghurt or sour milk. It cannot be smelled and it does not blow off during processing the way vinegar sourness can.

Also called

yoghurt-like acidity

Reference

Sour milk and yoghurt.

Compare with

acidity, acetic acidity

• What it is made of. Lactic acid, with acetic acid, accounted for most of the difference in acid flavour scores between chocolates. [5]

Two harsh acidities the Cacao of Excellence protocol groups together: a metallic-tasting one it calls mineral, and one like rancid butter.

Also called

harsh acidity

Common mistake

'Mineral' is also used loosely by tasters for a stony or chalky impression. In this protocol it means a harsh metallic sourness.

Compare with

acidity, cheesy

• How it is perceived. Scored as the fourth of the protocol's separate acidities. [1]

Where mineral and butyric acidity comes from, in detail

The basic taste of sugar. In chocolate it comes almost entirely from what was added, so it describes the recipe far more than the beans.

Also called

sweet

Reference

A solution of white sugar.

Common mistake

Used for aromas that only remind the taster of sweet things, such as vanilla, caramel or honey. Those are smells, and an unsweetened chocolate can have them.

Compare with

caramel, bitterness

• How it is perceived. The Cacao of Excellence protocol scores sweetness for chocolate only, not for unsweetened cocoa mass. [1]

Where sweetness comes from, in detail

The brothy basic taste of glutamate. Uncommon in chocolate and easy to miss, since nothing else on the plate usually prompts the word.

Also called

umami

Reference

Sodium glutamate.

Common mistake

Confused with a cured-meat or ham smell, which is an aroma and is treated as a fault in cacao.

Compare with

meaty, animal, leather

• How it is perceived. The Cacao of Excellence glossary lists it, a little unexpectedly, as a sub-attribute of spice. [1]

A drying, roughening or puckering of the mouth. It is a feeling, not a taste: the mouth's surfaces stop sliding against each other.

Also called

drying, tannic, puckering, grippy

Reference

Raw nut skins and green banana skin, for the sharp kind, are the glossary's references.

Common mistake

Called bitterness. The two travel together because the same family of compounds causes both, but a chocolate can be strongly one and mildly the other.

Compare with

velvety astringency, bitterness, acidity, powdery

• Where in the process. In a field trial with Nacional cocoa, polyphenol content fell significantly in the first two days of fermentation and changed less after that. In a separate trial, drying at 80 °C instead of 60 °C gave a more astringent liquor. [26, 28]
• How it is perceived. Experimental work concluded that astringency is a trigeminal sensation, carried by the nerves of touch and irritation and not by the taste system. [6]
• What it is made of. In roasted nibs, a puckering astringency was traced to a group of N-phenylpropenoyl amino acids as well as to flavan-3-ols. [3, 2]
• Where in the process. The glossary calls the sharp, mouth-drying kind typical of under-fermented cacao. [1]
• What it is made of. Cocoa liquors from fine varieties with short fermentations contained more procyanidins, and polyphenol content has been found to rise with astringency. [23, 22]
• How it is perceived. In a time-based study of dark chocolates, astringency took the lead after swallowing, though mostly not by a statistically significant margin. [19]

Where astringency comes from, in detail

A soft, mouth-coating dryness felt along the sides of the mouth and tongue, like the tannin of some wines, without the sharp pucker.

Also called

soft tannin, fine tannin

Reference

Tannins in some wines or beers.

Compare with

astringency, mouth-coating

• What it is made of. The taste study of roasted nibs attributed a velvety astringency to flavonol glycosides, a different group of compounds from those behind the puckering kind. [3]
• Origin examples. The glossary gives appropriately fermented Nacional as its typical example. [1]

Burning or warming from an added ingredient such as chilli, pepper or ginger. It is irritation, not taste, and it builds and outlasts the flavour.

Also called

pungency, burn, piquancy

Common mistake

'Spicy' is used both for heat and for the smell of spices. Cinnamon aroma is not heat; chilli burn is not an aroma.

Compare with

spice, cooling

No link to composition, process or origin is given, because none was verified from a primary source.

Where heat comes from, in detail

A cold sensation in the mouth that is not a matter of the chocolate's temperature: from mint, from some sugar substitutes as they dissolve, or simply from fat melting quickly.

Also called

cool melt, minty cool

Compare with

melt, heat

No link to composition, process or origin is given, because none was verified from a primary source.

The base chocolate flavour itself: what well-fermented, dried and roasted cacao smells and tastes of before any more particular note is named.

Also called

cocoa, chocolatey, chocolate base, brownie

Common mistake

Left out because it seems too obvious. Its strength varies widely and its absence is a finding.

Compare with

roast degree, malty, nutty

• Where in the process. The glossary places under-fermented cacao and ancient Criollo lots in its lowest band for this attribute, and some West African lots in its highest. [1]
• What it is made of. No single compound smells of chocolate. When 24 odorants that individually smell malty, sour, sweaty, honey-like and caramel-like, among other things, were mixed at the concentrations found in cocoa powder, the mixture reproduced the powder's typical cocoa smell. [8]

The smell of malted grain or malt extract: warm, slightly sweet-smelling and cereal-like.

Also called

malt, cereal, biscuity

Compare with

cacao, caramel, roast degree

• What it is made of. 3-Methylbutanal, which smells malty, was among the odorants contributing most to the flavour of a milk chocolate, and among the most odour-active compounds in cocoa powder. [7, 8]
• Where in the process. Roasting increases it: a study of Criollo beans measured a strong rise in 3-methylbutanal on roasting. [9]

Where malty comes from, in detail

The smell of ripe, uncooked fruit. Tasters divide it by kind: berry, citrus, dark fruit such as cherry and plum, pale-fleshed fruit such as peach or banana, and tropical fruit.

Also called

fruity, bright fruit

Reference

The glossary's examples include raspberry and blackcurrant, orange and lemon, cherry and plum, apricot and banana, passion fruit and mango.

Common mistake

Used for sourness. Fruit is a smell; a chocolate can be sour without smelling of fruit, and can smell of fruit without being sour.

Compare with

browned fruit, fruit acidity, acetic acidity, floral

• Origin examples. The glossary's reference notes give Madagascar as a high example and many West African lots as low. [1]
• What it is made of. In cocoa liquors from the progeny of one Ecuadorian clone, fruity character fell as polyphenol content rose. [22]

Where fresh fruit comes from, in detail

The darker, cooked or dried side of fruit: raisin, date, prune, fig, dried apricot.

Also called

dried fruit, dark fruit, raisin

Common mistake

It shades into a fault. The glossary counts severely over-ripe, browning fruit within this attribute and describes it as a step towards over-fermentation.

Compare with

fresh fruit, caramel, over-fermented

• Origin examples. Fully fermented Indonesian lots and some Caribbean lots are the glossary's middle-band examples; some Papua New Guinean lots its high ones. [1]

Where browned fruit comes from, in detail

The smell of flowers. Orange blossom is usually named separately from the rest: jasmine, honeysuckle, rose, lilac.

Also called

flowery, blossom, perfumed

Compare with

fresh fruit, honey, green

• What it is made of. The pulp around the beans has an aroma of its own. Pulp from two varieties carried stronger floral and fruity notes than pulp from CCN-51, and during fermentation some odorants were higher in the bean than in the pulp. The study did not follow them into chocolate. [30]
• Origin examples. The glossary's examples are appropriately fermented Nacional, with some Caribbean and Peruvian lots; it places West African lots in its lowest band. [1]

Where floral comes from, in detail

The sweet-smelling, slightly floral scent of honey.

Also called

honeyed

Compare with

floral, caramel

• What it is made of. Phenylacetaldehyde, which smells of honey, was among the most odour-active compounds in cocoa powder, and its concentration rose strongly when Criollo beans were roasted. [8, 9]

Where honey comes from, in detail

The smell of lightly roasted nuts. A careful note says whether it is the kernel or the papery skin, which is drier and faintly bitter.

Also called

nut, hazelnut, almond

Reference

Hazelnut, almond, walnut, pecan, cashew, macadamia or Brazil nut, flesh or skin.

Compare with

roast degree, malty, astringency

• What it is made of. A nutty, earthy pyrazine and a hazelnut-smelling ketone were among the thirteen odorants contributing most to a milk chocolate's flavour. The hazelnut one was not detectable in the cocoa mass the chocolate was made from, so it came from elsewhere in the recipe or the process. [7]
• Origin examples. The glossary's examples are some Central and South American and Caribbean lots, and ancient Criollos. [1]

Where nutty comes from, in detail

The smell of browned sugar: caramel, brown sugar, or the unrefined cane sugar called panela.

Also called

panela, brown sugar, toffee

Common mistake

Read as sweetness. It is a smell and can be strong in a chocolate with little sugar.

Compare with

sweetness, malty, browned fruit

• What it is made of. A furanone with a caramel-like smell was among the most potent odorants in cocoa powder, and rose strongly when Criollo beans were roasted. [8, 9]

Where caramel comes from, in detail

The smell of dried spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, vanilla, tonka, black pepper. Aroma only; any burning is a separate sensation.

Also called

spicy, warm spice

Compare with

heat, tobacco, woody

• Origin examples. The glossary places most origins in its lowest band for spice and gives some West African, Central and South American and Caribbean lots as examples above it. [1]

Where spice comes from, in detail

The smell of dried, cured tobacco leaf: sweetish, leafy and slightly leathery.

Also called

cigar box, dried leaf

Compare with

spice, woody, meaty, animal, leather

• How it is perceived. The glossary scores it as a sub-attribute of spice. [1]

Where tobacco comes from, in detail

The smell of wood, divided into light wood such as pine or a lolly stick, dark wood such as oak or walnut, and resin.

Also called

wood, oak, resinous

Compare with

green, tobacco, astringency

• Origin examples. Some Nacional and many West African lots are the glossary's examples. [1]

Where woody comes from, in detail

Plant smells that are not fruit or flower: cut grass, crushed leaves, hay, dried herbs.

Also called

vegetal, grassy, herbal, leafy

Compare with

earthy, floral, raw

• What it is made of. A green note in cocoa liquors from the progeny of one Ecuadorian clone rose with polyphenol content, as bitterness and astringency did. [22]
• Origin examples. The glossary gives appropriately fermented Nacional and some Caribbean and Peruvian lots as examples of vegetal character. [1]

Damp soil after rain, fresh mushroom, moss, a forest floor. The glossary groups it under vegetal and treats it as a normal attribute, not a fault.

Also called

mushroom, mossy, forest floor

Common mistake

Confused with mustiness. Clean damp earth is a character; stale, mildewed damp is a storage fault.

Compare with

green, musty and mouldy, woody

• What it is made of. 1-Octen-3-one, which smells of mushroom, was among the thirteen odorants contributing most to the flavour of a commercial milk chocolate. [7]

Where earthy comes from, in detail

How far the roast shows, from barely toasted through to burnt. A scale of extent, not of quality: too little and too much both distort everything else.

Also called

roast, roasted, toasted, roasty

Common mistake

Scored as if more were better. The Cacao of Excellence scale runs low roast at 2–3, medium at 4–6, high at 7, and treats 8 and above as burnt.

Compare with

cacao, malty, nutty, burnt, metallic bitterness

• Where in the process. Roasting measurably raises the concentration of several key odorants, including malty-smelling 3-methylbutanal. [9]
• How it is perceived. The glossary notes that marked under- or over-roasting alters many other attribute scores. [1]

Where roast degree comes from, in detail

How a piece breaks: cleanly with a sharp sound, or by bending and crumbling. Heard and felt before anything is tasted.

Also called

break, fracture

Common mistake

Taken as a sign of bean quality. It reflects the fat, its crystal form and the temperature of the room, and milk chocolate is softer by composition.

Compare with

hardness, melt

No link to composition, process or origin is given, because none was verified from a primary source.

The force needed to bite through a piece.

Also called

firmness, bite

Compare with

snap, melt, fineness

• What it is made of. In dark chocolate, instrumentally measured hardness fell as particle size rose, and the effect of particle size shrank as fat and lecithin content went up. [16]
• What it is made of. In milk chocolate, hardness decreased as more milk fat was added. [18]

How quickly and how evenly the piece turns liquid in the mouth, and whether it does so completely.

Also called

melting, melt rate, meltdown

Common mistake

Assumed to track flavour. In a study of dark chocolate pieces of different shapes, perceived melting was not correlated with flavour intensity.

Compare with

hardness, waxy, cooling, mouth-coating

• What it is made of. In a trained-panel study of milk chocolates, samples higher in fat melted faster. [17]
• How it is perceived. Perceived melting was not correlated with flavour intensity across dark chocolate pieces of different shapes. [21]

Whether the melted chocolate feels perfectly smooth or carries a detectable grain of sugar or cocoa particles.

Also called

smoothness, grittiness, graininess, sandiness, coarseness

Common mistake

Quoted with a single threshold in micrometres. What tasters can detect has been measured as a difference between samples, and it varies between people.

Compare with

powdery, hardness, melt

• How it is perceived. In melted chocolate the smallest difference in particle size tasters could notice was about 5 micrometres, and it grew as the particles got larger. [15]
• How it is perceived. Two commercial chocolates with particles of 19 and 26 micrometres were told apart, but only by people with more acute touch sensitivity in the mouth: 17 of 20 of them picked the grittier one, against 12 of 24 of the rest, which is what guessing would give. [15]

A dry, dusty or chalky feeling as the chocolate melts, as if fine powder were left on the tongue.

Also called

chalky, dusty, dry

Common mistake

Mixed up with astringency. Powderiness is felt while the chocolate is still there; astringent dryness grows after it has gone. The glossary also uses 'dusty' for an off-smell that has nothing to do with texture.

Compare with

fineness, astringency, dirty

No link to composition, process or origin is given, because none was verified from a primary source.

Where powdery comes from, in detail

A melt that stalls: the piece softens but leaves a film or a lump that will not clear at mouth temperature.

Also called

greasy, fatty, claggy

Compare with

melt, mouth-coating

No link to composition, process or origin is given, because none was verified from a primary source.

Where waxy comes from, in detail

A thick, smooth, soft melt, most often said of milk chocolate. Partly texture and partly dairy aroma, which is why it is hard to pin down.

Also called

milky, silky, rich

Common mistake

Used as general praise. If it is meant as texture, say what the melt did.

Compare with

melt, mouth-coating, fineness

No link to composition, process or origin is given, because none was verified from a primary source.

Where creamy comes from, in detail

How much of a film the melted chocolate leaves on the tongue and palate, and how long it stays.

Also called

coating, viscous, thick, sticky

Compare with

waxy, creamy, velvety astringency, length

No link to composition, process or origin is given, because none was verified from a primary source.

How long anything at all can still be perceived after swallowing. A duration, and neutral: a long finish of something unpleasant is still long.

Also called

persistence, long finish, short finish

Common mistake

Used as a synonym for quality.

Compare with

aftertaste, development

No link to composition, process or origin is given, because none was verified from a primary source.

What it is that remains after swallowing, as distinct from how long it lasts.

Also called

finish, lingering note

Compare with

length, astringency, bitterness

• How it is perceived. In a time-based study of dark chocolates, bitterness led until swallowing and astringency afterwards, the latter mostly not by a statistically significant margin. [19]
• How it is perceived. The Cacao of Excellence overall score takes the cleanliness of the finish into account. [1]

The order in which sensations take the lead from first melt to the end. Two chocolates with the same list of notes can present them in a different sequence.

Also called

evolution, progression, temporal profile

Common mistake

Reported as fact from one tasting. When different trained panels described the same chocolates over time, they produced different descriptions.

Compare with

length, aftertaste

• How it is perceived. Sensory scientists measure this by asking tasters to name the dominant sensation moment by moment, a method called temporal dominance of sensations. [19]
• How it is perceived. A study of that method with chocolate found that different panels gave different descriptions of the same samples. [24]

The smell of wood smoke, smoked ham or a bonfire, from beans that took up smoke while being dried over a fire.

Also called

smoked, hammy, phenolic

Common mistake

Blamed on a dark roast. Smoke taint arrives with the beans; and one study of over-fermented cocoa found that over-fermentation alone can also produce smoky-smelling compounds.

Compare with

meaty, animal, leather, burnt, over-fermented

• What it is made of. Smoky off-flavours in cocoa have been traced to a group of phenols, including 2-methoxyphenol and 3-ethylphenol. [10]
• Where in the process. A quality-control study of smoky cocoa states that the taint comes from poor post-harvest handling and cannot be removed in manufacture. A study that followed the smoky phenols through processing measured losses of 30–63% during conching, after a small rise on roasting: reduced, then, but not gone. [11, 12]
• Where in the process. Fermentation trials in Nicaragua and Costa Rica showed that over-fermentation can produce smoky, leathery and horse-stable-like off-flavours without any smoke, at phenol concentrations similar to those reported for smoke-contaminated cocoa. [13]

Where smoky comes from, in detail

Stale damp, mildew, a cellar or an old book; or, more strongly, the smell of visible mould.

Also called

mouldy, damp, mildew, stale

Common mistake

Excused as 'earthy'. Fresh soil is a character; stale damp is beans that were dried too slowly or stored badly.

Compare with

earthy, dirty

• Where in the process. Wet beans held in shade for 120 hours did not dry quickly enough to stop mould and putrefaction, and drying them rapidly in an oven afterwards did not improve the flavour. [27]
• What it is made of. A mouldy-musty off-flavour in cocoa was traced to compounds including geosmin and 3-methyl-1H-indole. [14]
• Where in the process. Roasting does not reliably help. One of the compounds involved, 3-methyl-1H-indole, fell during roasting, while a related one, 1H-indole, rose from below its odour threshold to as much as eight times above it. The authors conclude that beans should be checked after a test roast as well as before. [12]

Where musty and mouldy comes from, in detail

Rotting fruit, and beyond it the smell of decomposing plant matter or manure. Fermentation that went on after it should have stopped.

Also called

rotten fruit, putrid, manure

Compare with

browned fruit, meaty, animal, leather, cheesy, acetic acidity

• Where in the process. Comparing well-fermented and over-fermented cocoa from fermentation trials, a study attributed smoky, leathery and horse-stable-like off-flavours to two phenols and cheesy, vomit-like ones to short-chain acids such as butanoic acid. [13]
• How it is perceived. The glossary lists over-fermented or rotten fruit and putrid or manure as separate off-flavours. [1]

Cured meat or rendered fat; a farmyard or stable; old worn leather. Three related smells the glossary groups as one off-flavour.

Also called

hammy, barnyard, farmyard, horse stable

Compare with

over-fermented, smoky, savoury, tobacco

• Where in the process. Over-fermentation was shown to produce leathery and horse-stable-like off-flavours, attributed to 2-methoxyphenol and 4-ethylphenol. [13]

The smell of strong cheese, sweaty feet or rancid butter.

Also called

rancid butter, butyric, sweaty

Common mistake

Treated as a fault at any level. Sweaty-smelling 2- and 3-methylbutanoic acids are among the most potent odorants of ordinary cocoa and milk chocolate; it is excess that marks a fault.

Compare with

over-fermented, mineral and butyric acidity

• Where in the process. Oven-dried beans in one trial held high concentrations of volatile fatty acids, a group that includes butyric and isovaleric acid, and made chocolate with a strong off-flavour. [27]
• Where in the process. Over-fermentation was shown to produce cheesy, vomit-like off-flavours caused by short-chain carboxylic acids, butanoic acid among them. [13]
• What it is made of. 2- and 3-Methylbutanoic acid, described as sweaty, were among the odorants with the highest potency in both a commercial milk chocolate and cocoa powder. [7, 8]

The smell of dust, an old sack or a dirty floor. An off-smell, not a texture.

Also called

dusty, sacky, jute

Compare with

musty and mouldy, powdery

• How it is perceived. The glossary lists dirty or dusty as an off-flavour and specifies that it is not about texture. [1]

Charred, ashy or acrid: a roast taken past the point where it adds anything.

Also called

over-roasted, ashy, acrid, charred

Common mistake

Confused with smoke taint. Burnt comes from the roaster and smoky usually from the drying; the remedies are in different countries.

Compare with

roast degree, smoky, metallic bitterness

• How it is perceived. The Cacao of Excellence scale treats roast scores of 8 to 10 as levels of burnt or over-roasted. [1]

Where burnt comes from, in detail

The profile of beans that were not fermented enough: little chocolate flavour, hard bitterness and a sharp drying astringency, sometimes with a green smell.

Also called

under-fermented, unfermented, green

Compare with

astringency, bitterness, green, cacao

• Where in the process. The glossary ties each part of this profile to under-fermentation separately: its lowest cacao band, its highest bitterness band and the sharp type of astringency. [1]