Most people don’t know this, but just like fine wine, there is an art to tasting chocolate. Chocolate is enjoyed, but fine chocolates are experienced! It is a rare an intimate experience that requires your time and concentration, to discover the richness and complexities of the chocolate and appreciate the enjoyment as it reaches a crescendo. The art of chocolate tasting can be broken down into 4 stages:
SIGHT: The look of the chocolate is definitely a defining quality that will determine your overall experience. Pay close attention to the shine and texture of the chocolate. Colors can range from milky beiges to pure mahoganies, to deep dark browns. It is an essential detail that reveals the varieties of cocoa beans used.
SMELL: smell the chocolate, breathe deeply and fill your mind and body with its aromas.
HEAR: Listen by breaking a square into fragments between your fingers, and listen to the snap it makes.
TASTE: Start by biting into a quarter of a chocolate square. Let it melt on the tongue to taste the initial flavors, aromas, and consistency. Gently rub the tongue against the palate. This causes the temperature of the chocolate to slowly increase, resulting in the final release of its flavors and aromas. Close your eyes and focus only on the development of the aromatic notes of the chocolate in the mouth.
At the precise moment when the chocolate melts in the mouth and the aromas are released, breathe gently through the nose, then inhale to fully experience the diversity and the complexity of the flowery, fruity or spicy, etc., notes.
Breathe out to create suction in the mouth, like a whistling effect, causing all the aromas from the chocolate that has been worked by the tongue and the palate to come together and move up towards the nose. Take a moment to concentrate on your tongue, to feel, to savor the different flavors: acid, then if you wait a little longer you may experience the taste again, but this time, concentrate on your nose and discover the aromas that unleash themselves one after the other.
Similar to wine, you will first smell the most volatile aromas (primary or head aromas): These are instantaneous, fleeting flower or fruit aromas, which volatilize quickly and fade away in the middle of the tasting process.
Next, we move on to the aromas that are unveiled in the middle of the tasting experience, known as body aromas. These are essentially hot aromas, such as roasted almonds, hot bread crust, spice mix, etc. Allow yourself to linger over the taste experience, for you will then be able to savor the less volatile aromas of certain chocolates, known as final aromas: These are often woody, roasted nibs (cocoa nibs), malty, etc.
http://www.WorldChocolateDirectory.org
