Chocolate Tasting: 10 Easy Tips

Chocolate Tasting: A Pleasure to Take Seriously

Chocolate tasting , it is impossible to deny, is a very pleasant activity, whether you taste it alone or paired with a good liqueur. But it is also demanding, in the sense that it requires time, a certain concentration and some precautions.

Since Enrico Rizzi takes taste very seriously, we have collected a series of easy tips to prepare for an optimal chocolate tasting .

Read also: How to pair liquors and chocolate

Chocolate Tasting: 10 Tips

1. Take your time

Tasting chocolate does not mean gulping it down in one bite. To fully appreciate its nuances, you need to dwell on each step, taking all the time necessary. Haste is the enemy of good tasting.

2. Use all your senses

It's not just taste: it may seem strange, but also sight, hearing, touch and especially smell are fundamental to taste chocolate at its best. We will soon see why.

3. A glass of water

Before you begin your chocolate tasting, rinse your mouth with a nice glass of water, so as to “clean” your palate from previous flavors. Any residue could mislead you and prevent you from fully appreciating the characteristics of the chocolate.

Read also: Rum and chocolate, 5 perfect pairings

4. Watch the temperature

Chocolate should only be tasted once it has rested at room temperature. If it is cold from the fridge, for example, it will have an excessively hard consistency and will not allow you to fully appreciate its aromas. In general, in any case, it is not advisable to store chocolate in the fridge.

5. Test surface and texture

We were talking about sight, touch and hearing: when you have the bar in your hands, break it to understand what type of chocolate you are dealing with. A good chocolate - or at least a chocolate in good storage conditions, should: have certain shades depending on the type; exert a little, but not too much resistance to breaking; emit a full sound when you break it.

6. Sharpen your sense of smell

The sense of smell is fundamental in determining the characteristics of cocoa . So before tasting it… smell it, especially along the break line, where the aromas are released with greater intensity.

7. Don't rush...again

Once the chocolate is in your mouth, don't rush to chew it all the way through. Let it melt in your palate and on your tongue, so you can appreciate all its nuances.

Read also: Chocolate, single origin or blend?

8. Focus

If you really want to “understand” a chocolate, you have to focus on it 100%. Avoid distractions, think only about the sensations you are experiencing and the aromas you are perceiving. Now, this is a proper chocolate tasting.

9. Reflect

Once you’re done, try to reflect on what you’ve grasped and perceived. Even once you’ve finished tasting the chocolate, in fact, you might realize something – perhaps a simple nuance – that you hadn’t noticed at the time.

10. Take notes

Chocolate tasting is not only a pleasurable activity; it is also methodical. Take notes on what you perceived as soon as you finish tasting and compare the different experiences. It may be useful in your future purchases of chocolate bars.

Read also: The origins of cocoa and chocolate

Book your Chocolate Experience

In the hope that these tips have been useful to you, we wish you a good tasting and invite you to discover all the secrets of cocoa processing inside the Enrico Rizzi Chocolate Factory in Milan, in via Gian Giacomo Mora 18, just 10 minutes walk from the central Piazza del Duomo.

Buy your Chocolate Experience now : you will visit a plantation in Peru thanks to an immersive video in VR360°, you will see up close the machinery used to process the beans and you will participate in a guided tasting of single-origin bars. Alternatively, you can give a coupon from those available below: the recipient can use it to choose the date and time of their Experience later.