The Beginner's Guide to Tasting Craft Chocolates

July 14, 2022

From milk or dark, to caramelised and spicy, artisan and craft chocolatiers have combined the most decadent ingredients to create complex and tasty bars for discerning palates. With its rich taste and amazing texture, chocolate has a way of winning over even the most hardened sceptics. And as more people learn about high-quality chocolate—made with premium ingredients and carefully crafted by artisan makers—its popularity continues to grow.

 

Tasting Notes: What It Means?

Just like perfume and their fragrance notes, tasting notes are a great way to get a sense for what to expect when tasting chocolate. These aromas are not added ingredients, but rather intrinsic flavours of the chocolate itself. 

Each bite of a craft chocolate bar is an opportunity to experience a new tasting note. Tasting notes are a combination of the five basic flavours. Add in its texture, and every bite of the bar and its mouthfeel is interpreted by your taste buds and even has the power to bring back personal memories. Our brain will interpret each craft chocolate bar through your own sensory experiences, so you will never taste the same exact tasting note twice! These unique flavour profiles and interesting aromas are what differentiates craft chocolate from industrial chocolate, and give you a better understanding of how your food is sourced and produced.

 

The Five Basic Flavours

Chocolate is much more than just a food. It's an experience. For many people, chocolate is more than just a taste sensation—it's a memory trigger. We believe that chocolate is not just about tasting great. It's about the stories behind the bean and the craft that goes into creating it. As such, chocolates have been refined for centuries to bring out the best possible flavours. There are five basic flavours – sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and umami. Flavours in a good chocolate are equally knitted, to create their own sub-flavours. Tasting notes are common flavors detected in chocolate, often noticed by chocolatiers looking for a particular flavor. They help describe the overall flavor of chocolate. Some common tasting notes are: tannin, floral, earthy, red fruit, fudge, creamy, nutty, bitter, and citrus. Each of these is itself a blend of basic flavors so differentiating them can be tough.

 

Tips on Tasting Craft Chocolates

Chocolate tasting is not as easy as it appears. To be a successful chocolatier, you need to master the art of distinguishing each chocolate's flavor and texture. For that, we bring you three simple tips to start tasting craft chocolates,

 

  1. Start with tasting chocolates that have low percentages of cocoa such as 60-70% or maybe even one at 75%. As you get more confident, go for a dark chocolate with 85% or 90% cocoa, which will have more depth of taste.

 

  1. If you want a more sophisticated chocolate experience, look for flavour notes on the bar. Creamy, caramel, and floral flavours work best in elevating and enhancing the natural flavours of chocolate; avoid earthy, tannins and tobacco. Those notes generally come from higher percentage cacao content.

 

  1. Tasting craft chocolates is like tasting wine, and it should be savoured. It isn’t just about getting a cheap deal, it’s about appreciating the experience. Look for single-origin bars which feature salt, as it really makes a difference to the quality of your chocolate by contrasting the natural sweetness of a chocolate creation and making every tasting note ‘pop’.

 

Explore Chocolate Tasting Notes With Laurent Bernard

At Laurent Bernard, you’ll find delicious artisan chocolates in Singapore freshly prepared by expert chocolatiers. Not only artisan chocolates, we also have plenty of single origin chocolate bars from countries like Peru, Bali, Vietnam as well as premium artisanal cakes and pastries from award-winning chocolatiers in France.

So, if you’re a chocolate lover, start with tasting sophisticated boxed chocolates for a unique gourmet experience, or artisan and gourmet chocolate bars from the best chocolate shop in Singapore. Love to explore chocolate tasting notes along with your friend? Well, we make it easier for you with our expansive catalogue of delicious products. We at Laurent Bernard provide islandwide delivery for chocolates, cakes, and gift hampers throughout Singapore too. Feel free to contact us for more information.