Sight:
Sight:Before anything, look at the chocolate. Focus deeply on the shine, color, and smooth texture. Colors can range from creamy ivory, to red browns, to deep dark oak. The color reveals the different types of cocoa beans used.
Smell:
Next, inhale. Breathe deeply and fill your body and soul with the chocolate’s rich scent.
Sound:
Break a square of chocolate into fragments between your fingers, and listen to the sharp snap it makes.
Taste:
Start by nibbling a quarter of a chocolate square, to taste the initial flavors, aromas and consistency. Then chew slowly, taking the time to relish the various individual flavors that surface. Let the chocolate melt slowly and delicately on your tongue to reveal its full bouquet of flavors.
Touch:
Take a moment to concentrate on your taste buds, to feel and savor the different flavors: first acid. If you can wait a little longer you may also experience the bitterness of the chocolate.
Sample the chocolate again, but this time concentrate on your nose, and discover the aromas that release themselves one after the other. Like wine, you will first smell the most volatile aromas (primary or head aromas). In wine, these are the instantaneous, fleeting flower or fruit aromas, which volatilize quickly and fade away in the middle of the tasting process. In chocolate, these are essentially hot aromas, such as roasted almonds, hot bread crust, spice mix, among others. Allow yourself to bask in the taste experience, for you will then be able to delight in and savor the less volatile aromas of certain chocolates, known as final aromas. These are often woody, roasted nibs (cocoa nibs), malty, etc.