The evaluation process
Place about 1 ml of cocoa mass on a small spatula and place directly on the tongue and keep it there for 20 seconds.
During this time the different attributes making up the flavour profile become apparent at three contiguous time intervals viz. initial front flavour notes, middle flavour notes and residual end flavour notes. Panellists should note that some flavours either appear or disappear very quickly or are easily masked whilst other flavours could linger for a longer time with distinct after tastes.
Score the intensity of the flavour attributes for each flavour descriptor using 10-cm line scales with a possible range of scores from 0 to 10 where the higher numbers denoted stronger flavour intensities.
After sample evaluation, the following clearing procedure is used:
- Expectorate the sample
- Rinse with warm water, expectorate rinse water
- Chew 1/8 – 1/6th of a Table Water Cracker Wafer (non yeast based) with the front incisors and not the molars and swallow
- Rinse with warm water, expectorate rinse water
- Rinse again with warm water this time swallowing the rinse water
The performance of the sensory panel can be optimised during evaluations by including a hidden reference samples to check panellist consistency between repetitions during training and evaluation sessions.
