TASTING NOTES WRITTEN ON CRAFT CHOCOLATE BARS: IS IT A GOOD IDEA?

“Oh, note of raspberry! You mean there are raspberries in this chocolate?”

The struggle is real.

Average consumers still don’t know that chocolate can have more than a “chocolatey” flavor. They don’t expect to taste berries, exotic fruits, nuts or spices in their 70% plain dark bars. How to blame them! As a kid, nobody was probably ever fed the finest chocolate in the world. From Hershey’s to Kinder, the chocolate snacks for children contained little cacao and lots of sugar, milk and vanilla. Not that flavor mattered much, as these treats were devoured in a matter of seconds anyway.

This ‘mindless eating’ associated with chocolate since a tender age didn’t create the best environment for craft chocolate. A lot of explaining and tasting is now necessary to change this habit. Consumers have to learn how to enjoy the different flavors that chocolate can deliver.

This is why Tasting Notes were written on craft chocolate bars in the first place.

Tasting notes indicate the aromas contained in a chocolate bar when you taste it. These are not added ingredients, but the intrinsic flavors of the chocolate itself. They are achieved in a million ways. Some involuntarily (genetics and terroir), some voluntarily (roasting and conching techniques). Interesting aromas are what differentiates craft chocolate from industrial chocolate.

Craft chocolate aims to preserve the original aromas of cacao. Industrial chocolate dilutes the intrinsic flavors of cacao with sugar, milk, vanilla and other flavorings to keep the price tag low. The distinction is clear: craft chocolate is for savouring; industrial chocolate is for mindless eating. And for those who want to savour, the majority of craft makers includes Tasting Notes on their packaging.

This indication serves three main purposes:

To make consumers understand that chocolate can taste of something other than “chocolatey”.
To help consumers make a purchase based on the flavors they prefer.
To guide consumers during their tasting experience.
Tasting Notes also help the storytelling of a chocolate bar. They reveal the unique personality of that specific chocolate, and differentiates it from all the other bars on the same shelf. This way, consumers can enjoy guidance in their purchasing and tasting experience, and craft makers have a tool to differentiate themselves from a growing competition.

It seems like a win-win situation for everybody, but there’s a catch.

Although Tasting Notes are a great marketing and educational tool, there is something politically incorrect about indicating them on the packaging of a craft chocolate bar.

The biggest enemy for those who make chocolate starting from the beans is inconsistency.

Depending on the conditions at origin, the supply of cacao beans is impacted in both quality and quantity. Since most of the suppliers of fine cacao are small farmers, many factors influence flavor: weather, fermentation practices, quality protocols, time of harvest, even political instabilities. Also the chocolate maker contributes to this confusion. From buying new equipment to switching suppliers, any change inside the chocolate factory can affect the end result.

The craft chocolate movement actually takes pride in this inconsistency. While big manufacturers offer the exact same product over time, craft makers respect the cacao beans they receive and make the best out of them in the moment, surrendering to any difference from batch to batch. Unfortunately, the package that wraps such inconsistent chocolate often remains the same.

So it happens that the new batch of chocolate tastes different, but it is sold in a package with Tasting Notes from the previous batch. Or the one before that. Or who knows from how long ago.

Considering inconsistency in craft chocolate, is it a good idea to write the Tasting Notes on the packaging?

This topic has been discussed at Chocoa, the largest gathering of chocolate professionals in Europe that takes place every February in Amsterdam.

In the Chocolate Makers Forum, chocolate expert Clay Gordon from The Chocolate Life (now The Maven) was the mediator of an interactive conversation all about the challenges and the opportunities of being a craft chocolate maker. From brand identity to logistical difficulties, every aspect of bean-to-bar making was analyzed and discussed. When it was time to talk about packaging, Clay posed to the audience a very practical question:

“As a craft chocolate maker, what do you do if your new batch of chocolate tastes different from the previous one, but you still have hundreds of packages with the old Tasting Notes?”

SOURCE : http://thechocolatejournalist.com