Chocolate Tasting Tools
Useful chocolate tasting tools are a challenge to come by, and can be quite expensive at times. Below you will find free tasting tools I developed for you to download and use right away. I have also created some other fantastic tools for purchase, such as the Bean To Bar Compass.
I do plan to come out with more useful tasting tools in the future. If there is a tool you think would be useful that I have not created yet, feel free to suggest one.
Welcome!
Free Chocolate Tasting Tools
Click on an image below to read more and purchase the product or pdf file.
Become Your Own Chocolate Sommelier!
This One-Of-A-Kind Interactive Tasting Tool And Workbook Will Help Guide You Towards Becoming Your Own Chocolate Connoisseur. With The Right Tools And Information, Anyone Can Learn To Appreciate Fine Dark Chocolate.
The Bean To Bar Compass includes:
A 20 page booklet with various topics including tasting fine chocolate, neurogastronomy, cacao genetics, the chocolate making process, labels, and so much more. The booklet includes QR codes which can be scanned with your phone, and open into website pages packed with even more information on specific topics!
A removable 40 page (20 page double sided) logbook. The logbook will allow you to keep track of all your chocolate specifications and flavour analysis. This can be removed and replaced with a new logbook once it’s full.
A tasting tool guide fold-out including a flavour tree, a practical guide for tasting chocolate, and storage tips.
A beautifully designed wooden binder. You can even use this wooden binder to attach your own pages for notes or other personal chocolate references to The Bean To Bar Compass!
This Bean To Bar Compass was created and designed by Geoseph.
Click here to learn more about The Compass
Click Here To Watch A Video On The Compass
This is the logbook only. Purchase this if your workbook is full and you need another one to add to your Bean To Bar Compass.
This is a 40 page (20 page double sided) logbook. Select between one copy or two. This product does not include the compass binder or tool book. This is the logbook only.
Hazel Lee is a craft chocolate enthusiast and food scientist. You have come across her beautiful tasting posters if you’re connected with the craft bean-to-bar world. She uses this tasting tool in her chocolate tasting workshops where guests paint the colours which express the flavours they experience from their chocolate.
This poster (In English) is a tasting tool which associates colour with words used to describe the flavours found in craft bean-to-bar chocolate. Use this as you would a flavour wheel or flavour tree to help articulate the flavours you experience in your single-origin chocolate bars.
The poster measures approximately 16.5” x 12” (or 42x30 cm). They are printed on quality 260gsm textured paper, similar to paper used for water colour paintings. They are packaged in an A3 biodegradable plant-based pouch.
It is recommended to frame your poster in order to keep it safe, but also so it can function as a beautiful art piece in your home or tasting room!
The poster(s) will be shipped flat within corrugated cardboard.
Hazel Lee is a craft chocolate enthusiast and food scientist. You have come across her beautiful tasting posters if you’re connected with the craft bean-to-bar world. She uses this tasting tool in her chocolate tasting workshops where guests paint the colours which express the flavours they experience from their chocolate.
This poster (In French) is a tasting tool which associates colour with words used to describe the flavours found in craft bean-to-bar chocolate. Use this as you would a flavour wheel or flavour tree to help articulate the flavours you experience in your single-origin chocolate bars.
The poster measures approximately 16.5” x 12” (or 42x30 cm). They are printed on quality 260gsm textured paper, similar to paper used for water colour paintings. They are packaged in an A3 biodegradable plant-based pouch.
It is recommended to frame your poster in order to keep it safe, but also so it can function as a beautiful art piece in your home or tasting room!
The poster(s) will be shipped flat within corrugated cardboard.
Hazel Lee is a craft chocolate enthusiast and food scientist. You have come across her beautiful tasting posters if you’re connected with the craft bean-to-bar world. She uses this tasting tool in her chocolate tasting workshops where guests paint the colours which express the flavours they experience from their chocolate.
This poster (In Spanish) is a tasting tool which associates colour with words used to describe the flavours found in craft bean-to-bar chocolate. Use this as you would a flavour wheel or flavour tree to help articulate the flavours you experience in your single-origin chocolate bars.
The poster measures approximately 16.5” x 12” (or 42x30 cm). They are printed on quality 260gsm textured paper, similar to paper used for water colour paintings. They are packaged in an A3 biodegradable plant-based pouch.
It is recommended to frame your poster in order to keep it safe, but also so it can function as a beautiful art piece in your home or tasting room!
The poster(s) will be shipped flat within corrugated cardboard.
Hazel Lee is a craft chocolate enthusiast and food scientist. You have come across her beautiful tasting posters if you’re connected with the craft bean-to-bar world. She uses this tasting tool in her chocolate tasting workshops where guests paint the colours which express the flavours they experience from their chocolate.
This poster (In Portuguese) is a tasting tool which associates colour with words used to describe the flavours found in craft bean-to-bar chocolate. Use this as you would a flavour wheel or flavour tree to help articulate the flavours you experience in your single-origin chocolate bars.
The poster measures approximately 16.5” x 12” (or 42x30 cm). They are printed on quality 260gsm textured paper, similar to paper used for water colour paintings. They are packaged in an A3 biodegradable plant-based pouch.
It is recommended to frame your poster in order to keep it safe, but also so it can function as a beautiful art piece in your home or tasting room!
The poster(s) will be shipped flat within corrugated cardboard.
This chocolate flavour wheel is here to help you articulate the flavours of your fine chocolate. The file includes a flavour wheel with a white background, and one with black background. The file downloads as a .pdf
This wheel is different from the other where the colour tones match the category. In this wheel, the colours are more reflective of the colours some may associate with such flavour. This may be more helpful for those who are more visual.
It includes major groups and flavours many find within fine dark chocolate. There are flavour wheels that are more or less complex. This wheel was designed to offer a good broad idea of possible flavours, without overwhelming the taster. Many of these flavours were extracted from countless chocolate tasting classes, as well as from peer reviewed research on chocolate flavour and aroma.
If you need more help and details on how to taste fine chocolate, please check out my page Chocolate Tasting 101 and even the Tasting Guide as well. If you have more questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to me.
You are free to use this pdf download to copy and print as you wish. I ask that you do not remove the credit.If you use this for your business or commercial purposes I ask that you please make a donation to this website to help me develop more tools in the future. Feel free to request tools or content you wish to see more of when you donate. This flavour wheel is to be used for teaching purposes either for yourself or your class, and is not to be sold or altered. © 2018 The Bean To Bar World. If you wish to have a customized flavour wheel, please purchase the custom wheel or contact me if you have questions.
I am always looking to create tasting tools in other languages. If you don’t see a language you’re looking for, and think you can help me translate it, please contact me. Fine chocolate should be for people from around the world, and I’m happy to help reach as many people as possible!
Bean To Bar World
Blank Chocolate Flavour Wheel
This flavour wheel is intended for those who have already tested out their chocolate flavour skills, and wish to create a tool that best suits your experience, palate, culture, and language. As a beginner, it’s best to try out some flavour wheels as a reference point, and then go from there.
This is perfect for those enthusiasts who wish to create flavour wheels for your friends and family that you invite to your own chocolate tastings! If you’re creating multiple wheels, colour copy your finished wheel once you’ve worked it all out.
For inspiration, search other chocolate flavour wheels, but also coffee, wine, and tea to open up the possibilities. Also check out my growing library of aroma compounds associated with chocolate as discovered through various research articles. Refer to these if you wish to help you find the words to best describe chocolate. Many flavour ideas will overlap, while some will be specific to chocolate. Have fun!
Sale & Featured Products
From makers around the world!
Perhaps you have the tools, but now you need the chocolate. Below are some bars and products which are on sale, newly added, or featured. To see all products, please go to the main chocolate bar page. Be sure to also check out cacao and chocolate drinks.
Maker Origin: A-Typica Chocolate is a bean-to-bar maker from France with ties to Martinique.
Made with cacao from Saint-Vincent.
Ingredients: Cacao Beans, Cane Sugar from Martinique, Indian Wood Leaves (Pimenta Racemosa).
Suggested Flavour Notes: Indian wood leaf is a staple of Caribbean cuisine. It has a lovely warm spiced aroma to it. This bar has the leaf blended into the chocolate for a deep and warm lingering flavour that is sure to
60g (2.12 oz)
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Looking for better deals on chocolate bars? Check out the Gift Boxes! A random selection of bars, as well as other helpful chocolate tools & products.
Maker Origin: A-Typica Chocolate is a bean-to-bar maker from France with ties to Martinique.
Made with cacao from the Caribbean.
Ingredients: Cacao Beans, Cane Sugar, Cinnamon, Vanilla, Nutmeg, Tonka Bean.
Suggested Flavour Notes: A very warm and spiced profile that is not too sweet either.
200g (7.05 oz)
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Looking for better deals on chocolate bars? Check out the Gift Boxes! A random selection of bars, as well as other helpful chocolate tools & products.
Maker: Allo Simonne based in Montreal, QC, Canada.
Ingredients: Hazelnuts, Organic Cane Sugar, Jaguar Dark Chocolate (70% theobroma bicolor, Organic Cane Sugar, Cocoa Mass, Organic Cocoa Butter, Vanilla Beans), Cocoa Powder, Vanilla Beans, Sea Salt.
The best chocolate hazelnut spread I’ve ever tasted. Tastes like a creamy milky hazelnut spread, but there is absolutely no dairy, so this product is 100% plant-based. The addition of cacao’s cousin, Jaguar beans (Theobroma bicolor) adds that extra creamy and nutty flavour. If you love gianduja, you will need to sit down while eating this. Spread it on toast, crackers, cookies, add it to your fruit or oatmeal bowl, blend it in a smoothie or even hot chocolate. The possibilities are endless. Impeccable. Puts all other chocolate hazelnut spreads you find at grocery stores to shame.
And if you don’t like it? Well, we likely can’t be friends.
220 g
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Looking for better deals on chocolate bars? Check out the Gift Boxes! A random selection of bars, as well as other helpful chocolate tools & products.
Maker: Black Jaguar Chocolate based on Vancouver Island, Canada.
Cacao Origin: The biodiverse rainforest of the Bosawás Biosphere Reserve, Nicaragua. The income of the local Indigenous People here is supplemented by the cacao they sell.
This is a unique and powerful blend of both fine cacao from the Nicaraguan rainforest and an array of spices, many of which were used in ancient recipes of Mesoamerican drinking chocolate. Overall it has a very warm, comforting, and intense flavour. Ceremonial Grade.
Preparation instructions are on the back of the packet. The key to a great drinking chocolate is the right proportions and lots of froth built up.
Ingredients: Organic Cacao Beans, Vanilla Bean, Ancho Chilli, True Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Rose Petals, Sea Salt.
Although it contains chilies, the spicy level is quite low for those who like spicy.
Maker: Cacaoworks based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Cacao is from the Madagascar Sambriano Valley.
Cacaoworks makes their own black garlic from whole Alberta-grown Russian Red organic garlic. Black garlic originated in Korea, and is made by very slowly “cooking” the garlic over weeks at a low heat until the cloves turn soft and black and taste like a balsamic reduction with garlic. It’s sweet, tart, and one-of-a-kind. Cacaoworks takes their black garlic and pairs it with their Madagascar Origin cacao which is also sweet and tart/fruity. It’s a beautiful and unique balance of aromas and ingredients. Goes wonderfully on a charcuterie or cheese board, and pairs very well with a bright fruity red wine.
Ingredients: Cocoa Mass, Cane Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Black Garlic.
Suggested Flavour Notes: Garlic, Balsamic, Sweet, Fruity, Tart.
60g
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Looking for better deals on chocolate bars? Check out the Gift Boxes! A random selection of bars, as well as other helpful chocolate tools & products.
Maker Origin: Carobeans is a bean-to-bar maker from Minnesota, USA. Watch this interview with owner Caroline.
Made with fine Semuliki Forest cacao from Bundibugyo, Uganada.
Ingredients: Organic Cocoa Beans, Organic Cane Sugar, Organic Cocoa Butter, Powdered Goat Milk.
Suggested Flavour Notes: A beautifyl flavour of Cheescake and Toffee.
55g (1.94 oz)
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Looking for better deals on chocolate bars? Check out the Gift Boxes! A random selection of bars, as well as other helpful chocolate tools & products.
Maker Origin: Carobeans is a bean-to-bar maker from Minnesota, USA. Watch this interview with owner Caroline.
Ingredients: Organic Cocoa Butter, Organic Cane Sugar, Buttermilk, Pineapple.
Suggested Flavour Notes: A beautiful golden tan white chocolate with a sweet creamy toasted buttermilk flavour that melts divinely. For added brightness, there are chunks of sweet dried pineapple on the back which works wonderfully with the cookie flavour of the buttermilk white chocolate.
55g (1.94 oz)
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Looking for better deals on chocolate bars? Check out the Gift Boxes! A random selection of bars, as well as other helpful chocolate tools & products.
Maker Origin: Carobeans is a bean-to-bar maker from Minnesota, USA. Watch this interview with owner Caroline.
Made with fine cacao from Anamalai Estate, India.
Ingredients: Cocoa Beans, Cane Sugar, Organic Oat Milk, Masala Chai, Organic Cocoa Butter.
Suggested Flavour Notes:
55g (1.94 oz)
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Looking for better deals on chocolate bars? Check out the Gift Boxes! A random selection of bars, as well as other helpful chocolate tools & products.
Maker: Feitoria Do Cacao based in Portugal.
Made with cacao from Nicaragua
Ingredients: Cocoa Beans, Cocoa Butter, Cane Sugar, Skim Milk Powder, Whole Milk Powder, Puff Pastry (Wheat Flour, Butter, Water, Salt), Cinnamon, Lemon Oil.
Suggested Flavour Notes: Custard, Cinnamon, Pie Crust.
A lovely take on the famous Pastel De Nata (Portuguese Custard Tarts) in a chocolate bar. The puff pastry are added as an inclusion, and offer a texture and crunch to each bite.
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Looking for better deals on chocolate bars? Check out the Gift Boxes! A random selection of bars, as well as other helpful chocolate tools & products.
Maker Origin: Harvest Chocolate is a bean-to-bar maker from Michigan, USA. Watch this interview with owners Matt and Elizabeth.
Ingredients: Organic Cocoa Butter, Organic Cane Sugar, Almonds, Organic Gluten-Free Oats, Madagascar Vanilla Beans, Lemon, Nutmeg.
Suggested Flavour Notes: A creamy comforting white chocolate with burst of butter and vanilla with just the right amount of sweetness.
50g (1.7 oz)
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Looking for better deals on chocolate bars? Check out the Gift Boxes! A random selection of bars, as well as other helpful chocolate tools & products.
Maker Origin: Harvest Chocolate is a bean-to-bar maker from Michigan, USA. Watch this interview with owners Matt and Elizabeth.
Ingredients: Organic Cocoa Butter, Organic Cane Sugar, Almonds, Cinnamon.
Inspired by Grandma’s classic cinnamon custard pie. Simple yet so aromatic and comforting.
50g (1.7 oz)
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Looking for better deals on chocolate bars? Check out the Gift Boxes! A random selection of bars, as well as other helpful chocolate tools & products.
Maker: Kairi is a tree-to-bar maker based in Trinidad. The owners both grow their own cacao and produce chocolate from it. Deosaran harvests and ferments the cacao while wife Cherie-Ann works the melangers.
Cacao: Trinitario cacao from La Carlota, a 100+ year old family estate farm in Trinidad.
Ingredients: Trinidad Trinitario Cocoa Beans, Cardamom, Cinnamon, Clove, Star Anise, Ginger.
This stick can produce two small hot drinking chocolates. There is no sugar, so you may sweeten as you like with any sort of sweetener or as is for nice intense hit.
32g (1.13 oz)
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Looking for better deals on chocolate bars? Check out the Gift Boxes! A random selection of bars, as well as other helpful chocolate tools & products.
Maker: McGuire Chocolate. Based in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada.
Watch this interview with Mark & Victoria of McGuire Chocolate!
Ingredients: Cocoa Butter, Organic Cane Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Lion’s Mane mushrooms, Chaga, Birch bark, Dandelion Root, Burdock Root, Licorice, Ginger, Vanilla Bean, Sassafras, Sarsaparilla.
A beautifully earthy and nutritious bar with deep mushroom and woodsy flavour notes.
50g
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Looking for better deals on chocolate bars? Check out the Gift Boxes! A random selection of bars, as well as other helpful chocolate tools & products.
Pure Chocolate is a direct-trade bean-to-bar maker based in Jamaica.
Cacao: Organically grown cocoa beans from the John Crow Mountains, and a mix of Criollo and Trinitario varieties.
Ingredients: Cocoa Beans, Unrefined Jamaica Cocoa Butter, Worthy Park Cane Sugar, Worthy Park Selected Rum.
Suggested Flavour Notes: Sweet Rum, Brown Sugar, Warm Spices.
A very prominent sweet rum flavour shines through on your first bite. Not overpower or overly fermented flavour, but a nice clean well balanced rum flavour that carries through. Not a super silky melt, but the flavour makes up for that.
60g (2.1 oz)
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Looking for better deals on chocolate bars? Check out the Gift Boxes! A random selection of bars, as well as other helpful chocolate tools & products.
Maker: Schoki Chocolate based in Nelson, BC, Canada.
Made with Madagascar cacao and vanilla bean.
Ingredients: Cacao Beans, Organic Cane Sugar, Organic Cocoa Butter, Buttermilk Powder, Organic Vanilla, Non-GMO Soy Lecithin.
Suggested flavour notes: A lovely milk chocolate that is not too sweet with a caramel flavour a little tangy finish from the buttermilk.
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Looking for better deals on chocolate bars? Check out the Gift Boxes! A random selection of bars, as well as other helpful chocolate tools & products.
Maker: Schoki Chocolate based in Nelson, BC, Canada.
Made with cacao San Vicente de Chucuri, Colombia.
Ingredients: Cacao Beans, Organic Cane Sugar, Organic Cocoa Butter, Organic Oat Flour, Organic Puffed Rice, Non-GMO Soy Lecithin.
A fun bar with crisp and crunch enveloped in a lovely mildly sweet Colombian-origin oat-milk chocolate.
65g (2.3 oz)
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Looking for better deals on chocolate bars? Check out the Gift Boxes! A random selection of bars, as well as other helpful chocolate tools & products.
Maker: Schoki Chocolate based in Nelson, BC, Canada.
Made with cacao from San Vicente de Chucuri (Santander District), Colombia
Ingredients: Organic Cacao Beans, Organic Cane Sugar, Organic Cocoa Butter, B.C. Whole Milk Powder, West Coast Roasted Hazelnuts
65g (2.3 oz)
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Looking for better deals on chocolate bars? Check out the Gift Boxes! A random selection of bars, as well as other helpful chocolate tools & products.
Maker: Schoki Chocolate based in Nelson, BC, Canada.
Made with cacao from San Vicente de Chucuri (Santander District), Colombia.
Ingredients: Organic Cacao Beans, Organic Cocoa Butter, Organic Cane Sugar, B.C. Whole Milk Powder, Locally Torrefacted Coffee Beans.
This bar is more like a cappuccino than a latte, with a well balanced yet very present coffee flavour. Coffee grinds also add a bit of texture to this very soft and silky coffee bar. As a higher percentage milk, and with the coffee, it is not too sweet for those who prefer a less sweet milk chocolate.
65g (2.3 oz)
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Looking for better deals on chocolate bars? Check out the Gift Boxes! A random selection of bars, as well as other helpful chocolate tools & products.
Maker Origin: ShawZ Chocolate is based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Ingredients: Cocoa Butter, Oats, Cane Sugar, Earl Grey Tea, Vanilla.
Suggested Flavour Notes: A very fragrant tea and bergamot aroma, floral, with a very buttery feel from the cocoa butter. Just sweet enough.
FREE of dairy, gluten, peanuts, tree nuts, soy, or GMOs.
50g (1.76 oz)
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Looking for better deals on chocolate bars? Check out the Gift Boxes! A random selection of bars, as well as other helpful chocolate tools & products.
Maker Origin: ShawZ Chocolate is based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Ingredients: Cocoa Ingredients, Cane Sugar, Oats, Sea Salt, Vanilla.
Suggested Flavour Notes: A lovely vegan oat milk chocolate for those who like it a little sweet and salty.
FREE of dairy, gluten, peanuts, tree nuts, soy, or GMOs.
50g (1.76 oz)
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Looking for better deals on chocolate bars? Check out the Gift Boxes! A random selection of bars, as well as other helpful chocolate tools & products.
Maker Origin: Utopia Tropical based in Brazil. Watch this interview with Julian of Utopia Tropical.
Made with cacao from Brazil.
Ingredients: Cocoa, Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Almond, Black Tea, Bergamot.
70g (2.5 oz)
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Looking for better deals on chocolate bars? Check out the Gift Boxes! A random selection of bars, as well as other helpful chocolate tools & products.
Maker Origin: Utopia Tropical based in Brazil. Watch this interview with Julian of Utopia Tropical.
This bar is a blend of a vegan white chocolate flavoured with tonka bean and dark chocolate, with praline sprinkled on the back.
This bar is made in collaboration with street artist Mariê Balbinot. The art on the packaging is a study by the artist into the unique shapes of South American female bodies.
Ingredients: Cocoa, Organic Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Cashew Nuts, Cumaru (Tonka).
Suggested Flavour Notes: Tonka, Cream, Nutty, Warm Spices.
70g (2.5 oz)
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Looking for better deals on chocolate bars? Check out the Gift Boxes! A random selection of bars, as well as other helpful chocolate tools & products.
Maker: Wallace Chocolate based in Victoria, BC, Canada.
Made with cocoa butter pressed from Dominican Republic.
Ingredients: Organic Cocoa Butter, Organic Cane Sugar, Whole Milk Powder, Organic Matcha Powder, Vanilla Bean.
Suggested Flavour Notes: A smooth, creamy, and beautifully aromatic matcha white chocolate.
60 grams
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Looking for better deals on chocolate bars? Check out the Gift Boxes! A random selection of bars, as well as other helpful chocolate tools & products.
This beautiful flavour wheel is printed on thick Mohawk Superfine paper, one of the highest quality papers around. It’s a beautiful tool to keep and use while you taste to help you articulate the flavours you are tasting in your fine dark chocolate bars.
The front depicts a Bean To Bar World flavour wheel with 10 flavour categories and 60 flavour suggestions found in many fine chocolate bars.
The back contains a poem about chocolate and cacao written by Geoseph.
It measures 12 cm x 12 cm. You can purchase them in increments of 1, 2, or 5.