Knowledge · 4 min read
Tasting and Pairing Fine Chocolate
How to run a structured tasting in five senses, and what to pour alongside it — from sparkling wine and aged rum to cheese, tea and virgin olive oil.
Once you taste the fine aroma of a chocolate like Franceschi, you will never look at chocolate the same way. To reach the sensations a bar can awaken, taste in a calm setting and use all five senses.
The order of a tasting
- Look — an even, satin surface with no bloom tells you the chocolate was tempered and stored correctly.
- Listen — snap a piece at room temperature. A clean, sharp break indicates a stable crystal structure.
- Smell — warm a piece between your fingers and inhale before tasting. Aroma arrives before flavor.
- Taste — let it melt rather than chewing. Note the sequence: attack, development, finish.
- Wait — the finish of a fine chocolate keeps developing for a minute or more.
Pairing
To multiply the experience, pair it. Sparkling wines, rum, still wines, whisky, virgin olive oils, cheeses, teas and bread all give the chocolate something to work against. Start with a lower percentage against a sweeter partner and climb: a 70% single origin against an aged rum, or a 100% against a hard cheese, will show you more of the origin than either shows alone.
