The roast conditions of a cocoa bean, and the relevance of bitter chocolate taste

Abstract

This research explored bitter taste and its background by sensory evaluation and investigation of five sorts of bitter chocolate made from cocoa beans roasted in different ways and derived from different places. Bitter taste lovers constituted more than the half the study participants; these students considered bitter food to be healthy, with a relaxing effect, and had liked bitter-tasting foods since they were young. They did not consider stress to be associated with bitter taste. The results of the sensory evaluation revealed that the melting smoothness of chocolate from beans subjected to low-temperature roasting was better than that of chocolate from high-temperature-roasted beans; it had a sweet taste and koku, and a sensation of bitterness was obtained when the chocolate was first placed in the mouth. These results showed that chocolate from cocoa of Venezuelan origin was rated highly under roasting conditions that resulted in a bitter aftertaste, whereas that from Ecuador was rated lower. The time taken for the bitter taste to appear in the mouth was a factor that contributed to the evaluation of bitterness. Those participants who were classed as lovers of bitterness liked a range of beans. (Received 17 March 2018, Accepted 18 June 2018)