Master Your Chocolate Senses: Roasting, Defects and Cacao with Slow Coffee Bucharest

Certificate in Cacao Evaluation and Flavour Profiling

• Dates: Monday, 29 September – Thursday, 2 October 2025
• Time: 10:00am – 6:00pm
• Duration: 4 days
• Price: €995 (€822.31 + VAT)

Cacao Evaluation offers an exhaustive view of the flavour potential of fine cacao, covering cacao production, varieties, and common defects, applying the IICCT sensory approach and profiling system. You will develop the sensory skills needed to assess cacao quality through its flavour and understand its transformation into finished chocolate.

What you will learn and experience:

• Training your senses to appreciate cacao flavour through sensory exploration, practice, and understanding the brain science of cacao tasting.
• Defining fine cacao and its quality.
• Extensive tasting of example cacaos, including high-quality references and samples representing common defects.
• Understanding the origins, varieties, and historical distribution of cacao.
• In-depth knowledge of cacao production, processing, and how it affects flavour.
• Insights into cacao sourcing, direct trading, and market dynamics.
• Practice with the Institute’s electronic sensory evaluation method for profiling.
• Understanding and tasting flaws and defects in cacao.
• Discussions on cacao farming, economics, and trading.

Who should attend: This course is highly beneficial for established and start-up chocolate makers, chocolate tasters, cacao traders, commercial growers, cooperative technicians, NGO staff, and anyone with a keen interest in cacao flavour and quality. There are no previous entry requirements.

Roasting Sensory Module

• Date: Monday, 6 October 2025
• Time: 10:00am – 6:00pm
• Duration: 1 day
• Price: €185 (€152.89 + VAT)

Roasting is a critical step in chocolate making that profoundly impacts the final flavour. This module will help chocolate makers and tasters understand the influence of different roasting approaches, enabling you to identify roast profiles by aroma and taste. You will explore how roast affects flavour delivery, balance, the preservation of fruity and floral notes, and aftertaste in craft chocolate.

What you will learn and experience:

• Roasting theory and the effect of different roasting equipment.
• Tasting of high, medium, and low roast chocolate.
• Comparison of chocolate samples made with various roasting profiles.
• Tasting different roasts of the same origin cacao and chocolate.
• Practice identifying roast profiles through chocolate aroma and taste.
• Review of roasting principles in other fine food or drink areas, such as coffee.

Who should attend: This module is ideal for anyone wanting to taste and understand roasting in chocolate, chocolate makers seeking to develop or improve their products, chocolate tasters expanding their knowledge, IICCT Alumni, and professionals interested in chocolate production and recipe development. No eligibility requirement to attend.

Chocolate Defect Recognition Module

• Date: Tuesday, 7 October 2025
• Time: 10:00am – 6:00pm
• Duration: 1 day
• Price: €185 (€152.89 + VAT)

Be prepared for a deliberately intense day of tasting as you learn to name and identify defect flavour notes in chocolate. By exposing your senses to the worst and extremes of chocolate defects, you will develop the necessary sensitivity to detect even the subtler nuances in ‘good, but not perfect’ chocolate. This module is crucial for widening your sensory experience and developing your personal flavour ‘archetypes’.

What you will learn and experience:

• Tasting dark chocolate with strong and identifiable defects.
• Tasting examples of defects caused by issues in cacao production, chocolate making, and chocolate condition.
• Smelling or tasting reference samples for common defects.
• Understanding the origins and causes of defects in cacao and chocolate.
• The “Defect Clinic”: Bring a plain origin chocolate bar you suspect has a problem for group tasting and analysis to identify defects and suggest improvements.

Who should attend: This course is highly recommended for chocolate makers aiming to improve their products, chocolate tasters expanding their knowledge, cacao producers wanting to understand post-harvest effects on flavour, IICCT Alumni, and professionals or individuals interested in common chocolate problems. No eligibility requirement to attend.

Visit the Craft Chocolate Zone at Slow Coffee Festival!

Between your intensive sensory modules, ensure you visit the Craft Chocolate Zone at Slow Coffee Festival from 3-5 October 2025 at RomExpo, Bucharest. Co-hosted by the new Romanian Craft Chocolate Association and IICCT Romania, this zone offers a fantastic opportunity to explore the growing Eastern European fine chocolate movement and Romania’s world-class specialty coffee scene.

Exhibit at the Craft Chocolate Zone!

Are you a craft chocolate maker looking to connect with a passionate and informed audience? Then the Slow Coffee Festival 2025 is the perfect platform for you. Taking place from October 3–5, 2025, at Romexpo Pavilion A in Bucharest, this 9th edition expects over 50,000 visitors.

The festival embodies the spirit of “COFFEE. COMMUNITY. CHOCOLATE. GOOD VIBES.” It is a gathering where the worlds of craft chocolate and specialty coffee converge, united by deep values such as artisan process, ethical sourcing, passionate communities, and a shared focus on quality & flavour. The event is dedicated to fostering a sustainable coffee culture and a stronger community, and is actively building new bridges between coffee and craft chocolate to write the next chapter of artisan flavour in Eastern Europe.

As an exhibitor in the Craft Chocolate Zone, you’ll gain direct connection to thousands of curious and informed consumers who appreciate bean-to-bar chocolate just as much as they love single-origin coffee. You’ll have the unique opportunity to sell, educate, sample, and collaborate within a high-quality setting. The festival also features workshops and demos where flavour meets storytelling, and a community that values sustainability, craftsmanship, and connection.

We are actively seeking international craft chocolate makers to join us! If you are a chocolate company interested in showcasing your products and connecting with this vibrant community, please contact us directly at IICCT to enquire about exhibiting opportunities. Let’s brew a better chocolate and coffee world together!