Chocolate Defect Recognition Development modules

About the course

This development module is an excellent chance to widen your sensory experience and develop your personal flavour ‘archetypes’, which are key to the IICCT approach to chocolate flavour and our understanding of the brain science of chocolate tasting.

By expanding your experience through intensive exposure to multiple natural aroma samples, you will stretch your limits of aroma intake and increase your sensory flavor ‘muscle’, helping you to detect and name positive and defect notes in chocolate.

This module is supplemental to our Chocolate Tasting program and will form part of the learning development that will be used for our more advanced level programs.

Entry requirements

The module is open to anyone and there is no eligibility requirement for this module. Level 1 and 2 Certificate in Chocolate Tasting or Cacao Evaluation is recommended but not essential.

There will be a short assessment at the end of the course, which will be made using tasting triangulation tests. Certificates will be given to attendees passing the assessment, after the course has completed and the assessments have been marked and checked (this may take several weeks to process after the end of the course).

What's included
  • Tasting of dark chocolate with identifiable defects
  • Tasting of examples of defects caused by problems in cacao production, chocolate making and chocolate condition
  • Smelling or tasting of example references for common defects
  • An understanding of the origins and causes of defects in cacao and chocolate
Who should take this course?
  • Chocolate makers who want to develop or improve their chocolate
  • Chocolate tasters who want to expand their knowledge and understanding
  • Cacao producers who want to develop their understanding of the effects of post-harvest problems on chocolate flavor
  • IICCT Alumni continuing their chocolate knowledge journey
  • Professionals or individuals interested in the common problems found in most chocolate