Taste starts here
FIND YOUR FLAVOR MATCH
Turn the three taste dimensions — primary taste, mouthfeel, and flavor — into a shared language with our Callebaut Taste Wheel™.
Based on 7,000+ sensory tests and real chef input, explore these dimensions with precision and discover the Callebaut® chocolate and powders that bring your desired taste profiles to life.
Discover Taste Dimensions
Explore what taste, mouthfeel, and flavor means for your chocolate experience.
Mouthfeel
Mouthfeel is its texture and consistency in your mouth, encompassing creaminess, fat, melt, and any coarseness.
Taste
Taste refers specifically to the sensations detected by our taste buds on our tongue. There are five universally recognised basic tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami.
Flavor
Flavor refers to the combination of tastes and aromas perceived when eating it. This includes primary tastes, along with complex aromatic notes such as fruity, nutty, floral, or spicy.
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THE FIVE TASTE PROFILES
Each taste profile scales in intensity and comes with pairing cues.
- Silky: Creamy, milk chocolates with subtle sweet flavors.
- Velvet: Sweet chocolates with buttery, nutty or caramel notes.
- Zestina: Chocolates with a pronounced fruity flavor, often sweet and sour with notes of tropical fruits.
- Rustic: Chocolates with strong, often bitter notes and hints of dried fruit and rum.
- Botanical: Chocolates with a strong bitter flavor and complex floral or spicy notes.
WHAT DRIVES TASTE?
Every flavor decision rests on three taste drivers. We dial our recipes, select the origins, and tune the chocolate-making process to get the right melt, snap, and finish you want in your favorite Callebaut® couverture and ingredient.
- Recipe: The balance of cocoa, butter and sugar that sets sweetness, intensity and melt.
- Origin: Soil and climate that turn beans into bold, bright, or floral profiles.
- Process: Precise fermentation, roasting, and conching for refined depth and texture.
