Short Wave - Inside the lab taste-testing the world's chocolate

Episode Date: June 15, 2026

Could standardizing chocolate help small-scale farmers? Chocolate scientist Julien Simonis thinks it could help persuade consumers to pay for higher quality chocolate, in turn helping out these growers. Every cacao bean is different, and for a long time, there wasn't a standard way of comparing the quality of chocolate. But in 2009, a sustainable agriculture nonprofit started a program called Cacao of Excellence. The goal was to develop a standard way of evaluating cacao just like those sommelier’s do with wine. So today, we’re going behind the scenes of a chocolate laboratory to see just how cacao is evaluated. This story was originally reported for NPR by science correspondent Ari Daniel. Read the full story here.If you liked this episode, check out our episodes on how climate change is hurting chocolate production and how some people are making chocolate alternatives. Interested in more chocolate science? Email us your question at [e-mail] to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

You're listening to Shortwave from NPR. Hey, shortwavers, it's Regina Barber. And today we're talking chocolate? Do I have that right? You sure do, Regina. Awesome. Okay, this is science reporter Ari Daniel. Hey, Ari.

Hi, Regina. I love chocolate, dark chocolate specifically. Me too, but milk. Oh, I do not like milk chocolate. But I respect you, Ari. And I know from our reporting at Shortwave and prices at grocery store that there's a shortage of chocolate, like due to many things, the climate crisis being one of them because of where it's grown. I would love any good news about my beloved

chocolate. Well, you've come to the right place. Thank goodness. And to find that good news, we are going to start about 100 miles north of Rome in this hilly village. It's called Perugia, and we're headed to the Chocolate Experience Museum. Yes, I need to go there so bad. You should. It's an incredible place. And tucked inside this museum is a lab that is dedicated to processing cacao. Cacao being what chocolates made from. Exactly. And Julia Butak, a lab assistant here, starts by sifting a bag of beans. Yes, you're just removing the little bits that aren't full beans. So it's really physical work.

Julia is from the Philippines. She was never a huge chocolate fan, actually, but her job here has helped her gain a deeper appreciation for the stuff. Yeah, I bet all that work. To see the development of the flavor like nuts, fruits, spice, it satisfies you. How would you define your relationship with the chocolate you work with? Oh, it's my baby, I would say. I need to care, I need to look after it.

Julia says that, like people, each kind of cacao is special. And I want to tell you about this process because it, in turn, is rather special. For a long time, there wasn't a standard way of comparing the dizzying array of cacao beans that are produced on farms across the tropics. Okay, so you mean like chocolate having different tastes and different smells, kind of like a wine sommelier would like have this like internationally agreed upon rubric? Yes, that's true. But then in 2009, this sustainable agriculture nonprofit, headquartered in Rome, started a program called Cacao of Excellence. And they began working to develop a standard way of preparing and evaluating cacao, just like those Somaliers do with wine. Today on the show, Cacao, documenting its splendor. And by doing so, helping a growing number of small-scale farmers. I'm Regina Barber, and you're listening to Shortwave, the science podcast from NPR. Follow us to make sure you never miss a new episode.

New ones drop every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. All right, Ari, earlier we got a hint of the chocolate-making process, but that chemistry is some of the most delicious science I know of. So I want to give you a chance to walk us through the rest of it. Okay, so to continue the process, Julia takes 50 of the beans, Regina, and slices them in half nearly simultaneously, with something that looks a lot like a guillotine. That's satisfying. A chocolatey fragrance wafts into the air, and it's mixed with notes of citrus. Julia records her impressions on a spreadsheet.

Next, she roasts a bunch of the remaining beans for a specific amount of time, before separating out the shells and then running the nibs through a mill. Oh, I just got to, that smells like chocolate. It's intoxicating. I don't know how you get any work done. Julia then adds a precise amount of sugar and cocoa butter and tempers it all before pouring the resulting chocolate into molds. Okay, so the point of all this is that those beans, the way they're being prepared is being standardized so that you can compare them. How did the Cacao of Excellence program go about working out the standard method of handling cacao?

Well, they relied on a team of people, including Julien Simonis, a chocolate scientist who now serves as the program manager. So I became the wrong kind of scientist. I should have been a chocolate scientist. It's never too late. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've never heard of this job. Me neither. But that's why I was so excited for Julianne to take me to this park in the middle of Rome, where he tells me that having standards for cacao, like

they do with wine or hazelnuts or olive oil or coffee could do a lot for that industry. Harmonizing the way of talking about a food product, it's to see the differences, to let people appreciate it. And that can help persuade consumers to pay for higher quality chocolate, money that at least in part can find its way back to the farmers. Because what happens is that farmers across the tropics will produce large amounts of cacao during the year, and then that cacao gets transported away and it moves through the supply chain, eventually making it to the places where it's turned into chocolate and sold and upsold

to consumers. But those farmers don't often get that much in terms of compensation. And that's especially true in two of the countries that produce the most cacao globally, Ivory Coast in Ghana. A lot of the cacao producers live under overtly limits. And so there are, you know, a lot of economical challenges, access to markets, access to education. It took years, but the team now has a process that they stand behind. And so it's been revised, it's been adapted, it's been challenged. And this whole thing starts in that lab, in the Chocolate Experience Museum in Perugia? Yes, and the second half happens in the mouth.

Julien has a tote full of samples from the lab. You want to taste? The only answer is yes, Regina. So Julianne, in that moment, he selects a small chocolate from Peru, and it's wrapped in gold foil. So he unwraps it. Let it cover well your palate and your tongue. He's like whispering to you. He's great.

What is that? What is that sound? Is he breathing? Yes, he's using this breathing technique that he tried to teach me. to heighten his perception of the chocolate's aroma and taste, where he breathes in through the mouth and then out through his nose. It's like wine? Yeah.

Very much so. So it's extremely creamy. He describes a splash of sultanas that gives way to a nuttiness. What is a sultana? Like a small raisin. Oh, okay. I want to try these like today. You should.

If I have any that are remaining from my stash, I'll bring them to you the next time I see you. Excellent, excellent. So the next one he selects is a chocolate from Hawaii. Let's go. Julianne looks reverent. My God. Each time I taste this, I'm always amazed.

You have a boost of acidity, this burst of fresh flavors. He tastes fruits and a hint of cardamom and nutmeg. Wait, so these two chocolates were processed and prepared identically. That's right. So any differences are only coming from the cacao bean. Wow, science. Simonis relies on a panel of 15 or so professional tasters to evaluate a chocolate's unique blend of acidity, bitterness, stringency, and more.

They've got this whole flavor wheel that they showed me. Love it. The result is a standardized way of comparing chocolate, allowing cacao to be priced and valued according to its quality. We are trying to work with every single person. producing country in the world. So have they made progress towards that gold? They've made a lot of progress, actually. I connected with Rung Kampan in Thailand. He's the founder of Tintin Chocolate, and he says that this program raised his small family

farm's visibility and helped improve the product. Kakao of Excellence gave small producers a change to be seen and recognized like. I believe it will help increase my income in the future. Some producers have already seen improved sales, Regina, like the Juan Lauda Farm in the Forests of Peru. Rosada Lauda-Lauda runs the farm there and says the extra revenue is about more than just the money. I think this is a good way to dignify the labor and change the mind of people regarding the farmers. Above all, she says that this effort is allowing cacao producers, buyers and consumers to finally speak the same. language, one that can describe those magic beans that we transform into chocolate.

See, we did get to the good news, Ari. Thank you so much. This was delightful. Of course, Regina. Thanks for having me. And remind me when I see you to bring you that chocolate. I will not forget. Don't worry. I don't doubt it. If you like this episode, check out our other episode on how climate change is herding chocolate production and how some people are coming up with chocolate alternatives. We'll link to it in our show notes. Thanks for listening to Shorewavers, and if you like this episode, give us a follow on the NPR app or wherever else you may be listening from. This episode was produced by

Nor Gill. It was edited by our showrunner Rebecca Ramirez and Tyler Jones Check the Facts. The audio engineer was Robert Rodriguez. I'm Regina Barber. Thank you so much for listening to Shortwave from NPR.