Thursday, 7 April 2011

What Chocolate do People Like?

Experiment to determine taste preference of chocolate brand and flavour

Research questions:
  • Can people really tell the difference between the more expensive Cadbury chocolate and the cheaper Beacon brand?
  • Do people like dark or milk chocolate more?
  • Does the preference for dark or milk chocolate depend on the brand?

Research design:
Blind taste test using 20 students and staff in the School of Biological and Conservation Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Twenty subjects were provided with randomly-selected blocks of a particular brand (Cadbury or Beacon) and flavour (dark or milk) of chocolate (five replicate subjects for each). They were asked to rank the the taste relative to a standard chocolate bar (Nestle milk) on a 7-point hedonic scale ranging from "Like it very much less" to "Like it very much more".

Analysis:
Two-way Analysis of Covariance for mean taste rating affected by brand and flavour (and brand by flavour interaction), adjusted for possible effect of age of subject (ranging from 20-58) on taste preference.

Results:

Preference for chocolate brand and flavour (compared to Nestle milk chocolate)


  • There was no significant difference (p=0.861) in the preference for Cadbury or Beacon (for both flavours) - people can't tell the difference between them.
  • People significantly preferred (P=0.043) dark to milk chocolate for both brands.


Recommendation:
Buy the cheaper Beacon dark chocolate to maximise your taste experience

News flash! Latest research reveals that even if you don't like chocolate, make sure you keep feeding your essential, hungry gut bacteria the finest dark (single origin) chocolate bars you can buy
and...

AND THE VERY GOOD NEWS (FOR MEN) IS THAT 2-6 SERVINGS OF PER WEEK ARE MANDATORY  IF YOU WANT YOUR HEART TO CONTINUE BEATING PROPERLY


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3 comments:

  1. Stevie15 June 2011 at 12:33

    I think this test was rigged. I request a new trial with me on the tasting team.

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  2. poetjanstie14 August 2012 at 06:48

    I would say that students have underdeveloped taste buds! They haven't yet learned the importance of differentiating the 'like' factor when hungry (which, for students, is most of the time) and the same quality when they are not (hungry).

    Would suggest repeating the experiment with some grown ups, like me!

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  3. The Grass is Greener on the Udder side14 August 2012 at 07:10

    Although age was taken into account as a covariable, the fact that the elderly are particularly good at taste discrimination would need to be better accounted for. Though not quite elderly, I will include you, John, in the Multicontinental International Collaborative Twitter Chocolate Taste Discrimination Experiment that is being planned as we tweet.

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