Munsell Color System; Color Matching from Munsell Color Company > Color & Science > Chocolate Color Notation

Chocolate Color Notation

Selection of chocolate bars next to a Munsell color chart with their color notation specified.

Happy Valentine’s Day! To celebrate we decided to bring a bag full of chocolate bars down to the Munsell Color Lab to have them determine the color notation for each. There were some interesting discoveries along the way…

  • Color had a big effect on how people thought the chocolate would taste; they assumed the darker the chocolate the more bitter and the lighter the chocolate, the sweeter; that was not always the case.
  • The 99% was bitter, rooty and earthy; the dark, rich intensity of the color matched the intensity of the flavor.
  • The 42% Blood Orange won the favorite award; even one of the color analysts who is not a fan of chocolate liked it.
  • The texture in the white chocolates affected the colors; the white coconut chocolate leaned towards a yellow hue, while the cookies and cream white was more grey or desaturated.
  • The fruit in the chocolates also affected the color; for example, there was a purple hue in the chocolate with currants.
  • It was interesting to see how the milk chocolates varied, the extra creamy color was in the same chroma as the classic, but its hue was more yellow.
  • The cookies and cream flavored chocolate was challenging because of the two colors and how they combined to create other colors within the chocolate bar.

Selection of chocolate bars next to a Munsell color chart with their color notation specified.With 5 people on the color team and 8 bars of chocolate to color test and of course taste test, you can do the math and figure out it was a good day in the lab.

Did you get a box of chocolates this Valentine’s Day? If so, what was the color notation? Did it match any in our test?

 

 

 

 


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One response to “Chocolate Color Notation”

  1. […] 5 more all-day classes to even get started understanding color.” It was like a first taste of chocolate. I walked out of that class wide-eyed and energized and completely overwhelmed about all the other […]

  2. […] dark.” While we do not find “chocolate” in the Munsell Color Guide, it offers a way to evaluate all the historical nuances of chocolate and personhood; we can see chocolate more clearly. Munsell is a tool of the present to understand […]

  3. Brown Bite says:

    First time I heard that chocolate color has big effect. I like the rich chocolate most but you mentioned clearly everything about the chocolate. I will sure consider these.

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