Can Coffee Tasters Guess Every Flavor? We Put Them to the Test

What happens when two certified coffee pros get handed a piece of chocolate and asked to break down the flavor like a high-end cupping session? That’s exactly what happened in round two of our food tasting challenge, where Marc from Savor Brands teams up with Mark from White Nene Coffee Roasters. The food may be random, but the flavor notes they pull out are anything but. In this follow-up to our original video, we put two coffee experts in the hot seat again. This time, we’re working with a bold piece of single-origin chocolate from Manoa Chocolate. The variety? Nīnole. The flavor? Complex and packed with surprises.

The Setup

Here’s what went down:

• Two Q-Graders
• One piece of chocolate
• No hints allowed

The goal was to treat this chocolate like a cup of high-end coffee and see if they could break it down into tasting notes using just their senses.

The Chocolate

Manoa’s Nīnole chocolate is not your average bar. It’s known for fruity depth and a strong whiskey-like finish. That’s not a flavor you’d expect from chocolate, which made it the perfect pick for this test.

The Experts

Marc Marquez (Savor Brands) and Mark Kove (White Nene Coffee Roasters) are both certified Q-Graders, which means they’ve gone through serious training to detect tiny details in taste. When they taste something, they don’t just say “sweet.” They can tell you whether it leans toward tropical fruit, warm spice, citrus, or something else entirely.

The Reactions

Without spoiling the entire video, here are a few of the tasting moments that stood out:

• Surprised recognition of a fruity base
• Debate over the strength of the whiskey note
• A few confused but hilarious guesses along the way

If you’ve ever wondered whether coffee tasters can apply their skills to non-coffee foods, this video proves they definitely can. It just takes a sharp palate and a sense of humor.