An experiment in chocolate -- want to participate?

I have been conducting an informal experiment in chocolate tasting. Right now I have focused on various 'gourmet' brands of dark chocolate (though some are not necessarily making the grade of 'gourmet' at this point).

The brands are Ritter Sport Dark Chocolate, Droste Pastilles Bittersweet, Cote d'Or Noir de Noir, Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate for Baking and Eating, and a bar that contained no sugar (sweetened by maltitol).

So far 4 people have participated. I don't want to share what they favored yet, because I'd like some more participants and I don't want to prejudice the choices.

Here's how the experiment is done. Cut off a small pc (about 3/4 inch by 1/2 inch) of each of the chocolates, and arrange them on a plate. You don't want to know which is which, so put the pcs upside down and 'shuffle' them, or have someone else lay them out for you.

Then create the questionnaire. You want to record the following info for each pc:

Immediate Impression: Tasty? Smooth? Creamy? Chocolatey? Satisfying?
After 15 seconds: Tasty? Smooth? Creamy? Chocolatey? Satisfying?
After 2 minutes: Aftertaste (good or bad)? Satisfied? Want more? Ever eat again?
Comments on the experience.

When we did it, we laid them out and numbered them 1 through 5 so as not to be prejudiced by the name (or cost!). Answers were typically 'yes', 'no', 'somewhat', and then some occasional input like 'bitter', 'yuck', 'terrible', 'okay', and 'yum'.

That was for the short answers. The comments had a lot more to say.

I will publish the results as soon as I have enough. If you want to do this and want more detailed explanation as to how, leave a comment here and I'll get back to you. When you do the experiment, leave your results as comments here, or write to me directly: azpeg@mindspring.com.

Later on I'll do one with milk chocolate, though where I'm really going with this is to find a dark chocolate that is very satisfying, so it can be eaten as a snack in the late afternoon during 'munchies' time, where one piece will do. That means few calories, a small amount of sugar, and high satisfaction.

(The alternative might be a Snickers with lots of calories, tons of sugar, and only moderate satisfaction. For a full discussion of the role of sugar in hunger, see another blog of mine, http://healthfrontier.blogspot.com.)

Feedback on this whole idea, and the health concepts behind is, is welcome. PL