Investigating the elicited emotion of single-origin chocolate towards sustainable chocolate production in Indonesia

1 Introduction

Chocolate is the most popular and promising cocoa-derived product in the global market up to date [1]. This product is even still being innovated by the food scientists and industries to fulfil the demand of the chocolate consumers, in terms of quality, sensory and potential health benefits [2,3,4,5,6,7]. Chocolate that is made of cocoa beans from the same geographical areas, also known as single-origin chocolate, is now being developed by the chocolate manufacturers because this product has a unique flavour and, therefore, is considered a premium product with a higher price [8,9]. The specific flavour precursor of single-origin chocolate is conceivable because the geographical location of cocoa plantations can have a significant impact on the protein composition of cocoa beans, which is widely known as the flavour precursor of chocolate [10]. Indonesia, an archipelagic country with a total area of 8,063,601 km², is one of the cocoa-producing countries in the world. The total cocoa plantation area in this country is about 1,600,000 ha located in 32 of 34 provinces [11,12]. This situation is beneficial for this country to develop more than one type of single-origin chocolate. Up till now, there is no study investigating single-origin chocolate from different regions in Indonesia.

Many studies have shown that the flavour of chocolate is highly affected by the origin of raw materials, as well as the processing method [13,14]. Roasting is a crucial step to develop the cocoa flavour from flavour precursors, such as free amino acids, peptides, and reducing sugars, through the Maillard reaction, and thus, the chocolate has a favourable flavour and intense brown colour [10]. There are two roasting methods commonly used in the chocolate industry namely rotating roasting (also known as dynamic roasting) and static roasting using an oven [15,16]. Depending on the method and the degree of roasting, chocolate can have different flavour profiles and sensory properties and subsequently affect consumer acceptance [17]. Flavour and sensory properties of food products also give further impact on the elicited emotion to the consumer, and even in the context of product development, linking emotion, and acceptance can be useful to reveal the reasons for product failure or success in the market [18]. It was reported that the emotion elicited from chocolate consumption included pleasant, calm, feeling good, satisfying, enthusiastic, happy, and stimulating [19,20].

Aside from the technical aspect, the development of single-origin chocolate is important in the context of rural development as it can contribute to the economic sector in rural areas where cocoa trees grow. As aforementioned, the single-origin chocolate can be categorised and marketed as a luxurious product having a higher price [8,9]. Moreover, the development of single-origin chocolate can be useful for the promotion of the rural area where the cocoa plantation is located and can increase the proudness of local society in their local products. However, as emphasised by Guimarães et al. [21], having good ideas and sharing them is not enough for innovation to become incorporated into the existing condition.

This article, therefore, aims to investigate the sensory profile of single-origin chocolate made of cocoa beans from different regions in Indonesia and to study the elicited emotion triggered by single-origin chocolate consumption. Furthermore, this study attempts to provide a conceptual approach on how the development of single-origin chocolate can contribute to the development of rural areas.

2 Materials and methods

3 Results

3.2 Overall liking and sensory attributes

Overall liking and sensory attributes of chocolate prepared using the static roasting and those prepared using the dynamic roasting are shown in Tables 4 and 5, respectively. Figure 1 shows the spiderweb plot of the Overall liking and sensory attributes of the chocolates. Bonferroni’s post hoc test showed a significantly lower overall liking for chocolate from Madiun. Regarding the sensory attributes, the sweetness, bitterness, intensity, and duration of the aftertaste of chocolates differed significantly. Yet, the chocolate with the static process did not differ from the chocolate with a dynamic process, regardless of the region (Table 6). The pattern is the same. However, there is a clear significant difference between the origins. Chocolate from Makassar is the most liked while the chocolate from Madiun is the least liked, both in static and dynamic processes.

Table 4

Evaluation of overall liking and sensory attributes of chocolate prepared using the static roasting

Attributes	Origin of cocoa beans
	Bali	Gunung Kidul	Kulon progo	Lampung	Madiun	Makassar	Samarinda
Overall liking	3.42 ± 1.67	4.00 ± 1.37	3.33 ± 1.77	3.81 ± 1.57	2.78 ± 1.44	4.44 ± 1.43	4.04 ± 1.41
Sweetness	1.96 ± 0.82	2.25 ± 0.77	2.13 ± 0.85	2.23 ± 0.78	1.53 ± 0.67	2.54 ± 0.84	2.18 ± 0.83
Bitterness	3.76 ± 0.98	3.58 ± 0.90	3.68 ± 1.04	3.44 ± 1.07	4.03 ± 1.07	3.12 ± 1.02	3.60 ± 0.86
Aftertaste intensity	3.51 ± 0.10	3.53 ± 0.93	3.73 ± 1.13	3.58 ± 0.95	3.93 ± 1.09	3.27 ± 0.83	3.36 ± 1.00
Aftertaste duration	3.33 ± 0.97	3.35 ± 0.89	3.45 ± 1.15	3.47 ± 0.82	3.75 ± 1.19	3.24 ± 0.86	3.20 ± 1.03

Overall liking measured on 7-point bipolar scale ranging from 1 (extremely dislike) to 7 (extremely like) and sensory attributes measured on 5-point JAR scale ranging from 1 (e.g. not sweet enough) to 5 (e.g. to sweet). The data are presented as mean ± SD.

Table 5

Evaluation of overall liking and sensory attributes of chocolate prepared using the dynamic roasting

Attributes	Origin of cocoa beans
	Bali	Gunung Kidul	Kulon progo	Lampung	Madiun	Makassar	Samarinda
Overall liking	3.19 ± 1.55	3.30 ± 1.59	2.79 ± 1.45	3.57 ± 1.48	2.49 ± 1.36	4.36 ± 1.38	4.00 ± 1.61
Sweetness	1.88 ± 0.89	1.96 ± 0.86	1.93 ± 0.76	2.16 ± 0.77	1.44 ± 0.63	2.38 ± 0.88	2.29 ± 0.94
Bitterness	3.67 ± 1.30	3.91 ± 1.11	3.56 ± 1.29	3.30 ± 1.17	4.10 ± 1.11	3.42 ± 0.89	3.49 ± 1.03
Aftertaste intensity	3.79 ± 1.00	3.67 ± 1.03	3.63 ± 1.04	3.41 ± 1.16	4.24 ± 0.79	3.29 ± 0.75	3.49 ± 1.01
Aftertaste duration	3.57 ± 1.21	3.67 ± 0.96	3.58 ± 0.93	3.36 ± 0.99	4.00 ± 0.92	3.38 ± 0.88	3.64 ± 1.09

Overall liking measured on 7-point bipolar scale ranging from 1 (extremely dislike) to 7 (extremely like) and sensory attributes measured on 5-point JAR scale ranging from 1 (e.g. not sweet enough) to 5 (e.g. to sweet). The data are presented as mean ± SD.

Figure 1

Sensory profile of single-origin chocolate made of cocoa beans from seven regions in Indonesia: (a) Chocolate processed using the static roasting (St). (b) Chocolate processed using the dynamic roasting (Dy).

Table 6

Differences in mean overall liking and sensory attributes of chocolate prepared using the static roasting and the dynamic roasting

Attributes	F value	P value
Overall liking	6.67	0.000
Sweetness	5.817	0.000
Bitterness	2.672	0.001
Aftertaste intensity	2.920	0.000
Aftertaste duration	2.002	0.019

4 Discussion

The cocoa agroindustry is of economic significance in many countries in the world including Indonesia [27]. Since it was introduced in Europe in the eighteenth century, cocoa-based products, including chocolate and beverage, have continuously evolved to date [28,29,30]. The development of single-origin chocolate is being a trend in the premium chocolate market due to its luxurious perception and unique flavour. In this research, the consumers’ sensory evaluation and emotional conceptualisations upon consumption of single-origin chocolate made of cocoa beans obtained from seven regions in Indonesia and prepared by using different roasting methods have been successfully mapped. Based on the experimental design, the following two comparisons have been made: (1) based on the origin of the cocoa beans and (2) based on the roasting method.

Regarding the comparison among chocolates made of cocoa beans from seven different regions, the results show that chocolate made of cocoa beans from Makassar obtained the highest scores in both roasting methods, which were at a level of 4.44 ± 1.43 and 4.36 ± 1.38, while that from Madiun gained the lowest score in both roasting methods, which were at a level of 2.78 ± 1.44 and 2.49 ± 1.36. It is interesting that, in fact, the cocoa bean originated from Madiun was Criollo, which was well-known to have fine flavour. However, in this study, the chocolate made from Madiun’s cocoa beans obtained the lowest score indicating that post-harvest treatment plays a significant role in the quality of fermented cocoa beans. Table 1 shows that the cocoa beans from Madiun were only fermented for 3 days while the cocoa beans from Makassar were fermented for 6 days. Fermentation of cocoa beans triggers the flavour precursor formation and at the same time significantly reduces the bitterness of cocoa beans [31]. As also shown in this study, the overall liking was directly proportional to sweetness and inversely correlated with bitterness, aftertaste intensity, and aftertaste duration. Even though each type of chocolate was formulated with a similar concentration of sucrose (20%), this study found that the sweetness, bitterness, aftertaste intensity, and aftertaste duration were different among the samples. This indicates that the quality of raw materials, as well as post-harvest treatment, significantly influenced the taste of chocolate. Theobromine, caffeine, epicatechin, catechin, procyanidin, and alkaloids are among the key compounds contributing to the bitter taste and the astringent mouthfeel of cocoa [31]. According to Kongor et al. [13], the environmental condition of cocoa plantations significantly influences the phytochemical composition of cocoa beans and subsequently affects the sensory properties of chocolate, particularly in the flavour and taste attributes. Nevertheless, the bitterness of chocolate can be reduced by doing proper fermentation and drying as during these processes the polyphenol content significantly decreases or undergoes to other compounds [31].

Regarding the comparison among chocolates made by different roasting methods, the results show that there was no significant difference in terms of overall liking, sweetness, bitterness, aftertaste intensity, and aftertaste duration between chocolates prepared using cocoa beans from a similar region made by the dynamic roasting and the static roasting. From the technological viewpoint, the dynamic roasting and the static roasting have different heat transfer processes and thus were hypothesised to result in different flavour profiles. In this study, however, the chocolate made by the dynamic roasting had a similar pattern to the chocolate prepared by the static roasting, in terms of overall liking, sweetness, bitterness, aftertaste intensity, and aftertaste duration. Later on, we even found a similar elicited emotion pattern between chocolate made by the dynamic roasting and the static roasting (Figure 2). This indicates that in this study the initial quality of fermented cocoa beans had a more pronounced impact on the sensory properties of single-origin chocolate than in the roasting condition. Indeed, the flavour and taste of chocolate are not solely influenced by roasting, but also by fermentation [31].

Figure 2

Emotional conceptualisations segmented according to the emotional eating behaviour: (a) Chocolate processed using the static roasting (St). (b) Chocolate processed using the dynamic roasting (Dy).

The comparison in terms of emotional conceptualisations among chocolates made of cocoa beans from seven different regions indicates that the chocolate formulated using cocoa beans from Madiun clearly obtained high scores in dissatisfying, unpleasant, and disappointing parameters, regardless of the roasting method. High intensity in the bitterness and aftertaste level as well as the longest aftertaste duration elicited those three negative emotions. Chocolate with a high level of sweetness, such as from Makassar, Samarinda, and Lampung, elicited positive emotions such as feeling good, interesting, and enthusiastic. Interestingly, the static roasting tended to result in a more pleasant emotion than the dynamic roasting. Different roasting techniques may result in a different flavour compound formation and subsequently affect the consumer’s perception. Acetic acid, pyrazines, and aldehydes, including 3-methylbutanal and 2-methylbutana, are important volatile compounds in single-origin chocolate determining the flavour profile of the product [9]. However, trajectory studies to prove this hypothesis are still required.

The fact that the origin of cocoa can really affect the sensory properties and consumer acceptance of single-origin chocolate implies that the chocolate manufacturer should carefully select raw materials to develop a high-quality product. Also, farmer as the cocoa bean producer should put high attention to the good agricultural practices and post-harvest handling, so that they can produce high-quality cocoa beans. As well-explained by Kim and Jeon [1], chocolate consumers in the premium market placed high importance on sensory functions indicating that this typical consumer wants high-quality products for purchasing products at a high price. Single-origin chocolate is considered a premium product, and thus, to increase the “willingness to pay” level, Bocher et al. [32] recommended to give information about the quality of the product to the consumer. This statement was supported by Yalçın et al. [33] who found that consumers tended to pay some attention to food labelling, which determines their purchasing choices.

Farmers and single-chocolate producers actually have a mutual interaction for sustaining the production of high-quality single-origin chocolate in rural areas (Figure 3). In short, cocoa harvested by the farmers is then supplied to a local food industry for producing a high-quality single-origin chocolate to get profit. The profit is then used for the maintenance and development of the rural area where the cocoa plantation is located. As single-origin chocolate is considered a premium product with a high price, the industry is encouraged to buy cocoa beans from the farmers at a higher price. As such, in Indonesia, the price of single-origin chocolate per 50 g is IDR 50,000 while that of a famous mass production chocolate per 50 g is IDR 21,000. The price difference can significantly increase the profitability of the farmers, which is estimated approximately twofold. Thus, sustainable production of single-origin chocolate production can also contribute to the sustainability of cocoa plantations, as well as the profitability of the farmer.

Figure 3

Mutual interrelation among cocoa plantation, farmer and single-origin chocolate manufacturer.

Nevertheless, the implementation of this concept indeed has some challenges. Every part of the value chain must work well. Notwithstanding, it has been reported that cocoa production in Indonesia has a problem with the plant productivity that tends to decrease gradually. One factor regarding this problem is the age of the cocoa tree. Also, previous studies showed that the young generation is not interested to be a farmer in the future [27,34]. Nevertheless, in the study of Bhatta et al. [35], young people are more interested in practicing agritourism than the older one. It may be an opportunity to combine the single-origin chocolate industry and develop cocoa-based agrotourism in the future for the next generation of farmers. In the technical aspect, providing a set of good machinery to produce high-quality single-origin chocolate can be a constraint as it is expensive and may be not affordable for people in rural areas. To overcome these problems, therefore, a collaboration among stakeholders is required. According to Nicolay [36] and Halland et al. [37], cooperation and knowledge from various disciplines from agronomy to economics are required to attain success in the development of the agricultural product value chain and even to achieve sustainable agriculture. Ebewore [38] recommended to develop a synergy among the governments, private sector, religious organisations, health and welfare institutions, rural communities, and individuals to solve problems in rural areas as these parties have a vital role to play. As such, people living in rural areas need to acquire new knowledge and skills to be more involved in the conditions of new technologies [39]. This must be true as well in the context of developing single-origin chocolate agroindustry in rural areas.

5 Conclusion

This study looked at sensory properties and mapped emotion conceptualisation of Indonesian single-origin chocolate made by cocoa beans from seven different regions and two roasting methods. This study found that the origin of cocoa has a significant impact on the sensory properties and consumer acceptance of single-origin chocolate. The roasting method, on the contrary, has no significant effect on the overall liking, sweetness, bitterness, aftertaste intensity, and aftertaste duration between chocolate prepared using cocoa beans from similar regions. Cooperation among stakeholders and disciplines are required to develop the cocoa agroindustry in the cocoa-producing region, particularly to overcome some constraint for sustainable high-quality single-origin chocolate production. The development of single-origin chocolate can have a significant contribution to the economic sector in rural areas where the cocoa trees grow by increasing the profitability of the farmer about twofold. Nevertheless, as the implementation of this concept has some challenges, a collaboration among stakeholders must be developed.