Eating chocolate every day as part of your job sounds unreal, but it is a reality for chocolate tasters across the world. However, the job is full of challenges. Chocolate tasters work under pressure. If you are a chocolate lover and have thought about trying to be a chocolate taster in the future, you may want to think twice before you make the decision.
Chocolate tasting may involve lots of traveling. If you work for a chocolate seller, you will visit factories and attend chocolate tasting events to try new flavors (味道). If you work for a producer, you will visit raw (未经加工的) material suppliers to check on the quality of the raw products and to test different ingredients. Traveling will separate you from your friends and loved ones for long periods of time, which can create an emotional distance. Long trips may leave you feeling empty and lonely, which can affect the quality of your life.
Chocolate tasting requires that you take a lot of sugar and calories into your body, which can do harm to your health. Chocolate is also rich in saturated fats (饱和脂肪) and lacks vital vitamins and minerals that our bodies require daily. A career in chocolate tasting demands that you watch your diet; thus, you may have to limit or give up your intake of other calorie-rich foods. A chocolate taster who doesn't take good care of his personal health can develop diseases such as diabetes, tooth cavities, and so on.
Chocolate tasters must love chocolate and have a broad understanding of various chocolate flavors. While tasting, you are to take a bite and chew it for a few seconds, letting it slowly melt in your mouth and spread to all parts of your tongue to evaluate (评价) its flavors. You must pay attention to details and learn to identify flavors and quality quickly. You also have to taste some kinds of chocolate that you may not like. Besides, understanding customer preferences is very important. You will spend time studying customer-based research findings to try to determine the flavors that will meet their demands.