A dataset on concurrent and immediate retrospective measures of sensory perception and preferences of dark chocolates

This article describes a dataset providing temporal sensory perception data of five dark chocolates varying in cocoa content. One hundred and twenty-nine consumers evaluated the samples in two sessions, using a different sensory evaluation method in each session. A within-subject design was implemented: consumers in Panel 1 (36 men and 32 women aged 19 to 63 years old) started with the Temporal Dominance of Sensations (TDS) method, and consumers in Panel 2 (35 men and 26 women aged 19 to 61 years old) started with the Attack-Evolution-Finish dominance (AEF-D) method. Depending on the method, in each session and for each sample the consumers had to report the sensations they perceived concurrently (TDS) or retrospectively (AEF-D) to the tasting. After this descriptive task, they also rated their liking for the samples on a 9-point discrete scale. Finally, they answered questions related to the difficulty of the descriptive task. Consumer information included in the dataset are gender, age and frequency of consumption of dark chocolates. In addition to the possibility of being reused by sensometricians for the purpose of method comparison, this dataset is unique because it can be used to compare at the individual level declarative sensory measures collected in two conditions: concurrently or retrospectively to perception. Thus, the impact of memorization, stress or complexity of measurements on sensory description and liking can be studied. More specifically, this dataset can be used to study how the dynamics of perception of texture, mouthfeel and aroma attributes are integrated with static measures.