Lab
How the Flavor Wheel Works
How the 28-flavor wheel is read, where its scores come from and how much to trust a profile.
The Flavor Wheel turns tasting notes into numbers you can compare. Every variety has its own wheel built on the same 28-flavor lexicon, so a score for caramel or creaminess means the same thing on every page.
Read the wheel
The center shows the variety. The inner ring has nine flavor groups; the outer ring splits each group into individual flavors. A brighter cell means a higher score out of 10, and a pale cell means nobody has scored that flavor yet. Click a group to filter the score bars beside the wheel.
Where the scores come from
Tasters choose the flavors they notice in a variety and rate how strong each one is, from 1 (faint) to 5 (intense). For each flavor we average the intensities of the people who picked it and double the result, which gives a score out of 10. We also track how many tasters selected each flavor.
How much to trust a profile
Confidence depends on the number of ratings: low until 30 ratings, medium from 30, and high from 200. A flavor chosen by a single taster can reach any score, so treat profiles with few ratings as early signals. When a variety has no ratings yet, the wheel shows a clearly labeled editorial baseline instead; it is replaced as real ratings arrive.
The overall range dial
The dial under each wheel averages the scores of the sweetness and caramel groups. Below 5.5 it reads Balanced, from 5.5 to 7 Rich, and above 7 Sweet. It is a quick orientation, not a replacement for the individual flavor scores.
The 28 flavors in nine groups
- SweetnessHoney-like sweetness · Brown sugar sweetness · Concentrated sugary sweetness
- Caramel & Brown SugarsCaramel flavor · Toffee / Butter flavor · Concentrated date molasses
- Dried FruitDried fig flavor · Raisin flavor · Prune flavor
- Fresh Fruit & FloralLight apple flavor · Fresh grape flavor · Delicate floral flavor
- NuttyWalnut flavor · Almond / Hazelnut flavor
- Warm SpicesLight cinnamon note · Licorice flavor
- Dark NotesDark chocolate / Cocoa · Light coffee / Roasted
- Texture & MouthfeelSoft and smooth · Creamy / Fudgy · Crunchy · Chewy · Fibrous · Sticky · Very thin skin · Thick or wrinkled skin · Dry / Semi-dry
- DefectsFermented or sour taste
Open a wheel and add your rating
Rating takes about a minute: pick an overall score, tick the flavors you taste, set their intensity and, if you like, add a note. Your rating updates the profile for everyone.
What the wheel cannot tell you
- Flavor is subjective. The wheel summarizes what tasters report; it is not a laboratory analysis of flavor compounds.
- A score describes the typical experience of the people who rated, not the exact bag you buy. Harvest, packing date and storage all change how a date tastes.
- Scores out of 10 are comparable between varieties only when both profiles have enough ratings; check the rating count shown with each wheel.
Your rating and your email
After you submit a rating you can optionally leave an email address to hear about updates to that variety. It is stored only with your explicit consent, it is never required to rate, and it is kept separate from price-alert subscriptions.