Could standardizing chocolate help small-scale farmers? Chocolate scientist Julien Simonis thinks it could help persuade consumers to pay for higher quality chocolate, in turn helping out these growers. Every cacao bean is different, and for a long time, there wasn't a standard way of comparing the quality of chocolate. But in 2009, a sustainable agriculture nonprofit started a program called Cacao of Excellence. The goal was to develop a standard way of evaluating cacao just like those sommelier’s do with wine. So today, we’re going behind the scenes of a chocolate laboratory to see just how cacao is evaluated.  This story was originally reported for NPR by science correspondent Ari Daniel. Read the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2026/05/10/g-s1-120911/chocolate-certified-cacao-standards-evaluate-coffee-wine"target="_blank" >full story here</a>. If you liked this episode, check out our episodes on how <a href="http://lnk.to/m5yb6y"target="_blank" >climate change is hurting chocolate production</a> and how some people are <a href="http://lnk.to/YKWjWt"target="_blank" >making chocolate alternatives</a>.  Interested in more chocolate science? Email us your question at <a href="mailto:shortwave@npr.org"target="_blank" >shortwave@npr.org</a>. Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at <a href="http://plus.npr.org/shortwave"target="_blank" >plus.npr.org/shortwave</a>. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. <a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy">NPR Privacy Policy</a>

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Inside the lab taste-testing the world's chocolate

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