taste test

I’m part of NC State’s Sensory Service Center, which holds taste tests, which typically last 20-30 minutes during which you taste various products and give them feedback about them. The typical compensation is an Amazon gift card anywhere between $20-$50.

Plain cream cheese home usage test

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This taste test was run by the Sensory Service Center (SSC) at N.C. State University, on Tuesday, March 28, 2023, was a “home usage test,” and I was paid with a $20 Amazon gift card.

This is the first SSC taste test I’ve participated in that’s been a “take home test.” I loved doing it at home, because it allowed me to take captures of the screesn instead of trying to surreptitiously take pictures of them with my phone at the center, about which I’m always worried about getting caught, although I’m not sure what they’d do to me if they did catch me.

The prep

I had a 9:15 appointment to pick up my materials, which included a plastic knife, a plastic spoon, 5 samples of plain cream cheese and one plain, thin-sliced bagel cut in half.

Because I’m a veteran of these things, I had some Saltine crackers and some bottled water at-the-ready for “palate cleansers.”

Getting started

I logged into the web app with the testing instructions and forms in which to give our feedback, and this was the first screen.

Section 1: Tasting the first 4 samples

The first 4 samples (#205, #569, #716, & #808) used the typical format of these SSC taste tests, asking you to answer just a few questions about it before tasting it, followed by a lot of questions after tasting it.

6 of the questions before tasting

15 of the questions after tasting

This was a one-time question that appeared after tasting the 4th of the first 4 samples. I’ve included my responses in it.

After each of the first 3 samples, a screen like this one appears, but the timer is set to only 30 seconds. Once the timer expires, you can forward to the next screen to see which sample is next and then answer its questions.

So after the 4th sample, this unexpected—therefore dramatic—10-minute pause got me really curious about what was going to be so different about the last sample. (I have let go of the fact that 10 minute needs a hyphen in their screen.)

Section 2: Tasting the final (#615) sample

The difference in this section about the 5th sample was immediate and striking, as it started off with a picture of the tub it would come in followed by a few questions about the packaging.


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I waffled—between $4-4.99 and $5-$5.99—with my answer to this one, and eventually went with the more expensive one, mostly because food, in general, is so high anymore.

To be clear, however, what I’d expect to pay is very different from what I would pay. I would not pay that much for any tub of cream cheese.

The next 9 screens, of which I’ve captured only 2, is a typical device used in these surveys to find out what’s most important vs. least important to you.

They keep swapping out options, covering as many permutations as they can, to force you to make, sometimes difficult, choices about what is and isn’t important to you.

The difference between taste tests and focus groups

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The biggest difference between a taste test and a focus group is that for taste tests, you’re typically doing it alone, just tasting a product (or products) and answering a bunch of (usually multiple choice) questions about the product(s), and it’s a 20- to 30-minute commitment.

For focus groups, you are with a group of people and you are sharing your opinion about a product or a topic—focus groups don’t have to involve food at all. If the topic does happen to be food-related, you may or may not be asked to taste it during the meeting—or you may be asked to taste it, or shop for it, before the meeting. Focus groups are led; you interact by discussion with a moderator, and often times, with the other participants; and they usually pay more because it’s typically a 1- to 2.5-hour commitment.

A typical taste test

Here is the typical sequence of events for the taste tests I’ve participated in:

After logging in to a device, like an iPad, on which to provide your responses, you are presented with a small variety of products from one brand, or competing brands; for example:

You are usually asked to provide your opinion on a couple of things (e.g., appearance and aroma) before you taste the product:

Then you’re asked to taste the product and provide your opinion on things like the texture, mouthfeel, overall taste, saltiness, sweetness, bitterness, moistness, spiciness, likelihood to purchase, likelihood to recommend, etc.

And, then, before receiving the next sample, you’re asked to “clear your palate” (typically for 30 seconds) by eating a Saltine cracker and taking a sip of bottled water.

A typical focus group

To qualify for the focus group, you’re asked to share your opinion about one thing or another. Once chosen, you’re asked to do some kind of activity before the meeting, at which a moderator follows up on your answers or how the activity went. The follow-up can be in the form of asking for more details about an opinion expressed or an activity you did or asking you new questions about your opinion or activity.

With that said, I’ve been involved with three very different kinds of focus groups:

  1. For one, at the meeting, we tasted a variety of French fries, prepared in different ways (e.g., deep-fried, pan-fried, crinkly cut, plain, some with a red seasoning on them), and we were asked about the look, the taste, likelihood of buying, and where you’d expect to be served each of the varieties of fries. This one lasted 1.5 hours, and I was compensated with $100 in cash.

  2. For another, before the meeting I was asked to take a picture of mozzarella cheese that was currently in our refrigerator and then go to the grocery store I usually shop in and take a photo of one that I typically buy there. This one lasted 2.5 hours, and I was compensated with a $75 Amazon gift card. I wrote a separate blog entry about this one if you’re interested in more details.

  3. And for yet another, we were divided into “Team Publix” and “Team Wegmans” and followed a 3-phase “jury method” of sharing why each of us was so passionate about “our” store. The 3 phases involved: 1) devising opening statements with 5 supporting points, 2) rebutting the other team’s opening statements and supporting points, and then 3) providing a closing statement with 5 final points. This one lasted 2 hours, and I was compensated with a $150 Amazon gift card. I wrote a separate blog entry about this one if you’re interested in more details.

Become a taste tester or a focus group participant

I participate through L&E Research’s L&E Opinion and through North Carolina State University’s Sensory Service Center.

Glazed ham taste test

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The invitation on March 6, 2023

The NCSU Sensory Service Center has a new INDOOR* taste test opportunity. This test will occur on Thursday, March 9th from 8:30 AM – 2:00 PM inside of Schaub Hall on the NC State main campus. The test will take about 30 minutes to complete. If you qualify and fully participate in the taste test, you will receive a $20 Amazon e-gift card!

The qualifying

I had to qualify by answering a brief (< 5-minute) screening survey, including the—probably most salient—qualifying question asking which brand of spiral-cut hams I’d both bought and eaten in the past several months. I enumerated 4 brands: Honey Baked, Hillshire Farms, Smithfield, and Costco’s Kirkland brand.

As it turned out, the tastings we did were for some potential new glaze flavors of Smithfield ham, so I’m glad I checked that one, or I might not have qualified.

The test

They were testing 4 glaze flavors:

  • Honey Orange Bourbon
  • Sweet and Spicy Maple
  • Baked Apple Spice
  • Spiced Apple Cinnamon

There were 3 parts to the test:

  1. Before tasting each sample, answer some questions about its look, aroma, and likelihood that you’d purchase it on those characteristics alone.
  2. Taste each sample, saving enough of it to taste again for the ranking part of the test, and answer questions about:
    • It overall.
    • Its flavors (e.g., honey, orange, bourbon, apple).
    • Characteristics like its texture, moistness, saltiness, and the amount of glaze on it.
    • Your likelihood of purchasing it.
  3. Upon finishing all tastings, taste all of the samples again and rank them in the order of your preference.
The ranking

How I ranked them:

The payoff

*For posterity, this is highlighted because during the proceeding 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic, they held outdoor taste tests.