SMELLBOOK REFERENCE · SB-0137
Cocoa Powder
Permanent ID: smellbook: · updated 2026-10-06, revision 5
Character EDITORIAL
Cocoa powder smells dry, dark and bitter, with a roasted, slightly dusty depth.
Words: cocoa, dry, bitter, roasted. Families: Temperature and texture, Sharp and bitter, Cooked and fermented.
States: roasted (EDITORIAL). A state says how an entry is met, such as wet, aged or roasted. It does not create a new smell, and it adds no scientific fact by itself: states marked EDITORIAL come from the entry's own records, and only those marked VERIFIED are reported by a VERIFIED claim.
Evidence
Scientific evidence
- Key odorants of cocoa powder (CLM-COCOA-001). Felix Frauendorfer & Peter Schieberle, Identification of the Key Aroma Compounds in Cocoa Powder Based on Molecular Sensory Correlations, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2006.
- Odorants with the highest odour activity in cocoa powder (CLM-COCOA-002). Felix Frauendorfer & Peter Schieberle, Identification of the Key Aroma Compounds in Cocoa Powder Based on Molecular Sensory Correlations, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2006.
Molecules named in these claims: 2-methylbutanal, 3-methylbutanal, 3-methylbutanoic acid, acetic acid, phenylacetaldehyde. A molecule listed here is named in a VERIFIED claim about this smell. It is not presented as the cause of the smell; each claim says what its source supports.
Cite
SmellBook. (2026). Cocoa Powder (revision 5, 2026-10-06). SmellBook Public Atlas. smellbook:smell:cocoa-powder. https://smellbook.com/smells/cocoa-powder
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