Four or five samples, one table, one card each, and a ranking nobody can argue with at the end.
A night at home is the easiest place to run a taste test: the kitchen is already there, every sample can be poured at the same moment, and nothing has to be finished.
Everything below runs at one table in one evening. Take four or five samples of one thing, keep the glasses identical, and give everybody the same card.
Set out: Three coffees from the same shop, ground the same way, brewed in identical cups.
How to run it: Pour all three at once, taste from the lightest to the darkest and rinse with water between cups.
What to score: Bitterness, body and whether you would buy that bag again.
Set out: Four chocolate bars from sixty to ninety percent cocoa, broken into equal pieces.
How to run it: Taste in order of cocoa percentage and write each score before the next square.
What to score: Bitterness, fruitiness and how long the finish lasts.
Set out: Four cheeses: cow, goat, sheep and buffalo, cut to the same size.
How to run it: Taste mild to strong with plain crackers between, and score before comparing.
What to score: Salt, sharpness and how the cheese coats the mouth.
Set out: Three olive oils in small cups, with plain bread and a glass of water.
How to run it: Taste each oil on its own first, then on bread, and score both rounds.
What to score: Pepper, grass, bitterness and the finish.
Set out: Five hot sauces in numbered bowls, bread between each and a glass of milk nearby.
How to run it: Work up from the mildest and stop at whichever rung you like.
What to score: Heat, flavor under the heat, and whether it would go on your own food.
Set out: Two wines from the same grape grown in different places, in identical glasses.
How to run it: Taste with the bottles out of the room and write both scores before you look at the labels.
What to score: Fruit, acidity, tannin and which one you would buy again.
Set out: Three vinegars on small plates with bread: wine, apple and balsamic.
How to run it: Taste a drop of each, then repeat on bread, and score the two rounds separately.
What to score: Sharpness, sweetness and how well it cuts through bread.
Set out: Three salts, flaky, fine sea and table, sprinkled on three slices of the same tomato.
How to run it: Taste the plain tomato first, then each salted slice in the same order.
What to score: Saltiness, the texture of the crystals and how much salt you wanted.
Set out: Four spreads on slices of the same bread, the same amount on each.
How to run it: Serve all four at room temperature and score before discussing.
What to score: Salt, richness and whether it tastes of cream or of oil.
Set out: One cut of steak cooked to three doneness levels, rested and sliced the same way.
How to run it: Judge in the same order and keep the pieces warm under a plate between tastes.
What to score: Juiciness, chew and how strongly the beef tastes.
Set out: Two versions of the same sauce, one from a jar and one cooked at home, with the same pasta.
How to run it: Plate both with the sauce stirred through and serve them at the same time.
What to score: Tomato taste, seasoning and which one you would serve to guests.
Set out: Three glasses of iced tea, sweetened with sugar, honey and syrup in equal amounts.
How to run it: Taste cold and in the same order, because sweetness reads differently when it is cold.
What to score: Sweetness, aftertaste and which one you would keep on the shelf.
Set out: Three of the same cocktail, each with a different bitters, in identical glasses.
How to run it: Taste a small measure of each in the same order, with water between them.
What to score: Aroma, bitterness and which version you would order again.
Set out: Three loaves from different bakeries, cut the same way and tasted on the same day.
How to run it: Taste plain first, then with the same butter, and score both rounds.
What to score: Crust, crumb, salt and how the loaf holds up on the second day.
Set out: Three cups of the same loose tea, brewed for one, three and five minutes.
How to run it: Start the timers together and pour all three at the same moment.
What to score: Bitterness, color and which brew each person makes at home.
Score every idea on the same four lines: flavor, texture, value and would you reorder, each out of ten. Write the number down before the table starts talking, because the first score is the honest one. If the samples cost the same, drop value and score out of thirty instead.
The quiz works out which city eats the way you do, and the planner turns any city into a route of dishes with what to judge at each stop.
The setups that keep labels, prices and order out of the room.
Small pieces, simple scoring and the safety notes to read first.
Scoring rules that turn a table of tasters into a game.
Bigger formats: city routes, brackets and a month of scorecards.
Give everyone the same card and the same order, and ask for the number before anybody explains it. The scoring is what keeps the table honest.
Four or five per flight, and two flights at most. After that the scores flatten out and everything starts to taste the same.
It is easy to do and it changes the answer. Pour into identical glasses, number them and keep the packaging out of the room until the cards are in.
Something everybody already eats, with four versions you can buy in one shop: chocolate, apples, cheese or coffee.
About ninety minutes for four samples with the scoring, including the argument about the middle of the ranking.