How It Works

Product Preparation and Category Methods

Taste the product as people are meant to experience it

A fair blind assessment is not always a direct spoonful from a package. Tea needs brewing, pasta needs cooking, a frozen dessert needs the right temperature and a condiment may need a neutral carrier.

Good Taste Awards defines the serving state before the panel responds. The aim is to reveal the submitted product faithfully, not to improve it with a flattering recipe or presentation.

02

Category answers “what kind of product is this?”

Every accepted product has one Public Primary Category. The choice begins with ordinary consumption: what does the person believe they are eating or drinking, and which part of the experience dominates?

Ingredients alone do not settle the answer. A chocolate-coated biscuit may belong with bakery, while a chocolate confection containing a small biscuit element may belong with confectionery. Browse the category guides.

03

Product type supplies the practical detail

Within a broad category, the product type explains its form: liquid or set honey, still or sparkling water, filled or unfilled confectionery, dry pasta or a ready meal. This detail helps determine portioning, preparation and serving without creating a separate award scale.

04

Preparation follows ordinary use

The assessment uses a repeatable version of the way consumers normally experience the product. Information may include:

  • storage and serving temperature;
  • dilution, brewing or cooking method;
  • resting, opening or aeration time;
  • whether settling should be redistributed;
  • the ratio of components in a multi-part product;
  • the ordinary use of a neutral carrier;
  • the time window in which the serving remains representative.

Retail instructions are followed where they define an ordinary and reproducible experience. A promotional serving designed only to impress the panel is not used.

05

Neutral carriers reveal rather than decorate

Some products are rarely consumed alone. A neutral carrier may be used after direct tasting or as part of the main serving where ordinary use requires it. The carrier is selected for low flavour and consistent preparation.

It cannot add sweetness, salt, richness, aroma or texture merely to make the product more appealing.

06

Portioning represents the whole product

Each assessor should receive a fair expression of the submitted product. Portioning therefore considers layers, coatings, fillings, inclusions, natural variation and the ratio of components.

A spoonful containing only sauce from a composite dish, one plain piece from a mixed snack or a broken shell without its filling would not represent the whole experience.

07

Timing is part of taste

Temperature, carbonation, crispness, melting, thickening and aroma can change quickly. Preparation and service are coordinated so that assessors encounter the product within the same representative window.

If a service condition moves outside that window, the affected portion is not treated as though it represented the product fairly.

08

Product information should be factual and neutral

Entrants should explain what is necessary to reproduce ordinary use, including any material participation restrictions. They should not tell assessors what flavours they are expected to find or supply prestige, origin and marketing language as tasting evidence.