Panelists
Registration, management, and ISO 8586 calibration of the tasters that make up your panel.
What it is
The Panelists manager is your roster of tasters: the people who evaluate your tastings. Here you register internal tasters, invited consumers, and external experts, and you check their ISO 8586 calibration level.
Pro plan and above. Panelists are part of the Sensory analysis module. On the Starter plan you'll see an upgrade prompt screen and be sent back to the hub.
How to get there
- URL:
https://app.areacacao.com/sensory-analysis/panelists - How to reach it: Panelists is not in the sidebar. In the sidebar, under SENSORY ANALYSIS, click the heading or the More in sensory link to open the module hub; inside the hub, under Module areas, open the Panelists card.
Screen sections
Header
- Sensory analysis / Panelists breadcrumb and the Panelists title.
- New panelist button (top-right corner).
Search and filter
- Search box with the helper text Search by name, email, or phone….
- Filter by panelist type: All types / Internal / External / Guest / Consumer.
Card list
Each panelist appears as a card with:
- Their name.
- Their panelist type (Internal, External, Guest, or Consumer).
- Email and phone, if you recorded them.
- The Registered user label when the panelist is linked to an app account.
The ISO 8586 calibration level (Naive, Initiated, Selected, Expert) and the test history are not shown on the list card: they live in each panelist's detail. Click a card to open it.
Actions
- Click a card to open the panelist's detail (information, calibration, and history).
- Pencil icon on a card: opens the edit modal.
- Trash icon: deletes the panelist. It's a reversible delete (they're hidden from the list and from future evaluations; support can restore them).
- New panelist: opens the registration form.
If the filter or search returns no one, you'll see No panelist matches your search. and a Clear filters button. If you don't have any yet, the screen shows No panelists yet with a Create first panelist button.
The panelist detail
Clicking a card opens their full record. It has a Back to list link and these areas:
- Information — email, phone, internal notes, registration date and, if the panelist is linked to an account, the Status field with the Registered user label.
- Below Information, with no section title of its own, two buttons: Edit (takes you to the list with the edit modal open) and Delete panelist.
- Panelist calibration — a single heading with the ISO 8586 level badge (Naive, Initiated, Selected, or Expert) and its rationale. Below it, with no title of its own, the table appears with every test performed, with the columns Date, Test (Basic tastes or Thresholds 3-AFC), Compound/Detail, and Result. The Result column shows the test value followed by the Passed / Not passed badge: for basic tastes, the hits over the total and their percentage (for example,
5/6 (83%)); for thresholds, the BET in g/L (for example,BET 1.250 g/L).
The calibration history is read-only: tests aren't launched from here. To qualify a panelist, create a training tasting and assign them; their level recalculates on its own. See Panel training. If they don't have any tests yet, the table shows No training tests yet.
Plan availability
Pro and above. Starter has no access to panelist management.
Panelist types
| Type | Who it's for |
|---|---|
| Internal | Tasters from your workshop or team. |
| External | Outside experts who collaborate occasionally. |
| Guest | People you invite to a specific tasting. |
| Consumer | General public for affective (hedonic) tastings. |
Guest is only a panelist classification, not an invitation flow. Sending links or QR codes so a panelist can evaluate from their phone is handled from the tasting, in the Digital evaluation area.