The habanero family, lab-tested

We sell six SpiceQuest chili grinders with habanero in the name, and all six have a lab result. They run from 149,987 Scoville units for Orange Habanero to 299,667 for Chocolate Habanero, exactly twice as hot. Three of the six, Red, Orange and Yellow Habanero, arrived together in the Habanero Kit.

One name, six grinders

All six are habaneros, and the color in each name is the color the variety ripens to. A chocolate habanero ripens brown, a white habanero creamy white, and so on. None of them is an unripe stage of another. What we can give is a number for each one and how each one tastes. All six are pure pepper.

Every one of them is in our Hot tier, 100,000 to 349,999. Chocolate Habanero, the hottest, is still under the 350,000 line where Superhot begins. Every result is on the Scoville chart.

Around no. 4

No. 4 Habanero, at 171,446, is the reference point, and it is an orange habanero. Chocolate Habanero tested about 1.7 times as hot and Red Habanero about 1.4 times. White Habanero came in about 14 percent above no. 4, Yellow Habanero at about 92 percent of it and Orange Habanero at about 87 percent.

Two of the six are orange habaneros from different harvests: no. 4 at 171,446 and the kit's Orange Habanero at 149,987, about 13 percent apart. That gap is normal for the same pepper tested twice, and Why two peppers of the same variety test differently explains it.

Six different tastes

No. 4 Habanero is citrus with a light floral note, and its heat reaches full strength almost at once and holds through the meal. It suits someone who uses hot sauce every day and has never gone further.

Chocolate Habanero, sold in the Chocolate Kit, is a deep, smoky fruitiness, and its heat builds gradually to a bold finish. Chocolate is the brown color of the ripe pod. There is no cacao in it.

White Habanero is a small creamy-white pod. The taste is crisp and citrusy with a light floral note, and the heat comes on fast and fades over a few minutes. It was a limited release.

Red Habanero, Orange Habanero and Yellow Habanero are sold together in the Habanero Kit, where each carries a range, about 200,000 to 250,000, 175,000 to 225,000 and 150,000 to 200,000, because heat changes from batch to batch; the numbers in the table are the lots we tested. Red is dark fruit and a little smoke, with heat that builds and lingers. Orange is apricot and bright citrus, the familiar habanero. Yellow is lemon and tropical fruit with a clean finish. Red vs. Orange vs. Yellow Habanero compares the three.

The Chocolate Kit, White Habanero and the Habanero Kit are separate releases, and each product page shows whether it is available.

Questions people ask

Which SpiceQuest habanero grinder is the hottest? Chocolate Habanero, which tested at 299,667 Scoville units. That is about 1.7 times no. 4 Habanero at 171,446.

Is every habanero as hot as the orange one? No. Against no. 4 Habanero at 171,446, Chocolate, Red and White tested higher, and Yellow and the kit's Orange tested lower. The whole family sits inside one tier, Hot.

How does the habanero family compare with the ghost pepper family? Every habanero we have tested is under 300,000 Scoville units. Every ghost we have tested is over 269,000, and most are over 350,000. The ghost pepper family has those numbers.

Related pages

• Why it is called the habanero
• Red vs. Orange vs. Yellow Habanero: what changes with the color
• Habanero pepper
• Orange Habanero pepper: lab-tested Scoville rating and flavor