A chart of color standards for visual color evaluation of the piquillo pepper (Capsicum annuum) has been designed. The chart comprises six rectangular regions of digitally processed images of piquillo peppers covering the observed visual range of variability in this product. Colorimetric characterization of piquillo peppers and the color chart has been made using instrumental color measurements. Both trained and untrained sensory panels tested the reliability of the designed color chart. The Pearson correlation coefficient between color chart scores and subjective color quality scores is 0.831 (P < 0.01). Correlation between all instrumental color coordinates, with the exception of CIELAB a*, and visual color chart scores are significant at P < 0.001 and Pearson correlation coefficients range from -0.747 with CIELAB chroma C* to -0.926 with CIELAB hue angle h. Repeatability of visual color chart scores is completely satisfactory, having found no statistically significant differences between color chart scores in samples evaluated twice by panelists. (C) 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.