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Despite its importance as an undesirable food texture, the phenomenon of chalkiness remains understudied. <i>Chalky</i> sensations presumably arise from fine particulates found in foods, but semantic overlap with other common descriptors of small particles, like gritty or sandy, is unclear. Here, we compare the usage of <i>Chalky</i> with related descriptors, and determine the effect of particle size, concentration, and xanthan content on <i>Chalky</i> ratings in a model beverage. A 2³ factorial design with starch particle size (D₉₀ = 33.8 and 64.6 µm), starch concentrations (10 and 20% <i>w</i>/<i>v</i>), and xanthan content (0.075 and 0.15% <i>w</i>/<i>v</i>) was used. Participants’ salivary flow rate was also assessed. A multi-sip taste test was performed where naïve consumers (n = 82; 39% men, 60% women; age range = 18–79 years) rated the intensity of <i>Chalky</i>, <i>Powdery</i>, <i>Gritty</i>, <i>Sandy</i>, <i>Mouthdrying</i>, and <i>Residual mouthcoating</i> at 0, 30, and 60 s after each of three consecutive sips. All attribute ratings were highly correlated, with <i>Chalky</i>, <i>Powdery</i>, and <i>Residual Mouthcoating</i> being more closely correlated with each other than <i>Gritty</i> or <i>Sandy</i>. Although <i>Chalky</i> was still reported 60 s after consumption, no evidence of build-up was found with repeated sips. A larger size and higher concentration increased <i>Chalky</i> ratings, with the low-salivary-flow group reporting greater ratings for <i>Chalky</i> relative to the high-flow group. Our results suggest consumer percepts of small particles are overlapping but not entirely redundant. This suggests researchers and product developers should carefully distinguish between these descriptors when trying to understand consumer perception of food products containing fine particles.