A lovely dark and toasted flavor
Amount of grounds:
2 tablespoons per 10 oz of water
Brewing time:
8.5 minutes
Additions:
Vanilla almond milk brings out the toasted flavor more and makes it taste a bit like toasted marshmallows.
Reusing grounds:
Reusing the grounds mellows out the darkness, but keeps the toasted marshmallow flavor, and even accentuates it a bit.
Using grounds in food:
Not recommended. Contains husk.
General Thoughts:
This is my favorite Chocolate Alchemy blend. The very first time I tried it, I thought it was too dark and had to add vanilla almond milk, and that was when I discovered the toasted marshmallow flavor that comes out.
For some reason I had it in my head at first that Anakin was just a super roasted Ecuador. Weird. I have no idea where that came from, but it almost colored my review.
Anyway, the Ecuador has that sweet pungency to it, and Anakin is pretty much all roast with nothing else. Drinking them black, Ecuador is a pretty straight forward win.
With vanilla almond milk in Anakin, these two are much closer to being evenly matched. The Anakin almost had more of a chocolatey flavor in this comparison, and with the toasty flavor it's just so good, so I think it wins out over the light fruity chocolate flavor of Ecuador.
With vanilla almond milk in the Ecuador, it's MUCH more chocolatey! Oh, this is really good. The toasty marshmallow of the Anakin is super good, too. I almost want to call it a tie, but I think the Anakin just barely eeks out a win based on the depth of flavor.
This is another I'm surprised I haven't done. I figured this is one I would have hit a long time ago. Anywho...
The Ecuador started out a little on the bitter side and not very chocolatey. Maybe the aroma of Anakin was messing with me already. Trying Anakin, it is roasty as usual and not very chocolatey. Going back to the Ecuador, it wasn't as bitter and it's a little sweeter and it's a little easier to drink black, but still not quite what I expected it to be. Drinking them black, I like the Ecuador more.
Adding vanilla almond milk to Anakin, it gets the usually toasty marshmallow flavor, and comparing it with the black Ecuador, the Ecuador finally comes out as more chocolatey. But the amount of toasty flavor in the Anakin is just perfect and I like it more than the Ecuador here.
Adding almond milk to the Ecuador, it just feels weaker in this comparison because the Anakin is still just quite strong comparatively. The chocolate flavor comes out a little more in the Ecuador, but otherwise it's just... yeah, weaker, and Anakin wins again.
The Ghana starts out earthy and a bit chocolatey. I expected Anakin to be more "burnt" in flavor, but it's actually not too bad in comparison! It's roasty and toasty, but a little chocolatey, and somehow the Ghana helps bring that out. It's a tough choice, but going with drinking it black long term, I think I'd have to go with the Ghana.
With the strong roast flavor tamed by vanilla almond milk, the Anakin not only gets the familiar toasted marshmallow flavor, but even comes across as quite chocolatey in comparison to the Ghana! This is a big win for Anakin.
Adding just a tiny bit of almond milk to the Ghana washes out the flavor a lot. The aroma, though comes across as more... Not quite nutty, but very familiar to something that reminds me of Christmas. It's sweet, chewy, a little crispy around the edges, I think has oats or some sort of nuts in it, and is likely made with brown sugar or maybe even molasses, but I can't figure out what it is. Ugh, I hate that. Oh! No, I'm completely off... It reminds me a little of... Baklava? How weird. So in terms aroma it's a tie with the Anakin, but the flavor of Anakin wins. Well that was certainly interesting.
Starting off, I noticed that the Ghana has a sweeter flavor and aroma than Ivory Coast French roast. That's weird because when I did a comparison of those two, they were nearly identical. Anywho, the Anakin next to it is super dark, but somehow also has a sweetness brought out by the Ghana. Going back to Ghana, the chocolatey flavor is stronger, and the sweet "tang" that I've picked up in some of the Ecuador roasts is there quite a bit, too, and drinking it black, I prefer it to the Anakin.
Adding vanilla almond milk to the Anakin is the usual deal, and Ghana next to it is almost bitter now... how weird! I like the Anakin better.
I also added some almond milk to the Ghana, and it brings out the chocolatey flavor. Even though that's the case, I still prefer the toasty Anakin flavor more.
(Note: most of this was done based on one comparison, but I felt like I messed up a couple of things, so I did a rematch right away to make sure that what I got in the first match was accurate.)
Starting with the Nicaragua, it comes across as pretty chocolatey, but a bit bitter and with just a tiny bit of a thicker feel than most roasts. Going to the Anakin, it's very smoky and has kind of a sour pungency to it. Going back to the Nicaragua, it gets almost a little nutty in flavor, just mildly tart. These two are pretty neck-and-neck for me, and may actually be a tie for drinking them black. I feel like the Nicaragua really lives up to its description of "dark and chocolatey".
Adding vanilla almond milk to the Anakin, it gets the usual toasty marshmallow flavor, but the Nicaragua next to it still tastes maybe a little more chocolatey, and the tartness comes out a little stronger. I like the Anakin more, as usual.
Adding the almond milk to the Nicaragua, it comes across really strongly as a true chocolate flavor. It's good... really good. But if I go with the lens of what would I like to drink long term, I think the Anakin wins out by juuuuuust a hair. I did not expect it to be this close!
Taking a sip of the Venezuela first, it is chocolatey and a little bitter. Sipping the Anakin right after is very roasty and smoky, but it does have a tiny bit of chocolate flavor. When I went back to the Venezuela, I could pick out the buttery flavor I've noticed with comparing some of the very dark roasts to light(er) roasts. I prefer the Venezuela overall.
Adding vanilla almond milk the Anakin goes pretty much as expected, and it gets that toasty flavor. The Venezuela still has some of the buttery flavor, but it's not as strong as when comparing to Anakin "black". It also keeps a good amount of the chocolatey flavor to it, but comes across as more bitter for some reason. I really like the Anakin this way, and in spite of not having much of a chocolatey flavor here, I think it wins out.
I tried adding the almond milk to the Venezuela, but it really washed out the flavor. I tried to be careful to not overdo it, but I think that with it being lighter to begin with, it just didn't do it any favors. Anakin is definitely the winner here.
As for an overall win, I almost feel like I need to call this a tie since the Venezuela is better black, but the Anakin is better with the almond milk. But another part of me thinks Anakin should win because as far as comparing them each at their "best" state, Anakin with almond milk is better than Venezuela black. But yet another part of me thinks that I should compare them in their black state, in which case Venezuela would win. I think I'm going to give it to Anakin because that will be in line with most of the other Anakin winnings (with almond milk) but I think I'm going to have to come up with a way to track whether each side had almond milk and consider them to be separate comparisons.
Anakin's appearance is a little darker than Uber Dark. Anakin has more of a roasted and toasted flavor, but the Uber has something else. I kind of want to call it "sweeter", but that's not quite right. And I wouldn't call it spicier. It's slightly more in the direction of the pungency of Choffy's Ecuador roasts, but not quite. I think I'd call it more chocolatey, but even that doesn't feel 100% right. I guess Anakin may feel a little "flatter" than Uber Dark, lacking some of the spectrum of flavor, but the roasty toasty makes up for it as far as enjoyment.
It's really hard to pick a favorite. I love to toasty flavor of Anakin, but the extra pungent or chocolate flavors of Uber Dark is super good. Even looking at it with the lens of long term drinking, I can't pick a preferred roast. I think this may be a tie, not in terms of tasting the same, but just in terms of preference. They're both so good.
Both of these are different because of new batches. The Anakin doesn't have quite the same toasted marshmallow flavor when adding vanilla almond milk, and Uber Dark is reminding me more of something that I've gotten from Chocolate Alchemy before, although I'm not quite sure it's Anakin. I think it may actually be kind of close to Ancillary Darkness.
While cooling, Anakin looks a little darker, but tasting them, Uber is just a strong pungent roast, whereas Anakin, amazingly, seems a little milder. That was a little surprising.
What's even more interesting is after adding vanilla almond milk, the pungency of Uber dark tastes more chocolatey, but for Anakin it tastes more smoky. It makes me realize it's that smoky flavor that reminds me of the toasted marshmallows without actually tasting like marshmallows, which makes total sense. There's something about having these two side by side disarms the rest of the marshmallow flavor and makes it pretty much only smoky.
I like the Anakin better both with and without almond milk, but the Uber dark at least isn't terrible in this scenario.
Considering how Anakin is a really dark roast and Ocumare is a light roast, there's a lot of similarity between these two. The Ocumare has a kind of fruitiness and a bitterness to it that generally isn't in many other roasts. The Anakin kind of has that too, but under a heavy blanket of roasty and toasty flavor. I'm usually not much into drinking Anakin black, but something about pairing it with Ocumare makes it more enjoyable. It's really hard to pick a favorite here. Drinking black, I think these may be tied.
Adding vanilla almond milk to both, the Anakin goes somewhat chocolatey but still has that lovely toasty "marshmallow" flavor. The Ocumare comes across more chocolatey, too, but minus the toasty flavor because it's a light roast. I think I like the Anakin more just because of the toasty flavors in it.
I'm thinking this one should be somewhat interesting, especially in how they may affect one another.
Starting off with the Mexico, it's lightly bitter, lightly tart, and somewhat chocolaty. I'm not sure if I mentioned it elsewhere in another Mexico comparison, but I could see how someone would call this "fruity". I'm not sure if those attributes are exactly what they'd mean, but it seems to fit to me, at least. But it's decent on its own. Just taking a whiff of Anakin's aroma, it's smoky and almost sour. The flavor is also fairly smoky, but once again it almost has a "meaty" flavor to it. I've never really been a fan of drinking it black, but this isn't too bad. Going back to the Mexico, the aroma is now a little on the fermented side, and the flavor has a lot of tartness, but still some chocolate to it. In this state, I prefer the Mexico over the Anakin, but that doesn't mean I particularly like either one like this.
It was hard to pick which one to add a splash of vanilla almond milk to first, but I decided to go with the Anakin since I liked it less. As per the usual, with the almond milk in it, it's a lot milder, the meaty flavor is gone, and the bit of smokiness that continues to hang out and combine with the vanilla gives it that toasted marshmallow flavor. The unaltered Mexico is still just as tart as before, but I feel like the chocolate flavor may be just a hair stronger. It's interesting to note that going back to the Anakin after the Mexico, the nuttiness of the almond milk actually stands out just a little. In spite of that, the Anakin is definitely the winner between the two.
With almond milk in the Mexico, surprisingly, it's still just a little tart, but the chocolate is really coming out and much stronger. The Anakin is still just as marshmallow toasty as always, and now that things are milder on both sides, the nuttiness of the almond milk is gone again. It's actually kind of a close race. I really like the toasty flavors of Anakin, but the lack of chocolate holds it back just a little. I also really like the chocolate flavor of the Mexico, but the lingering tartness is holding that one back. But in terms of which one I'd prefer to drink for the long haul, I'd have to say it's Anakin.
I started with the Ecuador, and it was surprisingly bitter at first, much more than I thought it would be. When I went over to the Anakin, it was very smoky and dark, but pretty good even though I was drinking it black. Going back to Ecuador, that sweeter not-quite-spicy flavor comes out of the pungency and bitterness, and it was actually made better coming from the Anakin. Drinking the two black, it's kind of hard to pick a favorite. I like the smokiness of Anakin and the sweeter pungency of Ecuador, but overall I think I'd go with the Anakin here.
Adding vanilla almond milk to both, the Ecuador goes quite chocolatey, and the Anakin goes very toasted marshmallow. I prefer the aroma of Anakin because Ecuador still has a hint of the pungency. Wow, this is a LOT closer than I thought it would be. They're both delicious like this, but I think this way may actually be a tie!
I blended the last quarter of each cup, and it's pretty good. The aroma is still slightly more like Anakin, but the flavor is a little more chocolatey. I may have to make a full mug of this one and see how the combo is black, but it's really good with the almond milk.
Update: After finding out how much I liked them blended with almond milk, especially after blending, I decided to do a single mug blended up front instead of doing it part way though the cup becauseI wanted to see what the flavor is like without the almond milk first. The combination is really good! It's chocolatey, and it's a little roasty. It's quite drinkable without adding anything, but adding the vanilla almond milk makes it even better.
Now I'm kind of curious how the combo would be with Anakin and Ecuador French instead.
I'm really surprised that I haven't don't this comparison before. This feels like one I would have done pretty early on, but I have no record of it.
Drinking them black, I actually like Anakin better! I didn't expect that because I've mostly felt that Anakin is mostly undrinkable black. The Ecuador is mostly roast and pungent and bitter, but Anakin actually has some chocolate to it, and the roast flavor on Anakin is more like smoky campfire.
Adding vanilla almond milk to both of them, I still like Anakin better with its toasted marshmallow flavor, but Ecuador is MUCH better this way. The roast and pungent flavors are calmed way down, and there's actually some chocolate to it, especially in the aroma. But the Anakin with that toasty flavor accentuated by the almond milk is just so good.
I blended the last third of each cup, and the end result is decently chocolatey, a bit toasty, and overall good. I feel like the Anakin is stronger in the mix, with the pungency and bitterness of the Ecuador pretty much wiped out.
Update: I did another round with the grounds blended up front so I could try the blend "black", but I really didn't like it. It's very bitter, and is probably the most coffee like I've had so far. But! Adding vanilla almond milk, it's really good! It's toasty, with just a hint of the toasted marshmallow coming through, but the Ecuador puts out a good but of chocolate into the mix. I'm not sure how this compares to the blend with Ecuador dark instead, but I'd assume it's not quite as strong. I may have to compare them sometime, but I'm pretty happy with these results.
Drinking them black, the Anakin is super roasted, obviously, and the Ivory Coast is very earthy. Neither one really tastes chocolatey, and with the Ivory Coast next to such a strong roast, it's not great either. Is just earthy and not much else. It's actually hard to pick here. If I go with the lens of long term drinking black, I think I'd have to go with the Ivory Coast.
With almond milk in the Anakin, it's much more mild, but really good. The Ivory Coast just tastes weak next to it, but still primarily earthy, so Anakin wins.
Adding just a tiny bit of almond milk to the Ivory Coast, it still gets pretty washed out, but there is a little more of a chocolatey flavor to it, which I'm surprised about. It's much better than I thought it would be, actually. But that toasted flavor from the Anakin is just so much better. Anakin wins again.
I don't think that there were any real surprises here. Ivory Coast was somewhat chocolatey with just the tiniest hint of smoky, but that all went out the window when I tried Anakin. Anakin is, as expected, extremely strong compared to Ivory Coast, and it's pretty much all roast with little else. Drinking them black, I prefer Ivory Coast pretty strongly.
Adding vanilla almond milk to the Anakin, it gets the usual toasted marshmallow flavor, and even though it's quite toned down, the Ivory Coast tastes pretty flat next to it, and I prefer the Anakin quite a bit there.
I even had a little bit left to be able to add a little vanilla almond milk in the Ivory Coast, and it mostly just washes out the flavor, although it may have given the chocolatey flavor a bit of a boost. Even with that, I still prefer Anakin.
I can't believe I haven't done this one before! I thought I had compared Anakin to pretty much all the Choffy french roasts, but I guess not.
The Ivory Coast starts out a little bitter and roasty and earthy, although I don't think I'd call it chocolatey. I'm not sure if the aroma of the Anakin was maybe messing with it. Anakin, as expected, brings its strong roast flavor, and going back to the Ivory Coast makes it less roasty and earthy and more chocolatey. Drinking them black, I like the Ivory Coast more.
Adding vanilla almond milk to the Anakin results in the usual toasted marshmallow flavor. The black Ivory Coast next to it is still less roasty and more chocolatey. It also has a tiny of that sweeter "tang" ice been picking up from the Ecuador roasts. Even with the doctored Anakin, I think I still like the Ivory Coast more! Now that was surprising!
I didn't have enough left to try almond milk in the Ivory Coast, but given prior experience, I assume it would have washed it out quite a bit.
The Nigeria is starting off on the nutty and slightly burnt flavor of things. There's some chocolate hanging out there, and while the aroma has some bitterness, the flavor doesn't right now. Going over to Anakin, it's very smoky and has that almost "meaty" flavor to it. It's ok, but not great. Going back over to the Nigeria, it almost tastes bland now in comparison. Anakin is just such an onslaught of flavor and aroma that others cower at its approach. Maybe that's part of the reason why it has the name... Hmmmm. :-p Even though the Nigeria is weaker, and neither seem very good like this, I think I like the flavor and aroma better than the Anakin.
I decided to add vanilla almond milk only to the Anakin first and see how that goes. As is expected, it now has that slightly smoky and toasted marshmallow flavor that I've come to love about it. In comparison, the Nigeria now has some of that sweeter flavor like the Ghana roasts and the burnt or bitter flavors are mostly gone, even in spite of the fact that nothing was done to it! Going back to the Anakin after the Nigeria, now I'm picking up on a tiny bit of that meaty flavor again, and the toasted marshmallow flavor has been quieted. It's still there, but just not like it was at first. Man, I hate to say it, but I think I like the Nigeria more here, too. But it's close! Nooooooooooooo!
Adding a tiny splash of almond milk to the Nigeria, now it's very chocolaty and a little nutty and overall very good. But! The toasted marshmallow flavor in the Anakin is now stronger! I'm still picking up on the sweetness in the Nigeria as I go back and forth. It's a super close race. I think that they actually tie.
This is, at the moment, my last comparison with Nigeria Dark. I have to say that I'm glad I didn't give up on this one just because of my aversion to the french roast version.
Starting off with the Nigeria, it's just the normal smoky and burnt nut flavors with a little bit of chocolate in the aroma. I guess if I really think about it, there's also a little bit of chocolate in the flavor, too, but it's mostly hidden behind the other flavors. Going over to the Anakin, it is really different from how I've experienced it before. There's just a hint of tartness, and maybe a tiny bit of fermentation, and a smokiness that almost reminds me of barbecue. I think this is the first time where I've ever tried it and thought, "Yes, it is just a hint of the darkness to come." And going back to the Nigeria, the smokiness there almost feels like it's gone. There's still some burnt nut there, but I almost feel like the chocolate is a little more apparent now. The way these two play off each other is really strange and interesting, but I wouldn't say that I particularly like either one like this. And the race is really close. Super close. In fact, I think I have to call it a tie.
With vanilla almond milk in both, I started off with the Nigeria again, and the smoke and burnt nut are mostly gone, and there's mostly just the chocolaty aroma with the nutty flavor. Going over to the Anakin, I'm so used to the doctored version coming across with the toasted marshmallow flavor, but it's just not there this time. Like above, there's a lightly tart flavor still, and I wouldn't call it chocolaty. The smoky flavor is still there, but that barbecue flavor is still hanging out, and it almost comes across as having a meaty flavor! It's so weird!! If I give it a little bit of time and come back to it without going to the Nigeria, I can start getting hints of the toasted marshmallow, but it's just not the rush of it that I'm used to. Going back to the Nigeria, the burnt nut flavor seems a little stronger, and the chocolate aroma seems to be less. And now the toasted marshmallow flavor of the Anakin is starting to come on stronger. So, in the end, I think Anakin wins, but it's a close and strange race.
Kicking off with the Nigeria, it's just all roast and char. There may be a hint of the nutty flavor in there, but it's definitely in the realm of burnt nuts. Next to it, drinking Anakin black is weird. It brings out flavors I haven't found in Anakin before. Most of the usual roasty flavor is gone, I can pick out some chocolate, and the aroma has just a hint of the fermented aroma that I've gotten in various lighter roasts before. I've never been a fan of Anakin black anyway, and even with these differences, I wouldn't say it improves or worsens the experience, but it's still way better than Nigeria.
With vanilla almond milk in both, the Anakin gets the usual toasty marshmallow flavor that I've come to love about it. It's still a tiny bit on the bitter side, but overall it's great. The Nigeria is still primarily a burnt nut flavor that continues to dominate even with the almond milk. It's better, but still not good. The flavor even leans a tiny bit into the realm of plasticky. Definitely not good. Going back to the Anakin, there's even a hint of tartness that I've gotten from others like Shadow's Silhouette, but it's still the clear winner by a mile.
Out of the gate, Volta is more chocolaty and way less bitter, and in comparison, Anakin is super roasty and almost hard to drink. Drinking black, Volta wins.
Once I added vanilla almond milk to the Anakin, it was way better than the Volta. Somehow the Volta comes across as more bitter, which surprised me a bit.
I was able to add some almond milk to the Volta as well, but it really washes it out. It's a little chocolaty, but barely. It's mostly just bland. In comparison, Anakin with the almond milk picks up a little more bitterness in comparison, but I still like it better.
This was weird. I made both together as have been for the other side-by-side rounds, but when I tried the Chocolate Alchemy, it tasted so smokey that it reminded me of smoking a cigar. The toasted marshmallow flavor was mostly gone. In comparison, the Volta Dark was, I don't know... almost bland? I think I was just taken aback by the cigar smoke flavor of the Chocolate Alchemy that my brain didn't know how to react to the Volta Dark.
I'm chalking it up to two things, though.
First, the Chocolate Alchemy was made in the tea infuser, which let through a lot more of the sediment of the grounds, while the Volta Dark was made in the french press. I know this side-by-side thing isn't going to be going on forever, but I kind of want to get a second french press just so I can make these truly side-by-side comparisons. I just don't know that the trip to Ikea is worth it, though. Maybe it would be a good reason/opportunity to visit the Norfolk Ikea instead. Besides, it would be nice to have one at home and one at work once I finally get back to working in the office.
The second thing is something I can fix immediately. I was served another interesting coffee ad on Facebook today (coffee beans aged in bourbon, whiskey, and wine barrels at cooperscoffeeco.com) and there I found slightly different instructions for french press usage which says to bring the water to boiling, but then take it off the heat for 30 seconds before pouring into the french press because pouring "boiling water directly into the french press may give your coffee a burnt taste." Well, I've just been pouring right away, and the tea infuser is the first one to get it, so if the same holds true with the ground cocoa, then I need to not do that.
I'm doing a rematch because when I did the original side-by-side, I was still using my bad tea infuser, and my brewing time was still up around 10 minutes. The brewing methods are now evenly matched with an eight minute brewing time. Also, the first time I compared these, I added vanilla almond milk right away. I'm not doing that this time.
As expected, Anakin is much darker and stronger than Volta dark. It's mostly roasty tasting, while the Volta has more of a chocolate flavor. Anakin really makes Volta taste almost weak and single-noted in comparison.
Adding vanilla almond milk only to the Anakin first, that great toasted marshmallow flavor comes out, but even then, the undiluted Volta tastes weak in comparison. The Anakin just has a better flavor than the Volta overall.
Adding the almond milk to the Volta brings out an earthy aroma, but the it just makes the flavor weaker. Either way, Anakin still wins here.
After the realization of the hints of toasted marshmallow in the Chocolate Alchemy when adding vanilla almond milk, I wanted to see how the darker Choffy brews that I've had so far compare to it when adding the almond milk.
While the Chocolate Alchemy definitely has that "smoky" quality to it, the Volta French roast just tasted charred, even with the almond milk. It didn't have that multi-tonal flavor or hints of anything beyond feeling like it was left in the roaster too long.
Like with Anakin vs Volta Dark, I'm doing a rematch because when I did the original side-by-side, my brewing methods were mismatched and I was brewing for a longer period, resulting in more bitter brews. Also, the first time I compared these, I added vanilla almond milk right away. I'm not doing that this time.
Right off the bat, it's a little hard to tell these apart. The new batch of Volta French has more range of flavor to it than the old one, and it competes well against Anakin. Specifically it has more of a chocolate flavor. Snipping Anakin right after it brings out a slightly fermented flavor from Anakin that reminds me vaguely of a cider or beer. Drinking it black, I think I like the Volta just a tiny bit more than Anakin.
Adding vanilla almond milk only to Anakin and comparing, the toasty marshmallow flavor of Anakin wins out easily, and it teases out a more bitter flavor from the Volta.
Adding the almond milk to the Volta brings out a little more of the chocolate flavor, and it makes the comparison between the two incredibly close again. There's something else that comes out in the Volta that I can't quite place. Maybe it's the Volta's version of the roast flavor, which is more one-dimensional than Anakin's. It just tastes "roasted" versus Anakin's hint of toasty marshmallow flavor. While it's closer, I like the Anakin more in this instance.
So with Volta winning the "drink it black" and Anakin winning the "drink it doctored", I almost want to call this a tie. But considering that under normal circumstances, I would always drink Anakin doctored and Volta black, plus Anakin won both times over black and doctored Volta, I'm calling it for Anakin by just a hair.
As expected, Shot in the Dark starts off with being super roasty, dark, smoky and bitter, and with not much else to bring to the table. As a side note, I had my wife try a sip because of the supposed coffee flavor. She said that it doesn't really taste like coffee, which I figured, but she said that she could see where saying that it tastes like coffee comes from. In comparison, Anakin doesn't smell or taste as dark and smoky as it usually does. There's more of a chocolate flavor in there. It's still not a favorite like this, but it's decent, and definitely wins out over Shot in the Dark.
With vanilla almond milk in both, Shot in the Dark still has strong smoky and bitter components, but less so than drinking it black. What's really interesting is that there's also just the tiniest hint of Anakin's toasty marshmallow flavor. It's barely perceptible, but it's there. Over on the Anakin side, the toasty marshmallow flavor is still there, but it's less prominent than usual. There's more of a chocolaty flavor this time around. It's quite different than I'm used to, but it's still super good, and wins hands down.
This is one of the things that I love about these side-by-side comparisons. It started out as just trying to see if any of the roasts were actually different, then it shifted into trying to find out which one I liked the best. And while that's still a big part of it, there's a secondary part that is about trying to tease out some of those background flavors that I miss when drinking these things on their own. The only downside is that I feel like I have a terrible vocabulary for describing what I'm experiencing with a lot of them, such as Ecuador's "sharp sweetness". But even if that's the case, it's still a lot of fun.
Long Dark Tea Time and Anakin are surprisingly similar at first, but the sameness dissipates quickly. It's been established that Long Dark is pretty much all roast, but Anakin has a lot of roast flavor, too. I was surprised that when drinking it next to Long Dark, it uncovers a tiny bit of the "buttered wheat bread" flavor from Big O. Yikes. I guess there must be a similar component between Big O and Anakin, which is a little scary and I hope it doesn't come out often. Also, the sharp and overpowering roast flavor that comes on so strong from Long Dark also makes Anakin taste muddy and undefined in comparison.
Adding almond milk to both mutes mutes the flavors of Long Dark quite a bit, but Anakin winds up tasting more chocolatey next to it. Long Dark is still all roast coming through, and I prefer Anakin by quite a lot.
Now I'm curious what Long Dark is like next to my other "all roast" variety, Choffy Volta French roast. I'm going to have to give that a try.
When comparing Shadow's Silhouette previously, I'd noted that while it was cooling, it smelled a bit like brownies baking. While that was still true this time around, next to the roasty aroma of Anakin, Shadow's Silhouette seemed more muddy and undefined.
Tasting them, Anakin has a sharper and more pungent flavor. The Shadow's Silhouette is a little milder, a little more fruity, and quite a bit more chocolatey. Also, I must be getting used to the much darker roasts, because I'm finding that I actually can drink then both black if I wanted. The first time I tried Anakin, I basically thought "no way could I do that," but today it was quite good.
Adding vanilla almond milk to them both made them pretty similar. On top of that, this is a new batch of Anakin, and I'm sad to report that I didn't get that toasted marshmallow flavor this time around. I'm not sure if that flavor was maybe hindered by the comparison with Shadow's Silhouette or if it's really not there. I also noticed that it's reminding me just a bit of Choffy Ecuador French or Dark roasts. I'll wind up doing a comparison with one or both of those against Anakin in the future.
Overall I still like Anakin more, but I have to say that Shadow's Silhouette really is a close runner-up, and if I ever happen into another gift card for Chocolate Alchemy, I may get that one, or split it with a smaller Anakin order.
In spite of my previous misgivings with Ancillary Darkness, decided to give it one last try since I only had one serving left.
Ancillary Darkness is very bitter compared to Anakin, and very pungent. Besides those two things, I'm not picking out much else in the flavor. Vanilla almond milk helps it a lot, bringing out a tiny bit more of a toasted flavor, but the pungency still makes it hard to drink. I'm glad that it's finally done.
Anakin is a little more chocolatey with a good roasted flavor. I actually can drink it black unlike what I previously thought. As before, the almond milk brings out a bit more of the toasted flavor, although I think I'm finding that this newer batch has a little less of the "marshmallow" flavor to it. It's not that it truly had marshmallow flavor, but the toasted flavor felt like it was in the same family. But it's still good and it absolutely beats Ancillary Darkness.