And the winner of the Least Favorite award goes to...
Amount of grounds:
2 tablespoons per 10 oz of water
Brewing time:
8.5 minutes
Additions:
Vanilla almond milk tested, but it didn't change much.
Reusing grounds:
Not tested.
Using grounds in food:
Contains husks. Not advised.
General Thoughts:
"The Big O... No." Out of all the roasts and blends I've tried, this is the only one where I threw in the towel and decided I couldn't drink another sip and poured the rest of the mug down the drain. There's something about this blend that tastes like "buttered wheat bread" to me, and I can't stomach it. I got through one whole side-by-side, but I couldn't complete the other. I offer my sincere apologies to the fine folks at Chocolate Alchemy if they should ever find this. :-(
These two are about as different as things can get.
Big O really has that "buttered bread" taste that I just can't get get over. Just bringing it up to my nose makes me feel almost queasy, and adding almond milk doesn't help. I only drank about a third of the mug and had to pour the rest down the sink drain. I still have at least 3 servings left, but I just don't think I can bring myself to drink anymore of it. I gave Sam at least 2 servings of it, along with the other 3 Chocolate Alchemy varieties, and if he doesn't like it, I think I'm going to have to throw it away. I just have that strong of a dislike for it. I'm going to have to find a good way to cement it to the bottom of my ratings list. Preferably without adding fake reviews.
Long Dark Tea Time is pretty much "all roast" with little else going on. The almond milk takes the sharpness out of it, but it's mostly still just the roasted flavor. It's ok, and I like it this way, but definitely not a favorite.
When spooning the grounds into the french presses, I noticed that Ancillary Darkness wass slightly darker than Big O, and smelled a bit more roasty. In a big contrast, The Big O almost smelled like a slice of honey wheat bread. Once I brewed them and they were cooling, that didn't really change.
Ancillary Darkness was very bitter and roasted tasting. The Big O is very strong and almost sour. It has a strong bread-like flavor, almost coming across as slightly fermented. It's almost like beer minus the zip of alcohol. Drinking them black, I'm not a fan of either one.
Even after adding almond milk, I'm still kind of "meh" about both. The bready scent of Big O is really off-putting to me, and I had a hard time finishing it. For Ancillary Darkness, it's mostly just the roast flavor coming through. It's not the straight up campfire charcoal of Choffy's Volta French roast. It's different, but I can't pin down how right now. Neither The Big O or Ancillary Darkness gives me any sort of "chocolate" impression.
Speaking of the Volta French roast, I haven't been this disappointed in my brewing cocoa experience since I first brewed that one. That makes me really sad because I was really hoping I'd love all the Chocolate Alchemy stuff considering how much I wound up loving Anakin. I may have to do a side-by-side comparison with each of these two against Volta French just to see which one wins the title of "Least Favorite of All". :-(
I guess if I had to pick one I dislike the least, it would be Ancillary Darkness.