My own description of the flavor here
Amount of grounds:
2 tablespoons per 10 oz of water
Brewing time:
8.5 minutes
Additions:
None
Reusing grounds:
Not tested
Using grounds in food:
Not tested
General Thoughts:
General feeling about the roast
The Nigeria just smells and tastes like a burnt nut, and I can't really take it anymore. Woof... and having it next to the Nicaragua just makes the Nicaragua taste very bready and fermented. I mean, I guess I would say I prefer the Nicaragua over the Nigeria, but I really kind of hate both here. *shudders* Blech.
I'm going to give these a try with some vanilla almond milk anyway. The aroma of the Nigeria is better, but under the vanilla, I'm just tasting the burnt nut flavor still. The Nigeria is more chocolaty and much better, but I can still taste the fermented and bready flavor under it, too. But it's not as overbearing as the burnt nut is in the Nigeria, so I definitely like it better.
Looking at where Nigeria French is currently in the score sheet, it's in next to last place, just above Chocolate Alchemy's Big O. Somehow it managed to dip even below Ancillary Darkness by garnering an average score of -3.86 across 7 comparisons. For context, the rating scale goes from 4 (love it) to -4 (hate it). Yeah, I think this may be my last comparison, at least for a while, with the Nigeria French roast. And honestly, with Nigeria Dark being so similar, I don't think I'm going to do that one for a while, either.
The Nigeria starts off with the usual flavors of extreme smoke and burnt nut. The Uber Dark has some of the Ecuador sharp sweetness to it, and there's an ok amount of chocolate behind that and the smoky flavors. Drinking it in this context, I actually kind of like the Uber Dark black, and it is the clear winner.
Adding vanilla almond milk to both, the smoky flavor of the Nigeria is eased, and the aroma has slightly more chocolate to it, but the flavor is still very much like a burnt nut. The almond milk does improve it, but only every so slightly. For the Uber Dark, the sharp sweetness of the Ecuador comes out a bit stronger, but I hesitate to say that it's any more chocolaty. It's pretty decent overall, and still the winner.
I'm not 100% sure if I'm going to wind up testing this one against everything else, as drinking it is always just so unpleasant. At the same time, I have a similar dislike towards Choffy's Ecuador French, but I keep trucking with that one. But then again, that one is mostly behind me. As of right now, for the Nigeria French, I still have 14 more comparisons ahead of me, and that's a lot to dread.
Starting off with the Nigeria, it's super smoky and tastes like burnt nut. The Ecuador is also really smoky and roasted, but there's just an undertone of the sharp sweetness that's in the lighter roasts. I'm really not a fan of either one black, but I suppose if I were going to stick with one for long term drinking (Lord help me!) it would be the Ecuador, but just barely.
With vanilla almond milk in both, the Nigeria is easier to drink, but still not great. That burnt nut flavor and aroma is weakened, but persists. For the Ecuador, the smoky flavor is weakened, but also persists. I'm not sure if I'm just having a bad morning or if these two really are so bad, but while they're improved slightly with the almond milk, they're still not good. I think it's a tie.
I decided to start with the French roast because I figured it may give me a better end result for tasting the dark roast, and as usual, it's very smoky, bitter, and has a burnt nut flavor to it. It's not as bad as some others I've had, but I don't like it. Going over to the dark roast, there's more of a nutty and chocolaty aroma, and it's not nearly as smoky as the French roast. The nutty flavor isn't as burnt here, and comparatively, I like it ok. Going back and forth between the two doesn't give me anything new, so, unsurprisingly, the dark roast wins here.
With vanilla almond milk in both, the French roast gets a nice chocolate boost in both the aroma and flavor. On the first sip, most of the smoky and burnt nut flavors are gone. For the dark roast, there's there a good chocolate boost to the flavor just like the French roast, but it retains more of the nutty flavor, too. Back to the French roast, there's more smoke coming through, but overall it's still not too bad. Going back and forth, I still prefer the dark roast a good bit.
It's interesting to note that while they're sitting here cooling on my desk, I do keep getting whiffs of decently chocolaty aroma blowing by. I wish that would translate into the flavors being that way, but I'm pretty sure it won't.
Oh crap... and I just realized that I poured these at the 4 minute mark when I was supposed to be swirling them instead. Ugh.
Trying to the Nigeria first, it's the usual extremely smoky burnt nut flavor with nothing much else going on, although it is just a tiny bit weaker than usual. The Volta has a striking earthy or grainy aroma! (Wait, did I make the medium roast instead of the french roast? Ok, no, I didn't, but I had to go check the pantry to make sure I pulled the right bag. Sheesh, what a weird morning. ANYway...) The flavor is weaker than usual, but only has a hint of the usual smoky flavor to it. It's actually decently earthy and kind of chocolaty! Volta is definitely the winner this time, but this is making me wonder if I need to revisit my brewing time tests.
Adding vanilla almond milk to both, I'm going in light this time because of the lowered brewing time. The Nigeria's aroma seems to have more chocolate in it, and the flavor is definitely improved, but still has that burnt nut aftertaste to it that I just really don't like. The Volta, on the other hand, really didn't seem to change much. It still has a little bit of the smoky and earthy flavors, but it's definitely on the weak side. I like it better than the Nigeria, but I wouldn't say that it was improved this time around by the addition of the almond milk.
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.
For the other two Nigeria roasts, I did a preliminary taste test to see what I was getting into. I found that the dark roast was already so smoky that it seemed to obliterate most of the chocolaty flavor, and given that the aroma of the dry grounds of the french roast seemed even more smoky and dark than the dark roast, I decided to just go head first with it and compare it to Shot in the Dark.
Starting with just the aroma of both, Shot in the Dark is very smoky, but also seems to have a bit of a bitter aroma to it, almost pungent. The Nigeria also has a very smoky aroma, but it's a little lighter, I think, and has an earthy quality to it. I'd even almost call it a burnt nutty aroma, but for some reason it almost reminds me of an old house.
As far as flavor, I started with the Nigeria, and it's not just smoky, but charred. There may still be just the barest hint of the nutty flavor to it, but it's really hard to tell. The Shot in the Dark, on the other hand, is sour and bitter in addition to smoky. Going back to the Nigeria soon after, the smoky flavor is a little less, but there's still a dark earthy flavor that I'm just really not a fan of. I don't like either one black, but I think with the strong sour notes coming out of the Shot in the Dark, I'd have to call it the bigger loser.
Adding vanilla almond milk to both, the Shot in the Dark gets drastically better. I'd even almost call it "good". There's a chocolaty flavor that comes out that's pretty decent, while most of the smokiness takes a back seat. The Nigeria, on the other hand, still pretty much that strong earthy flavor and a lot of smoke, just less. Oh man. This isn't good. There's almost a rubbery flavor to it here. Going back to the Shot in the Dark, it's not as good as the initial couple of sips right after adding the almond milk, but it's still better than the Nigeria. Giving the Nigeria a minute and going back to it, the aroma does seem to be a little more on the chocolaty side, but the flavor is still terrible to me.
I may have found a new least favorite. :-(