Smoky and chocolatey, lightly bitter
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:
I started with the Volta, and I was a little surprised that I could pick out the earthiness in the aroma right away, and it has a decently chocolatey flavor. The Ecuador has a sharp sweetness to it, as well as a little of that buttery flavor that comes with some of the light roasts. I'm not sure if I would call it chocolatey, but it's just really good. I prefer the Ecuador here.
Since I was having an easy time picking out a winner, I blended the last few sips of each. The result has the earthy aroma of the Volta, and a pretty strong chocolatey flavor. The identifying qualities of the Ecuador are gone, but I can kind of tell how they contribute to bringing out that stronger chocolate flavor. That's a pretty good blend!
I tried something different this time, and instead of brewing a full mug of each, I did half a mug. That means only one scoop of each, but also only half the amount of water for each. I'm not sure if it's my imagination or if it's something I'm really experiencing, but both of them seem very weak. In my mind, they shouldn't be because I halved everything in terms of volume, but I still kept the brewing time the same. I wonder if the quicker cooling of the water turned into less extraction. All that being said, I may do this one a second time with full mugs to see if there's a difference.
The flavors of these two are very subtle this time around. I started with the Ecuador, but it has a very light aroma and flavor compared to what I was expecting. It has a little bit of that pungency, a little bit of that "not quite spicy sweetness", and a little bit of roast to it. The Volta is definitely more on the earth side, but the roast level seems to match very closely with what's in the Ecuador. That could be one reason why these two seemed so similar at first. As far as a preference, it's really close. Both of these are good, but I think I'm going with the Ecuador.
Also, for what it's worth, by the end of the comparison, both seemed to be at full flavor. Maybe it was just the taste buds waking up first thing in the morning, which has happened a couple of times. I'm a little sad that there wasn't enough to do any blending, though, so maybe I can blend another time.
This is the first time I've used my new electric kettle for heating the water. It shouldn't make any difference, but I thought I'd note it regardless.
Again, starting with the Volta, it's kind of bitter and a little smoky and a little chocolatey. The Ghana has a surprising range of flavor in comparison. It's sweeter, and almost has a tiny bit of that Ecuador "bing" to it. Not quite pungency, but that sweeter zap that wants to lean into "spicy" that the lighter Ecuador roasts have. It's really good. I don't think I'd call it more chocolatey, but yeah, it just has a really good flavor to it. The Ghana is definitely the winner between the two.
Blending the last few sips of each one, I can kind of pick out both the smokiness of the Volta and that "bing" from the Ghana. It's decently chocolatey and really pretty good overall. 8/10 Would blend again!
Before I started tasting these, I realized that they should be pretty darn close because the Volta and Ghana come from the same region, and the Crio Bru's roasts overall seem to be lighter than Choffy's. Upon taking the first sip of each, this is pretty much confirmed. There may be the slightest of differences between the two, but they're really hard to pick out. At first I thought the Volta may have just the slightest bit more of a chocolatey aroma to it, and I thought the Ghana had just a hair more of an earthy aroma to it, but I'm not sure that either one carries over in the flavor. The flavor really is pretty much indistinguishable. In fact, the deeper into the cup I get, the more the Volta seems to have more of the earthy quality, and the Ghana seems to have more of the chocolatey quality to the aroma, but the flavors are pretty much the same. I'm going to have to call this one a tie.
Nicaragua starts out bitter and chocolatey as usual. Going over to the Volta, it has more of an earthy quality than I normally notice, and it's not as chocolatey. It makes sense with it being close to where the Ivory Coast varieties grow, but it's still worth noting. Going back to the Nicaragua after really brings out the more bitter, sour, fermented, and bready flavors like other recent comparisons. Even though the Volta feels weak in comparison, I prefer it over the Nicaragua.
Adding vanilla almond milk to the Nicaragua REALLY brings out the chocolatey flavor! And most of the other traits that I'm not fond of either fade to the background or disappear altogether. This is really good! And I prefer it really strongly over the Volta.
Adding almond milk to the Volta also brings out some chocolate. Part of me wants to say that the Nicaragua wins out as a more "pure" chocolate flavor, except that with the fermented and bready flavors still hanging out in there are a little stronger when getting the Volta on the same level with the almond milk. I think these two may be a tie.
Full disclosure: I started this a little too close right after eating some breakfast, which I think caused the first part of the test to be weird.
Initially Volta dark just tasted a little generic with no standout aroma or flavor. The Venezuela had a slightly buttery flavor, but also leaned a little bit towards the pungent flavor of some of the Ecuador roasts. Going back and forth too quickly made them taste pretty much the same for a bit, but as I got down to about half a cup, the Volta took on a strong earthy flavor, and the Venezuela seemed almost slightly sour. I actually wasn't enjoying either one very much at this point. It's a close call, but I think I like the Venezuela just a little better.
I started this one with the Volta, and it was decently chocolatey, but I didn't taste much "smoky" to it. What was interesting was when I jumped over to the Uber Dark, which was all roast, and then back to the Volta, the Volta took on an earthy flavor, a little like the Ivory Coast varieties. I know that Ivory Coast and Volta are from close regions (neighboring countries) but this is the first time I've gotten a similar flavor out of the two.
I'm not sure if it's something about the combination of the Uber Dark and the Volta for this comparison, but I feel like I can tolerate the Uber Dark a bit better today. I still like the Volta way better than the Uber Dark, but I don't feel like I'm dreading it.
Like I've done with the Ivory Coast and Ecuador roasts, I decided to blend the Uber Dark and Volta when I had about one third of each cup left. The roasty flavor and aroma of the Uber Dark are pretty much gone. I feel like the aroma is leaning a little earthy, but the flavor is just kind of chocolatey, I guess. There's a tiny bit of a roasty aftertaste to it, but when drinking it, it does the same thing as the Ecuador and Ivory Coast roasts did, and everything meets in the middle and becomes a bit indistinct. It's good and I enjoy it, but if I think too hard on it, it doesn't really taste chocolatey, and it barely tastes like anything specific. It's so weird how it does that.
Maybe that's part of the reason why Choffy and Crio Bru seem to mainly offer origin based varieties rather than blends. But then again, it could be a "back to square one" thing where they just taste the same to me and I'd need to taste blends side-by-side to pick out the more subtle flavors. When I'm done comparing Uber Dark with single origin roasts, I may try that, blending Uber Dark with Volta in one and Ivory Coast in another or something.
Starting with the Volta, it has that familiar slightly dusty, slightly earthy, slightly bitter chocolatey flavor. Going to the Ocumare after, it has a much more bitter aroma, almost coffee-like. The flavor isn't as strong, but it's deeply earthy and somewhat bitter, and not terribly chocolatey. Going back to the Volta after, it almost tastes bland in comparison. It's much more mild, and a little more chocolatey, but the earthy flavor really pales in comparison to the Ocumare. Although if I put some time between them, the Volta has almost a "beany" flavor to it. Between these two, the Volta is the winner.
As has been the trend so far, Mexico is starting off on the tart side with a bit of chocolate and a hint of bitterness. The Volta, in comparison, has a fairly strong grainy or earthy aroma and flavor, and even leads a bit on the "dusty" side. There's a little bit of chocolate there, too. I was going to say that the chocolate flavor isn't as strong as what's coming out of the Mexico, but when going back to the Mexico, now the tartness is much stronger and the chocolate flavor is diminished. (into the West) I prefer the Volta between the two.
Adding vanilla almond milk only to the Mexico at first, it now comes across as very chocolaty, and the first sip has lost most of the tartness that was hanging out there. The Volta is still earthy and a little dusty, but it seems to have a bit of extra sweetness in there now, too. Going back to the Mexico, it's still very chocolaty, but the tartness is starting to come back just a little. It's still very good, though, and I prefer it over the unaltered Volta.
Adding almond milk to the Volta honestly didn't change the flavor much. It's maybe just a little lighter, but it's still on the grainy side and a bit dusty. It didn't seem to bring out the chocolate flavor at all, which I'm a little surprised about. The Mexico, on the other hand, is still very richly chocolaty and very good. The tartness has even pretty much gone away now. While they're both good, I would have to say I still prefer the Mexico, even with a hint of tartness in the aroma, over the Volta by a decent amount.
The Volta starts out nice and chocolatey with just a little aftertaste of the roasty flavor, which I guess I'd call smoky. Going over to the Ecuador, that enigmatic "sharp or sweet or spicy" flavor is really strong today, and with the first sip, I almost think I prefer the Ecuador over the Volta. It didn't taste very roasted in this context at first, but the more I drink it, the more I'm picking that up. Going back over to the Volta, the earthy tones are really heightened after drinking the Ecuador. I think the Volta has more of a chocolatey flavor overall, but I'm not sure if it's due to the earthy flavor, or in spite of it. I think I like the Volta more overall. I would be curious to try both of these with vanilla almond milk to see which I like better that way.
I blended the last third of each cup, and I was surprised to find that I can still pick up that "sweet or spicy" flavor of the Ecuador a tiny bit at first, but then it kind of went away and the rest of it was the usual "Where'd it all go, George?"
Update: I did a comparison with vanilla almond milk in each of them. I started by sipping out enough of each cup to make room for the almond milk, and at first I thought he almond milk really washed out the flavor of the Volta. The Ecuador was fairly chocolatey in comparison and overall better with the almond milk. After a bit more sipping, I found that the Volta was not as washed out as I thought. Most of the way through each cup, they're both pretty chocolatey. The Volta has more of a traditional chocolate aroma, whereas Ecuador has that sweeter or spicier aroma to it, but it's still pretty chocolatey. I think I actually prefer the Volta due to the traditional chocolatey aroma and flavor that comes out of it with the almond milk in it.
Sometimes when I try the Volta Dark roast, I feel like it's the closest flavor to dark chocolate out of most of the varieties. It's a little bitter, somewhat chocolatey, and the smokiness adds to the darkness of it, but without taking over the flavor. The Ecuador has that sour, bitter, and pungent flavor that just doesn't taste very chocolatey at all. Drinking the Volta immediately after the Ecuador, the earthy flavor of it stands out quite a bit. Between the Ivory Coast and the Volta both tasting chocolatey and then earthy in comparison to the Ecuador, I'm starting to think it's the earthy flavor that lends itself more to being a traditional chocolate flavor.
Blending the last third of each cup, the result has a that slightly earthy aroma from the Volta and the slightly roasty aroma from the Ecuador, and the flavor is that nondescript yet somewhat chocolatey flavor that many of the blends take on. Given how the Ivory Coast Dark blend with Ecuador seemed to keep so much of the Ecuador properties, even if subdued, I'm surprised at how much the Volta really flattens it out.
Starting with the Volta, it was a little smoky and chocolatey, but also kind of earthy and bitter. Going over to the Ivory Coast, it's sweeter, lighter, and grainy instead of earthy. I guess grainy would be the sweeter version of earthy. They're both good, and it's kind of a close call, but I think I prefer the Ivory Coast.
I blended the last couple of sips, and I guess these two were pretty close to begin with. I can kind of taste the bitterness from the Volta and the grainy flavor from the Ivory Coast, and there's a tiny bit of smoky there, and it's just a little chocolatey. It's a decent blend with more character than some of the others I've tried.
Per the round comparing Ivory Coast Dark to Ivory Coast French, I was curious how these two compare. Also, given that I found out that Volta is from Ghana, which is geographically right next to Ivory Coast, it seems like these two should be a little similar.
Like the descriptions say, I can taste and smell a more smoky flavor from the Volta Dark and more earthy tones from the Ivory Coast Dark. But I don't think the "rich chocolatey" description is accurate for the Volta, though. Chocolate level seems to be about the same between the two.
This particular round was also done after the 3rd grounds reuse test where I used Volta French roast, and the Volta Dark is definitely way less bitter and charred tasting than the Volta French. I knew that already from the Volta Dark vs Volta French round, but it's interesting to note that the Volta Dark doesn't taste quite as dark as I remembered it.
Back to this round, these two are a lot closer than I would have thought during my previous tests, but not so close that in a side-by-side I would mistake them for being the same origin. I enjoy them both, and I can actually see wanting to keep some Volta Dark on hand to get that little bit of smoky flavor from time to time, but overall, I think I like the Ivory Coast Dark a little more.
This is another where I'm doing only a half-cup comparison, and again, both roasts started out feeling very weak. It took a couple of sips of each for them to really get going. The Ivory Coast has that familiar earthy, chocolatey and lightly roasty flavor, but the Volta next to it almost tastes like nothing. Even after waiting a little bit and picking up with the Volta first, it's still pretty bland comparatively. Towards the end of it I could just barely pick out a little bit of earthy or chocolate flavor, but the Ivory Coast is stronger in all regards, and comes out the winner.
The Volta is starting off with a pretty decent chocolate aroma with a smidge of smoke and earthiness, but the flavor seems a little weak overall. The Nigeria has a little bit of a bready aroma, but the flavor has a light sweetness to it that reminds me of what I get in the Ecuador or Ghana roasts sometimes. There's also some ok chocolate there, and a hint of nuttiness. This one, too, seems a little weak at the moment. Weird. As I go back and forth, the Volta has a little more of a grainy earthiness that's coming out. These two are really close right now. It's hard to pick a favorite. The slightly stronger chocolate flavor draws me towards the Nigeria, but the slight bready flavor pushes me away. I think I have to call this one a tie.
I don't have a whole lot left, so I'm jumping right into a splash of vanilla almond milk in both. The Volta gets a really good chocolate flavor, more so than I thought it would. The Nigeria is honestly a little lack-luster next to the Volta, which I'm really surprised about. Even going back and forth between the two for a bit, it doesn't seem to change them much, and Volta is the winner.
While they're sitting here cooling, there is a pretty strong chocolate aroma floating around, which is really nice.
Starting with the Nigeria, it's the normal thing of burnt nut flavor and a tiny bit of chocolate in the aroma. The Volta has a combination of grainy and earthy aroma and flavor. It almost reminds me of some sort of bean, like a navy bean or something. There's also a little bit of chocolate in there, but the bean-like flavor is definitely stronger. Going back to the Nigeria, it's now coming across as more smoky than burnt, but the amount of chocolate is still about the same. The Volta is also taking on a little bit of a dusty flavor, but in spite of that, it's the winner here.
With a splash of vanilla almond milk in both, the Nigeria does the normal first sip thing where now the nutty flavor is fairly strong and there's a good bit more chocolate both in the aroma and flavor. The Volta still has just a tiny bit of that beany quality, but it's more chocolaty now, too. Going back to the Nigeria right after, it loses a little bit of the nutty flavor, but is still decent overall. The Volta is also taking on more of a chocolate flavor as I go. They're both pretty decent here, but I think the Volta still wins by just a little bit.
This is the first one where I don't think I would have had to try them side-by-side in order to taste the difference. The Volta Dark is labeled as "chocolatey and smoky", and they aren't kidding. This is the first one where I immediately thought, "oh no, this tastes a lot like coffee. I'm not sure if I'll be able to finish this." But I did, and it actually wasn't bad.
Reading the initial side-by-side results, it's interesting to see how my taste and my opinions have changed! I did a rematch because the first test was done back when I was using a poorly chosen tea infuser as one of the brewing methods, and I wanted to do this on a more even playing field.
Right out of the gate, the medium roast tastes a little weak, even before comparing it to the dark roast. The dark roast, surprisingly, also comes out a little weak, but I think that may be because I've spent the last few weeks doing side-by-sides of Crio Bru that have added flavors. Either that, or both of these may actually need a little longer brewing time. There's a definite smoky flavor to it to the dark roast, and while it's not the "toasted" flavor of something like Chocolate Alchemy's Anakin, it's good. But other than that, the medium and dark roasts are pretty darn close, and I definitely no longer think of the dark roast as being "a lot like coffee". Overall I like the dark roast a little more than the medium roast.
One thing that I've learned over the last week or so is that a French roast is kind of a dark roast that's taken to the next level, supposedly. Considering that I went through the Crio Bru Ghana French Roast bag without blinking (or barely even remembering it) I thought I was in for a flat world of roast flavors.
I was wrong.
If I thought the Volta Dark was almost too much like coffee, the Volta French kicked that up to 11, and really, if someone handed me a cup and told me to sip it and told me after that it was actually coffee, I would have believed them. Between having the dark and french roasts in the same day, I actually felt like I was low-key smelling and tasting it for the rest of the day.
Yet I'm oddly finding myself wanting more. I kind of feel like I may wind up as an occasional coffee drinker at the end of this. (see Intermission 1)
With the new batch of Volta being slightly less of a "campfire in a cup", I wanted to rematch these and see how they do.
I no longer think that either of these are "coffee like". The French roast is still very smoky and roasted tasting, but there's a tiny bit of chocolate flavor coming through the roast. In comparison, the Dark roast really comes across as more chocolatey, but also a little weaker overall. I still like the Dark roast more, but the French roast has closed the gap a bit and I no longer dread drinking it.
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.
The Volta starts off with that familiar somewhat earthy, lightly smoky and slightly chocolatey flavor and aroma. The Shadow's Silhouette next to it is more chocolatey and slightly bready, but has that "brownie" flavor and aroma. It's really good. Oh, but going back to the Volta, it gets this slightly sweeter flavor, a little akin to the lighter Ecuador roasts, and that's really good, too. This race just became a lot closer. Ah, but I'm finding that if I go back to the Shadow's Silhouette too quickly after the Volta, it starts getting that tart flavor and starts moving away from the brownie flavor. And if I wait too long after the Shadow's Silhouette, the Volta goes back to the original earthy flavor. It's difficult to call, but I think that the tartness that seems to be sticking with the Shadow's Silhouette is bringing it down, so the Volta wins out just by a hair.
Adding vanilla almond milk to both, the Shadow's Silhouette gets really chocolatey, but so does the Volta. Wow! Another super close race. The Volta retains just the absolute tiniest amount of that smoky flavor, which makes the chocolatey flavor slightly different. They're both stunning, and I think it may be a tie.