Almost like drinking a campfire!
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:
Way too bitter
General Thoughts:
The original sample I got tasted like straight up campfire ash without any hints of chocolate whatsoever. When I got the full sized bundle, the new bag is quite a bit better. It's still roasty, but there are chocolate notes that are coming through and it's much more enjoyable.
The Ecuador is definitely light and a bit chocolatey. There's even a slighty "cinnamon" flavor to it, almost like the "not spicy but not warm" type that was in the Crio Bru Cinnamon roast. Next to it, the Volta really does almost taste like campfire ash, which is funny because it's been a while since I've really had that stand out like that. (except for the time I overbrewed it when comparing it to Ivory Coast dark.) It's really very smoky, and in comparison to the Ecuador, it doesn't seem to have much other flavor. Going back to the Ecuador, I get a strong hit of that buttery flavor. It's not quite "buttered bread" like the Chocolate Alchemy Big O was, but it's probably the closest it's been to that. The more I go back and forth between the two, the stronger that flavor gets in the Ecuador. Hmm. This particular pairing really seems to almost bring out the worst in both brews. When they're put together this way, neither one really makes me happy. I think between the two, I'd have to go with the Ecuador as the winner.
I blended the last third of each cup, really unsure what would happen here. The aroma is slightly earthy, which I didn't expect. I think that is mostly coming from the Volta. I can pick up the smoky flavor a little bit, too, but this has a really odd resemblance to the Crio Bru Cinnamon. That's really weird. I think it's just the combination of the smoky and buttery flavors coming together in a way that kind of clashes a little.
Starting with the Ecuador, the first thing I will say is that this is miles away from the Choffy version. It's sweet and chocolatey and not nose-crinklingly roasty or pungent. Next to it, the Volta is very smoky, almost ashy. Going back to the Ecuador, there's no real change in the aroma or flavor due to the Volta, so there's not a lot to say here. Ecuador wins, hands down.
Blending the last third of each cup, the result is just kind of "meh", especially compared to the Ecuador that went into it. It's a little roasty from the Volta, but the chocolatey flavor is mostly gone, and it just doesn't taste like much. Booooo.
Starting with the Ghana, even up front there's a good amount of buttery flavor to it, which I'm sure will only get stronger after tasting the Volta. The Volta is very smoky in comparison. It's another time where it's almost like being back to the original sample of it I had where it tasted like campfire ash. It's not quite there, but it's really close. Going back to the Ghana, the "buttery bread" flavor is even more pronounced. I'd even consider it to be "quite strong". I can kind of taste a little bit of the earthy or grainy flavor of it, and I think that's the part that comes across as bread-like. Giving it a few more second and taking another sip, I can definitely pick out the earthy tones in the aroma, and a little bit in the flavor. The longer I stay away from the Volta, the more I can pick those out. Technically speaking, these are from the same region, but they really don't taste like it because of the vastly different roasting levels. Crio Bru goes lighter on their roasts anyway, even for the same roasting level. (Ecudador French roast are very different between the two) Between these two, I prefer the Ghana pretty strongly, even with the initial "buttered bread" flavor.
I blended the last quarter of a cup of each, and I can pick up a tiny bit of earthiness and a tiny bit of roasty or smokiness in the aroma. The flavor is pretty indistinct, but it's better than the Volta French and Crio Bru Ecuador French combo. Like the aroma, it's a little smoky and a little earthy, and maybe just a little chocolatey as well. It's pretty decent, actually.
After my discovery that the Choffy Volta and Crio Bru Ghana varieties all hail from the Volta region of Ghana, I've been curious how these two compare. My initial thought before actually trying to compare them is that the Ghana French roast will be milder, especially considering the fact that back when I started my whole cocoa journey, I went through a bag of it thinking that it tasted exactly the same as all the other Crio Bru varieties.
Part of me had expected these two to be extremely similar, considering the origin thing, but it turns out that they're really not similar at all. The Volta French roast is like drinking a campfire, but the Ghana French roast has a bit of that grainy flavor that the Ivory Coast varieties have, and it's not so dark that the flavor is completely wiped out. Like it's description says, it's "roasty", but pleasant.
I'm doing a rematch because I received a new batch of the Volta French roast, and it's no longer like drinking campfire ash. Technically speaking I also now have a new batch of Ghana French roast, but its flavor didn't change all that much.
Now see, this is what I like. Both of these are really good. The Ghana is more chocolatey and less roasty, and the Volta mirrors it perfectly with being more roasty and less chocolatey. I guess I can still place a little bit of that grainy flavor in the Ghana roast, but in order for it to stand out, I had to reread the original comparison and pay attention to it. I think it mostly just comes out as chocolatey flavor.
I still think it in terms of preference for long term drinking, I'd go with the Ghana, but it's still nice to have both.
Starting with the Volta, it's very dark and smoky with little-to-no chocolate flavor. Going over to the Nicaragua after that, I got a big surprise because it was sour and bready and almost fermented tasting. It reminds me a lot of Chocolate Alchemy's Big O, but with more fermentation. The aroma even comes across as sour and fruity, almost like a juice gone bad. If I stay away from the Volta for a while and stick with the Nicaragua, it gets better, but not great. Finally going back to the Volta, it's still very smoky, almost ashy, but drinkable. Woof! This pairing is hard because next to each other, neither one is great, but I think I'd have to go with the Volta here.
Volta French is very roasty and a bit chocolatey, and next to it, Venezuela has that slightly buttery flavor. But when I go back to the Volta, it goes from being "roasty and chocolatey" to having a strong smoky flavor, almost going back to the ashy flavor I used to get when I felt like it was "drinking campfire ash". It still has more nuance to it than that, but it really went back in that direction. Overall I like the Venezuela more.
I decided to try blending the last little bit, and like just about every other time I've done it, the flavors flatten out. The aroma is a little bit of the butteriness of Venezuela, but it's gone in the flavor. There's a hint of the toasty flavor of the Volta, but mostly just chocolatey.
From reading about Spanish roasts in coffee terms, and from Emo-like self-hating "Oh look at me, I'm so dark" branding, I've been nervous about trying this one. I figured if I'm going to compare it to something, I may as well compare it to the darkest roast I've known so far, which is Volta French roast.
Just taking a sniff of the dry grounds before spooning them into the presses, I noticed that the Uber Dark had a both a fruity and a grainy quality to it. The same holds true for taking a whiff once they were brewed and in the mugs. It kind of reminds me a little of both the Ecuador and Ivory Coast roasts from Choffy. I know there was another side-by-side I did where I was smelling that similar difference (Nicaraguan Medium vs Venezuelan Medium?) but it didn't come through in the actual taste at all.
The Uber dark doesn't seem to be shying away like that. Yes, it's dark, but there's more flavor to it than just the charcoal quality of the Volta French roast. And it's smoother, too. I definitely like it more than the Volta, and there's a part of me that is starting to wonder if the Volta was is just part of a bad batch and if I got another round of it, would it still be just as "bleh".
Since the initial comparison, I've gotten new batches of both the Volta and the Uber Dark. Volta has generally been less like drinking campfire ash, and the Uber Dark seems to have gone darker than the sample.
Well, this certainly turns the tables. Between the changes that have happened to both the Volta French and the Uber Dark, as far as drinking them black, I think I now prefer the Volta! The Volta has a little more of a chocolatey flavor, and while it's quite roasty, it's not nearly as roasty as the Uber Dark. The Uber Dark, on the other hand, somehow manages to be more roasty than the Volta without descending into pure ash flavor.
Uber Dark now has a really strong pungent flavor to it now. I thought it first it reminded me of Choffy Ecuador French roast, but I think it's actually closer to something from Chocolate Alchemy. I don't think it's Anakin, though. I don't have anymore of the other samples to try, but I feel like it's reminding me a bit more of Long Dark Tea Time, Shadow's Silhouette, or possibly Ancillary Darkness. It's really strong when I first take a sip, but it finishes with something leaning more towards a really dark chocolate, and possibly with something that reminds me of "spicy" without actually being spicy. It's interesting, but honestly, I'm not sure how much I could drink this black.
Since I couldn't finish Uber Dark black, I added a little bit of vanilla almond milk to both of them. It definitely knocks the roasty edge off of the Uber Dark and makes it much better. It still has a note of the pungency, but it's toned down, and comes across closer to chocolate. The Volta, on the other hand, comes across as almost pure chocolate in this comparison. So even with the almond milk added to both, I still prefer the Volta.
The Ocumare starts out fairly bitter and a little chocolatey. The Volta is very roasty but also just a little chocolatey. Going back to the Ocumare, it comes across as slightly bready, but so strong as Chocolate Alchemy's Big O or Crio Bru's Nicaragua. I'm not a huge fan of drinking either one black, but I think I'd go with the Ocumare as the winner here.
With vanilla almond milk, the Ocumare jumps out as very chocolatey with a hint of bitterness. The Volta is somewhat chocolatey with a little bit of the roasty flavors still coming in. They're both really good this way. I think I kind of prefer the Volta over the ocumare because going back and forth, the ocumare retains a little bit of the bready flavor, which I'm not a huge fan of.
Starting off with the Mexico, there's a decent amount of chocolate there. There's also a little tartness, but that's mainly in the aroma, which is a bit on the sharp side. Part of me wants to say it's also earthy, but I can't tell for sure. Going over to the Volta, it's very smoky and earthy, and there's very little in the way of chocolate anywhere at the moment. Going back over to the Mexico, I'm picking up more of a fermented aroma and flavor. After the strong earthiness and smokiness of the Volta, it almost seems to have knocked a lot of the chocolate flavor out of it, too. It's now more bitter and tart. As far as picking a preference between the two, while I'm not a fan of either one in this context, I could see reaching for the Mexico more if I were drinking it on its own, so I guess it wins by a little bit.
I added a splash of vanilla almond milk to both because I really figured that if I added it to just one, that one would automatically be the winner. The Mexico gets a much more chocolaty flavor, although I'm still picking up hints of the tartness in the aroma and flavor. The Volta still has a strong smoky component, but there's more of an earthy chocolate flavor hanging out there, too. Going back and forth between the two, the Mexico is coming out as more tart and pungent. The chocolate is still there, but it's more in the background. Again, this is a really close call. They're both improved, but I think in the end I'm going with the Volta by a hair because right now I'm preferring the smoky flavor over the tartness of the Mexico.
I started with the Ecuador since it's the lighter of the roasts. and I was a little surprised by the bitterness that it started off with. It's better than the french roast version, but still that roast, pungency, and bitterness are strong. Going over to the Volta, yes it's roasty, but it lacks the extra punch that the Ecuador has, and moving back and forth between the two, the Ecuador loses some of that darker roasty quality. That sharp pungency, though, is still right up there. Also, I can pick up on the earthy or grainy quality of the Volta in the aroma, and the flavor does carry a little bit of bitterness. Overall I like the Volta better.
I blended the last third of each cup, and the Volta still stands out a little in the end. The roast flavor is fairly high, and I can still pick up the earthy quality in the aroma, and the pungency of the Ecuador seems to come up a tiny bit as an aftertaste. It's ok, but it's not one of my favorite blends.
Starting with the Volta, it's quite roasty but has a decent chocolate flavor and finishes with a bitter aftertaste. When switching over to the Ecuador, it's almost like the strong roasty flavor of the Volta tames the roast and pungency of the Ecuador a bit, but going back to the Volta after the Ecuador brings out the earthy tones of the Volta a surprising amount, unveiling the similarity of it to Ivory Coast and Ghana roasts. I mean, it is from there, but usually I mostly taste the roast when drinking the Volta French roast. This may be the first time I've really picked up on that earthy or grainy quality. The Ecuador tastes almost sour in comparison. The Volta is is the big winner in comparison.
Blending the last third of each cup, the end result is very similar to when I blended the Ecuador with the Ivory Coast French roast. The grainy aroma of the Volta kind of sticks out, as well as a little bit of a smoky and roasty flavor and aroma, but the pungency of the Ecuador is mostly tamed. It's a good combo.
The Ivory Coast starts out with a little bit of that buttery flavor, but with a strong grainy quality to it. The Volta is very smoky, almost ashy, in comparison, and going back to the Ivory Coast right after it just makes that buttery or bready flavor stand out stronger, but it's very smooth. There's really not a lot to say about these. Ivory Coast is the big winner here.
Blending the last third of each cup, there's a little bit of the smoky flavor and aroma from the Volta, but also a little bit of the earthy flavor from the Ivory Coast. It's not a bad mix. I don't know that I'd necessarily describe it as chocolatey, but it's not as flat as some of the blends, so it's decent.
(I got distracted in the brewing process, and while I poured the mug with the Ivory Coast at the correct time, I forgot about the Volta for an extra 3 to 5 minutes, so I'm already planning to redo this comparison.)
The Ivory Coast is decently chocolatey, a little earthy, and oddly, slightly buttery. This is the first time I've picked up that flavor in a dark roast. The Volta, on the other hand, has a very strong roasty flavor, almost going back to the campfire ash flavor I used to get back in the days of my first sample of it. Per my note above, I'm not 100% sure if this is due to overbrewing it or if it's the natural flavor. Although, after waiting a minute or so and trying it again before going back to the Ivory Coast, I'm not picking up on it nearly as much. It may actually be part of the comparison between the Ivory Coast and the Volta. Going back to the Ivory Coast, it now comes across as very earthy and less chocolatey. Between these two, I'd go with the Ivory Coast as the favorite because I'm just not excited by that campfire flavor.
I blended the last third of each cup, and there's still a lot of the roasty toasty campfire flavor in it, but otherwise it's mostly indistinct.
Due to overbrewing the Volta last time around, I wanted to do a fair rematch.
Like before, the Ivory Coast is decently chocolatey and a little earthy, but I didn't pick up on the buttery flavor at first this time. The Volta is much better this time around. It's still very roasty and smoky, but not campfire like anymore. When I go back to the Ivory Coast, I can pick up a little bit of the "buttery" in the aroma, but it's mostly quite earthy. Like before, the deeper into the cup I go, the more earthy the Ivory Coast seems, which is interesting. I think I still say the Ivory Coast is my preference between the two, although the Volta is much better this time around.
I did another blend of the last third of each cup, and it actually seems like it may have retained both the smoky quality of the Volta and the earthy quality of the Ivory Coast. That would be a first, I think. Hmmm. Or maybe the earthy quality is mostly in the aroma, not so much the flavor. It's still decently good.
I've been curious about this one since I compared the Ivory Coast Dark to the Ivory Coast French. I know the difference between those were subtle, but I had a feeling this one wouldn't be. And for the most part I was right.
The Volta has that deep smoky flavor. Keep in mind that this is after a new batch of Choffy arrived, and this bag does not have that harsh campfire flavor that the first batch had, but it's still really smoky.
In contrast, next to the Volta, the Ivory Coast has the strong grainy and less smoky flavor. The combination is really good, and I like the Ivory Coast a lot more than the Volta.
Starting off with the Volta, it's very smoky with a little bit of earthy chocolate in there. I'm not sure that I usually pick up on the chocolate in it, but it's been a while since I've had it, and it's the very first one I've started off with this morning. It's not a favorite, but it's definitely not bad at the moment. Going over to the Nigeria, it's both chocolaty and nutty in aroma and flavor. The nuttiness doesn't taste or smell like any particular nut variety to me. There's a tiny bit of bitterness in there, too, but I have to think about it for it to show up. Going back to the Volta, the earthy flavor is stronger now, and the smokiness is less pronounced, which is interesting. Usually it goes the other way around with the smokiness getting stronger. Between the two, I prefer the Nigeria, but not by as much as I thought I would considering how I'm usually really not a fan of the Volta French roast.
I decided to do the vanilla almond milk only in the Volta at first to see how that does against the unadjusted Nigeria. There's definitely more of a earthy chocolate flavor in the Volta now, and the smokiness has really taken a back seat. The Nigeria next to it almost has a little bit of a sweeter flavor with less of the nuttiness in it now. And strangely, as I go back to the Volta, there's actually more of a nutty flavor to it now than there is in the Nigeria. Huh. This is a really close call! I think I prefer the Nigeria, but just by a hair.
With just the tiniest splash of almond milk in the Nigeria now, because there's not much left at this point, the nuttiness is now stronger, but it's also just slightly more chocolaty. But even with that, it's still a really close call with the Volta. I think the Nigeria still wins by just a hair and maybe a half. I don't think it's enough to move the score ahead, but it's still pretty good.
Starting with the Nigeria, the burnt nut flavor is quite strong this time. It's not as strong as the french roast version, but it's still there. There's also a little bit of chocolate flavor behind it, but it's pretty obscured by the smokiness and burnt nut flavors. The Volta has some smoky flavor to it, but after the Nigeria, what I'm mostly picking up on is the "dusty" earthy flavor, with a hint of chocolate. Going back to the Nigeria, the aroma is now a little more sour, but the flavors are pretty much the same. I think the Volta wins here.
With some vanilla almond milk in both, the Nigeria gets more of a chocolaty flavor and the smoky and burnt flavors are mostly gone. In the Volta, the story is mostly the same. The smokiness is mostly gone, but there's still a hint of the earthy flavors and more of a chocolaty flavor coming out. It's a close race, but I think I like the Nigeria just slightly more than the Volta here because the chocolaty flavor is richer and has more depth.
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.
Going first with the Medium roast, I'd say it's lightly chocolatey and a little bitter, and switching over to the French roast, it's very smoky. After sipping on it for a bit and then going back to the Medium roast, the Medium has a lightly buttery or bready flavor, along with being somewhat earthy. It doesn't seem as bitter at this point. The French roast is so smoky, it's almost like cigarette smoke in this comparison, rather than campfire. I heavily prefer the Medium over the French.
I blended the last third of each cup, and there's some smokiness to it, and just a little bit of earthiness, although I'm not sure that I would say it comes across as chocolatey at all. Besides smoky and earthy, it's really quite indistinct for something that's supposed to be the same thing with just a different roasting level.
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.
Yes, I compared it against itself.
This one isn't scored in the Cocoa Conclusions because it obviously wouldn't make much sense, but a number of my initial comparisons against Volta French roast were done with the 3.5 oz sample I got back at the beginning of everything. When I ordered a new round of full size bags, I did a comparison of the sample to the full size bag, mainly because I was wondering if maybe the sample I got was "off" or just part of a bad batch. I just always thought it should taste less like a straight-up campfire.
It turns out that yes, there is a slight flavor difference between the batches. The brew from the full size bag still had a lot of campfire flavor to it, but it wasn't the only thing I was tasting. A little bit of the chocolate flavor also came through. It's because of this that I decided to rematch all of my earlier side-by-sides of Volta French roast.
After trying Shot in the Dark against Ecuador French, I decided I needed to do a "Battle of the Char" and pair it up against Volta French.
Shooting off with the Shot in the Dark, it's extremely smoky and bitter both in aroma and flavor. There's really just not much else to it. Going over to the Volta, I can pick up the earthiness in the aroma. The flavor is also very smoky, but it's not as bitter, and has a good deal of earthiness to it. I wouldn't say that I'm tasting any chocolate with either one, though. Going back and forth between the two, they don't seem to really be affecting each other in terms of presentation. The flavor and aroma doesn't seem to be changing based on waiting longer between sips or which one I had most recently. I think I'd call the Volta the winner, but just barely, and I don't like either one like this.
Even with almond milk in both, I'm still mostly tasting watered down smoke and char with a little bit of the vanilla. They kind of remind me of a chocolatey flavor a little bit, but I think that's mostly the vanilla speaking. The Volta is much milder and a little bit of the earthy a barely chocolatey flavor comes through, so it winds up the winner, but I wouldn't call it a victory.
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.
Since both Long Dark Tea Time and Choffy's Volta French roast have been known to be "all roast" to me, I wanted to compare them to see how similar they are.
Long Dark brews up darker in color than Volta, which makes sense since the grounds themselves are darker. In tasting them, both are very roasty, but Long Dark also has a strong pungency to the flavor that's not in the Volta. The Volta comes across as milder and a little more chocolatey, and since it's from the second batch of Choffy, it doesn't taste like a mouth full of campfire ash anymore. Woo!
I added vanilla almond milk to them both, and it brings out the chocolatey flavor of both, but the Volta comes out really subdued, almost closer to hot chocolate. Long Dark, on the other hand, has the strong pungency and roast level that still comes out as being really strong, even with the almond milk.
Since I'm noticing the strong pungency of Long Dark in this test, I think for my last serving of it, I'll have to compare it against Choffy's Ecuador French roast, which is also known for being pungent and roasty.
I noticed that while these two are sitting here cooling, I've been getting some nice whiffs of chocolate here and there. That's always fun when that happens.
I'm not sure if it's because I did the Shadow's Silhouette comparison with Choffy's Ecuador French roast earlier today, but the first sip of Shadow's Silhouette is tart, but also more in that range of fermented and bready than chocolatey. Volta's aroma is very ashy in comparison, and the flavor, while not quite as bad as the aroma, is still pretty charred and ashy. It's not quite the campfire ash flavor that it used to be, but it's close. There may be just the tiniest bit of chocolate flavor in it, but it's absolutely buried by the strong smoky flavors. Going back to the Shadow's Silhouette, it makes the fermented flavor and the tartness a lot stronger than before. I don't like either one when paired up like this. I think I would just barely pick the Volta over the Shadow's Silhouette just because I think I could tolerate the ashy and smoky flavor more than the tart fermentation.
With the vanilla almond milk, Shadow's Silhouette goes super chocolatey again. It just blows me away how chocolatey it gets every single time, but especially after it's been tart or fermented tasting. The Volta is still amazingly ashy and smoky tasting. I thought maybe some chocolate flavor would come up, but maybe because of it being right next to the uber-chocolatey Shadow's Silhouette, it's just not there. This is more like ashes with water mixed in. Blech. The Shadow's Silhouette is the clear winner by about 600 miles.