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 recommended. Contains husk.
General Thoughts:
General feeling about the roast
The Ecuador has that lighter kind of sweet pungency to it, and it's fairly chocolatey. The Ghana is more earthy and a little more roasty, but not overbearingly so. It also has a decent amount of chocolate flavor to it. But oddly, they also are really similar in a lot of ways, and I have to pay close attention to them to tell the differences. They're both really good, but I think the Ecuador eeks out a win due to the slighter sweeter and slightly more chocolatey flavor.
Taking an initial taste, the roast levels are pretty even between the two. The main difference is just the earthy quality of the Ghana and the sweet pungency of the Ecuador. There's also a bitterness to the Ecuador that I'm picking up. These are both really good roasts, and there are no surprises here, but I think drinking them black, I prefer the Ghana over the Ecuador.
I blended the last sip or two of each, and the aroma seemed to keep some of the earthiness of the Ghana, but the flavor doesn't seem to back it up. It's just decently chocolatey with no real standout qualities of either roast. If I really try, I may be able to pick up a hint of the Ecuador, but it's questionable. But overall it is a good blend!
This is another one that's pretty much as I expected. Both Ghanas have that earthy aroma, and the french roast also has the roastiness to it. They both are decently chocolatey, and both are very enjoyable. From a long term drinking perspective, I think I'd go with the light roast as the winner, as it's a little more outright chocolatey and straight forward.
I blended the last couple of sips of each, and it's good, but has no standout qualities of either variety. I guess the roast is kind of in between the light and the french, and there's a tiny bit of earthiness in the aroma, but after drinking them separately, it just comes across as good, but a bit flat.
Yes, I'm testing it against itself. This an old batch (sample size) versus new batch. (full size) I've done a couple of these with Choffy roasts because there were differences in the Volta or Ecuador french roasts, and I was curious if Crio Bru has similar differences to keep an eye out for. I figured a darker roast might show the differences more.
For starters, the dry grounds actually did have a little bit of a different smell, but I'm not exactly sure how to describe it. It's almost like the new batch has a slightly more pungent smell to it, almost as if it has some of the Ecuador roast mixed in. Even while they're cooling I can smell it, and I have to say that while I'm sitting here waiting for them to cool, this one smells very chocolatey.
It turns out there is a slight flavor difference. I'm not 100% sure that it's strictly related to roast level, either. Maybe it comes from a slightly different farm or even a different region of Ghana. Maybe they blend from different farms or regions or something. The new batch really does have a more pungent flavor to it. It's good, though! They're both good in their own ways, and I'm not sure that I have a preference of one over the other. I may just blend the bags together for future tests.
Starting with the Ghana, it has a sweetness to the aroma, and the flavor is a little earthy, maybe a tiny bit roasty, and a little chocolatey. Going over to the Nicaragua, it's strongly pungent and earthy and somewhat bitter. And there's a good amount of chocolate there.
The more that I'm getting into the Nicaragua, the more I'm finding out that it really does have its own distinct flavor and aroma that's quite different from everything else. After all this time, my pallet does seem to be finally growing (do pallets grow?) and I can pick out more of the differences than what I was originally getting. It's funny to me that before I thought that Nicaragua just about had no distinct taste and was pretty much like everything else!
Going back to the Ghana, it really comes across as a lot sweeter after drinking the Nicaragua. In fact, there's almost a coconut flavor to it! Weird. Also, I don't know that the roast is really coming through anymore. Either way, I strongly prefer the Ghana over the Nicaragua.
I blended the last couple of sips of each, and while the Nicaragua is somewhat muted, it still comes through fairly strongly and completely obliterates the Ghana.
Wow, these two are really close. They're both pretty chocolatey and lightly bitter, and side-by-side like this, they both seem to have a little bit of a grainy or earthy quality to them, although the Ghana leans just a hair more grainy than earthy in flavor. In spite of the Ghana being a french roast and the Venezuela being a Medium roast, the roast levels feel about equal. I think there's just a tiny bit of an extra roasty aroma to the Ghana, but it doesn't seem to carry across to the flavor. Well, it might just a tiny bit, but not as much as you'd expect for the difference between a medium and french roast. I think if I were to pick either one for long term consumption, it would be the Ghana.
I started with the Ghana, and I have to say, I wouldn't call it bold or roasty. Chocolatey, yes, but not roasty. I think this one is pretty close to drinking unsweetened dark chocolate. Switching over to the Uber Dark, now that is roasty. And bitter. Immediately switching back to the Ghana after the Uber Dark, I can definitely pick out the grainy or earthy quality. Between the two, the Ghana is the definite winner.
Like I did with the Choffy Ivory Coast roasts, when I got below halfway on each cup, I blended them. It's still surprising to me just how much blending like this cuts out the extreme roasted flavor of the Uber Dark. I can smell it when I go to drink it, but it doesn't seem to persist in the flavor, or if it does, it's very little. But like with the Ivory Coast, the flavor gets all muddy, and it's hard to even tell what it is. It doesn't really taste that chocolatey, It's not really roasty. It's not really bitter until about the last sip of the cup. Everything has just been snapped to the middle and mixed around. Ah! After finishing the cup, I got a strong feeling of dark unsweetened chocolate in the aftertaste. It's interesting. I wonder if I need to try to do blend comparisons, like "Uber Dark and Ivory Coast French" vs "Uber Dark and Ghana French". I wonder what comparing them would be like.
Starting with the Ghana, it's a little earthy, a little roasted, and somewhat chocolatey. Going to the Ocumare, both the aroma and the flavor come across as quite bitter, and there's a decent amount of chocolatey flavor to it, too. I've been thinking about this, and I think it's not only bitter, but there's more to it, almost like it's an extreme earthiness. It's almost like earthy in its truest form. Going back to the Ghana, it tastes very light and grainy in comparison to the Ocumare. I definitely like the Ghana more than the Ocumare, but I'm also glad to be able to have the Ocumare to use to compare things, because it really feels like such a "out in left field" sort of flavor that it really puts all the others into better perspective.
I was able to go through this comparison drinking a relatively little amount for each one, so I had quite a lot to blend this morning, making almost 2/3 of a mug total. I felt like at first I could still pick out the bitterness of the Ocumare in there, but the more I drink it, the more everything is just really flat with no features of either roast really standing out. It's ok in overall flavor, but the aroma is a little bitter, and in the end there's no wow factor to it.
Strangely, the Mexico is starting out with a vaguely smoky flavor this time. Oh, well, I did, but it seems to be gone now. Weird. Now it's just the usual mix of tart, bitter, and chocolate. It's not as tart as it is sometimes, though, which is nice. The Ghana has a light grainy aroma and flavor with a bit of sweetness to it and a hint of smoke. Maybe I had picked up on that by accident since the mugs were sitting side by side. Anyway, I'm not sure that I'd call it chocolaty, but it's good. Going back to the Mexico, now it's much more tart. The Ghana is definitely my drink of preference between these two.
Giving the Mexico a splash of vanilla almond milk brings out the rich chocolaty flavor and sends most of the tart and bitter flavors to the background, at least for the first sip. And the second. The Ghana is still good, but the flavor is now coming across as a little more dusty, and the smoke of the roast is a little more apparent. The sweet aroma and flavor is fairly reminiscent of the similar sweetness I get out of the Ecuador roasts sometimes. This is a pretty close contest, actually, but I think I prefer the richer chocolate flavor of the Mexico here by just a little bit.
Giving the Ghana a splash of almond milk now, it mostly just tempers the tiny bit of smokiness that had been there, and maybe the dusty part of the flavor, but the light grainy flavor is still pretty strong, and I still wouldn't consider it very chocolaty in this context. Well... maybe I would, but just a little. It's kind of reminding me of the Godiva chocolate I had a few weeks ago that had the grainy flavors in it, too. This is a much closer race. So close, in fact, that I think I'm calling it a tie.
When starting with the Ghana, it's fairly chocolatey and doesn't give a strong impression of roast up front. I'm also not initially picking up any sort of grainy or earthy flavor. Next to it, the Ecuador has that usual strong, pungent, and roasty quality to it. There's a flavor or aroma to the Ecuador that's still eluding me in terms of vocabulary (not quite "spicy", but something else) so I'm not sure how to describe it, but my brain likes that part of it. When I go back to the Ghana, I can definitely pick out the earthy tones, and it's really good. I strongly prefer the Ghana over the Ecuador.
I blended the last third of each cup, and this is one where everything really snaps to the middle. The flavors that are the standouts of each flavor are completely gone, and it's replaced by the good-yet-ambiguous chocolatey flavor that these blends often have. Even the aroma on this one is pretty flat.
The Ecuador is super roasty and brash, but the Ghana is quite a bit milder and smoother. Comparatively there's a little bit of roast to it, but not nearly as much as the Ecuador. The Ghana has a bit of an earthy aroma, but the flavor is slightly less earthy and a little sweeter than that. It also comes across as more chocolatey than the Ecuador, and there's even an almost earthy-yet-spicy aftertaste to it. I like the Ghana quite a bit more than the Ecuador when drinking them black. I'd like to try them both with a little vanilla almond milk, but I'm feeling lazy and don't feel like going downstairs to get any.
These two are pretty similar. With Crio Bru's naturally lower roasting level, the Ghana French roast is more like a dark roast, so there's not as much difference between the two as I'd expect. I think the darker roast of the Ghana makes it just a little more chocolatey, but it's slightly more bitter than the Ivory Coast. The Ivory Coast is pretty earthy in comparison. All that being said, I think I like the Ghana more.
These two are really close. In fact they're so close that they're almost indistinguishable. Ivory Coast has the signature earthy flavor and aroma. The Ghana isn't quite as earthy, and the aroma is a little sweeter, although it doesn't come across in the flavor. Well... maybe it does, but it's only by a tiny amount. But that's enough to declare Ghana the winner by a hair.
As expected, these two are very similar, much like their lighter roast siblings. When smelling them right before taking a sip, the Ghana smells a little more earthy over the Ivory Coast, while the Ivory Coast smells just a tad sharper, which I think is the bitterness coming through. I think that I like the Ivory Coast just a tiny bit more than the Ghana, which is also how I felt with the lighter roast comparison in round 15.
One thing I will say is that I'm appreciating the descriptions from Choffy more than the ones from Crio Bru as they tend to be more descriptive and accurate. I think Crio Bru tries to come up with too many "thing 1 and thing 2" two-word descriptions that don't do the roast or blend justice.
Starting off with the Nigeria, it's a little bitter, a little nutty, and a little chocolaty. Not in equal parts, though. It's like a 3/2/1 mix of those. The Nigeria has definitely been taking on more of a bitter flavor recently, and I'm not sure why. The Ghana is a little sweeter, has a hint of smokiness, is a little earthy, and is a little chocolaty. Going back to the Nigeria, there's also now a tartness coming out, and the bitterness seems a bit stronger in the flavor, but the aroma started leaning a little more nutty. Would you just. hold. still. Nigeria while I try. to... oh forget it. :-p Just for that, I prefer the Ghana over the Nigeria.
Adding a splash of vanilla almond milk to the Nigeria, the aroma goes more nutty and chocolaty, as does the flavor. There's still a hint of bitterness hanging out in the flavor, too, but it's much better than it was. Going over to the unaltered Ghana, it has more of a dusty flavor to it, and the sweetness has mostly dissipated, but overall it tastes a little flat compared to the doctored Nigeria. I think I prefer to the Nigeria here.
Adding a tiny bit of vanilla almond milk to the Ghana, it takes on more of a chocolaty flavor, but the aroma is a little more on the dusty side. But it is pretty good overall. The Nigeria still has the strong nutty and chocolaty aroma, but now the bitterness is coming out stronger int he flavor again. Even though I like the more chocolaty flavor of the Nigeria, I think looking at it overall, I prefer the Ghana.
This is my first time doing a comparison in the office. That means that I brushed my teeth roughly an hour ago, and so I'm a little curious if that's going to affect flavors at all. I really hope not.
Taking my first sip of the Nigeria, I have to say, no, I don't think it does. It has the normal smoky and burnt nut flavors with a hint of chocolate in the aroma. The Ghana is a little earthy but also a little sweet and seems to maybe have just a bit more chocolate in the flavor. The Ghana is a pretty clear winner.
Adding a splash of vanilla almond milk to the Nigeria, the aroma is much more chocolaty, and the flavor is a lot more nutty without the burnt and smoky flavors. Comparing that to the Ghana black, the Ghana feels a little flatter and the earthy flavor is a little stronger. It still has the hint of sweetness, though. But I think between the two, the Nigeria wins this one!
Adding the almond milk to the Ghana, the sweetness seems a little stronger, and there's a little bit of nuttiness there, too. I'm kind of wondering if I overdid it with the almond milk. :-/ Anyway, it's good and has more of a chocolaty flavor. The burnt nut flavor is now a little more apparent in the Nigeria, but overall it's still really good. This is a super close race, but I think I'd go with the Ghana because even though it doesn't have the stronger chocolaty flavor or aroma to it, it also doesn't have the burnt nut flavor.
Taking a quick whiff of the aroma of each, the Ghana predictably has the stronger aroma, which has both a little more roast to it, but also some sweetness. In tasting them, the Volta is a little on the flat side. It's a little chocolatey, but there's just not much else going on. The Ghana, on the other hand, matches the aroma, and the roast is stronger, obviously, but it comes across as more chocolatey and hits slightly sweeter, too. Going back to the Volta, I'm also picking up a little more of the earthy quality, which doesn't seem to be in the Ghana for whatever reason. Ghana is the winner here.
I only had about a sip of each left for blending, but the end result was decently chocolatey, but seemed to retain a little bit of that sweeter flavor from the Ghana. It wasn't too bad!
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.
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 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.
Today is one of the days where Shadow's Silhouette starts off as smelling and tasting a lot like a brownie with, so far, no signs of tartness. Going over to the Ghana, like with the light roast, this one has a little bit of dusty aroma and flavor to it, but there's also a sweetness with maybe just a hint of smokiness. Back to the Shadow's Silhouette, a little bit of the tartness is now coming out. These are both pretty good, but I think the tartness hurts the overall impression of the Shadow's Silhouette a little, so I think Ghana wins by just a tiny bit.
Adding vanilla almond milk to both, per usual, the Shadow's Silhouette goes super chocolatey. Even though it happens every time, it still blows me away. :-) The Ghana still has a little of that dusty and earthy flavor, but I feel like there's more chocolate in the flavor now, too. It's not nearly as much as the Shadow's Silhouette, which wins by a landslide, but it's still good.