A little grainy, a little buttery, and little chocolate flavor.
Amount of grounds:
2 tablespoons per 10 oz of water
Brewing time:
8.5 minutes
Additions:
None
Rebrewing grounds:
Not tested, but I want to try it with 50% new grounds added on the second brew.
Using grounds in food:
The grounds are not bitter and can be used on cereal or in yogurt to add some of the grainy and chocolatey flavor.
General Thoughts:
I really enjoy it. There's not much in the way of chocolate flavor here, but it's still good.
Getting to the point where I'm rounding out the last dozen or two comparisons, this one is pretty much a no-brainer at this point. The pungent and chocolatey sweetness of the Ecuador wins out over the earthiness of the Ghana.
I wound up blending most of the rest of these two, and it's kind of like I expected. The earthy aroma of the Ghana comes through a little bit, but that's about it. It's otherwise somewhat chocolatey with nothing really standing out about it. It's good, just not special.
I think I'm coming to the point where I pretty much know what to expect from most of the varieties. In this case, the Ecuador is somewhat roasty, a little sweetly pungent, and overall pretty good. The Ghana is lighter (ahem) and fairly earthy. I had almost expected to find some of that buttery flavor that crops up in some of the lighter roasts, but it doesn't appear to be here this time. Anyway, they're both really good. I kind of feel like the Ghana leans slightly more chocolatey than the Ecuador. But as far as preference, I think the Ecuador wins out just slightly over the Ghana.
After some of the differences that have cropped up due to new batches for the Ecuador French and Uber Dark roasts, I wanted to see if similar differences exist for the lighter roasts.
I'm actually a little surprised here. Smelling the dry grounds before brewing, I noticed the new ones had a much stronger smell to them, so I thought for sure that there would be a flavor difference when tasting, but it turns out that they are exactly the same. I wish Crio Bru's darker roasts could have this consistency. *sigh*
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.
This is one that I've been waiting for. Before I was doing the side-by-sides, I went through the Ghana Light roast pretty quick. Even though I couldn't taste a whole lot of difference between it and the other varieties at the time, I got the impression that I liked this one the best, and now it's time to put it to the test!
An initial sniff test reveals that the Nicaraguan Medium has that familiar bitter smell, but the Ghana Light is more mellow. Considering that the countries of Ghana and Ivory Coast are neighbors, I wonder if it will be similar to the Ivory Coast Medium roast from Choffy.
For taste, I'd say the Ghana Light comes out fairly light on chocolate flavor, and kind of nutty or grainy or... oh! buttery! My son, Simon, smelled it and said "It smells like minty chocolate", and my brain tried to put it into that context, and realized it's like a butter mint without the mint. The package says "chocolate and smooth", so it's not far off. It definitely makes the Nicaraguan Medium seem darker and more bitter by comparison.
My conclusion is that my initial suspicions were correct, and I really do like this one more than the other roasts from Crio Bru! And now I know why.
My prediction is that it's maybe slightly more chocolatey but less nutty than the Ivory Coast Medium, but I'll find that out when I put those two side-by-side tomorrow.
The original comparison was done back when my brewing methods were still uneven.
The grainy flavor of the Ghana strikes me as being slightly sweeter, especially in aroma, than Ivory Coast Medium. (which I just compared with Nicaragua today) It's not that same "buttery" flavor that I noted above, but I guess I can see how the aroma struck me as "butter mints". Now that I've tried just about everything else, buttery flavors popping up are different than this. This is more akin to the sweet "ting" that I get from the lighter Ecuador roasts. It's really good.
The Nicaragua, on the other hand, has a pretty strong bitter component to it, but it comes across as more chocolatey. If anything, in comparison to the Ghana, I'd say it comes across as a true "earthy" flavor. Not slightly grainy or anything, but really something closer to just a dark, almost musty, earthy flavor. I like the Ghana quite a bit more than the Nicaragua here in spite of it's general lack of chocolatey flavor.
I blended the last few sips of each one, and like with the Ivory Coast Medium, I can still taste and smell the Nicaragua pretty strongly in there. I think I can just barely make out the sweetness of the Ghana trying to come through, but it's definitely losing the battle. The blend almost has a sour or tart quality to it.
First sipping the Ghana, it has a lightly chocolatey flavor, leaning towards grainy, and slightly buttery. The Venezuela is darker and more bitter, but still pretty chocolatey. When I go from the Venezuela to the Ghana, the grainy flavor really stands out very strongly, and it reminds me a lot of the Choffy's Ivory Coast Medium roast. These two are fairly different, yet I'm having a hard time picking a preference between them because they're both pretty good. I'm so close to calling it a tie, but I think I gravitate towards the Ghana just the tiniest bit more.
When I first started out, I noticed that the Ghana light roast had a bit of buttery flavor to it. It reminded somewhat of Chocolate Alchemy's Big O, but to a much lesser degree. I kind of think that something about the Uber Dark seems to bring that out in light roasts, but at the same time, I hadn't taken a sip of it yet. Maybe it was just having the aroma of it close by. But I've noticed it happening a couple of times now when comparing Uber Dark to light roasts. It happened with Crio Bru's Ecuador Light roast, and now with the Ghana Light roast. I never noticed them tasting like that on their own or when compared to other roasts. I feel like it may be giving me some clues about what's in the Big O.
Anyway as to be expected, the Ghana was very light indeed, and the Uber Dark was very, well, dark. Besides the buttery flavor coming out of the Ghana, and the usual little bit of earthiness, I didn't notice anything else interesting in the comparison. In spite of the buttery flavor, I still liked it more than the Uber Dark.
Like I did with the Ghana french roast, when I got below halfway on each cup, I blended them. Just like before, everything really flattened out and met more or less in the middle. I kind of felt like I could taste the roast of Uber Dark in it a bit more than I did with the Ghana french, but the buttery and earthy flavor of the Ghana light was mostly missing. It was ok, but I think I liked the Uber Dark blended with the Ghana french roast more.
This is a little surprising! I started off with the Ocumare, and as has been the case so far, it came across as fairly bitter and a little chocolatey. I guess I would also call it a little earthy, but that mostly seems to be just part of the bitterness. But then when I went over to the Ghana, I noticed the aroma was sweet, almost like the Ecuador roasts. Taking a sip, it's most definitely sweet compared to the Ocumare, and really feels very similar to the Ecuador roasts. But yet I can still pick out a difference. The Ghana has a lighter sweet grainy flavor to it rather than the sharper sweet flavor of the Ecuador. The Ghana is the definite winner here.
I meant to blend the last parts when I did comparisons against the Ecuador roasts and completely forgot, but I did it with the Ghana. Maybe this will be a little window into what the blend would have been like with the Ecuador. Anyway, for the end result, the aroma has both the bitterness of the Ocumare and the sweetness of the Ghana. For the flavor, though, it's one of those where everything snaps to the middle and there's very little that stands out from either roast. Even after letting it sit for a minute and coming back to it, I can maybe pick out the bitterness and sweetness in the flavor, but mostly not.
The Mexico is starting off with its usual lightly bitter, somewhat tart, and somewhat chocolaty flavor. The Ghana has a light grainy sweetness, reminding me a bit of cereal. There's not really any chocolate flavor to it, but it's really good, and definitely my preference between the two.
With a splash of vanilla almond milk in the Mexico, it's more chocolaty, but still a tiny bit bitter and tart. It had gotten cold, though, because I got pulled into a meeting, so when I was done, I went and nuked it, and I was really surprised to find that a lot of the flavor was gone! The chocolate flavor, it's just straight up mostly missing. What in the world?? I wonder if it was something about the almond milk already being in it when I warmed it back up is the culprit, because the Ghana didn't seem to have the same issue. It still tastes fine. Even when the Mexico still had a stronger chocolate flavor, I still think that Ghana was still my favorite between the two.
I didn't add any almond milk to the Ghana because I figured it wouldn't change things all that much in terms of the comparison.
The more I thought about the "cereal" like quality of the Vanilla Light roast, the more I was starting to suspect that it may be using the Ghana Light roast as a base. I thought maybe if I tried them side by side, I might be able to tease it out.
When I first took a sip of the Ghana Light, I noticed I didn't pick up on the slightly grainy flavor I had noticed when previously comparing it to the Ivory Coast Medium. With my recent discovery in mind of Choffy Volta and Crio Bru Ghana coming from the same place, it really made me think that they do taste very similar.
That being said, while the smell of vanilla is fairly strong in comparison, when it comes to flavor, I think that the Vanilla Light roast is based on the Ghana Light roast. If I wait a bit between tests, try the Vanilla first without fully breathing it in, and then follow it up with the Ghana roast, they really do taste very similar.
I've also been trying to switch which one I sip first recently, because I've found that the order in which I taste them can influence my view of them. When going from Ghana to Vanilla, I'm less sure of the similarities than when I go from Vanilla to Ghana.
Overall I think I like the Vanilla more just because I love vanilla, and the base flavors seem to be really close.
Update: I emailed Crio Bru to ask if they could tell me what origin they use as a base for their flavored varieties, and they said that they couldn't disclose their "blends". So it sounds like it's not just one origin used there.
I'm not sure why, but when starting with the Ghana this time, I was immediately hit with the buttery flavor due to it being a light roast. Usually I pick up more of a grainy or earthy flavor first. Maybe it's because it was still just a bit on the hot side when I started sipping it? I'm not sure. I can taste the earthy flavor in it, too, but I was just surprised. The Ecuador is pretty much as expected, pungent and a bit roasty and strong. And again, a bit weird, but going back to the Ghana after the Ecuador, it's more earthy now than buttery. That's a real flip from what I've experienced previously. The Ghana is also closer to a "normal" chocolate flavor and aroma than the Ecuador. I like the Ghana more for sure.
I blended the last third of each cup, and the end result is indistinct. I can kind of pick out some of the Ecuador pungency, and maybe a tiny bit of the Ghana earthiness, and overall the flavor is somewhat of chocolatey. It's good, but these blends really perplex me because of how they just don't seem to have any defining characteristics. I kind of wonder how my experience would have been different if I had started with blends and then branched out into origins. Considering I started this whole thing because I thought everything already tasted the same, I guess I would have really been confused about how they all really taste the same then, and wondered why they'd bothered to blend rather than going single origin.
Mmmm... I've been away from brewing cocoa for about a week and a half due to the holidays (2021) but I'm back, and my first sips of the Ghana are delicious. Lightly chocolatey, a little grainy. So gooooooood. And the Ecuador with it's strong pungency and deep roasty flavor. Yum. I've missed this.
Ah! There's a flavor in the Ecuador French roast that's been kind of nagging at me, but it just occurred to me what seems familiar. It almost has a slightly meaty quality to it. What I mean is, sometimes when I make bacon, and I get it so crispy that it's almost crumbly. It's not burnt in the "blackened" sense, but it's still overdone but somehow the grease it was frying in is holding it together. Something about the Ecuador reminds me of that. Overdone bacon. Haha!
Going back to the Ghana after the Ecuador, I'm picking up the grainy flavor much more strongly, and even a bit of that buttery flavor I've mentioned before when comparing darker roasts to lighter roasts. The Ghana is the definite winner here.
I blended the last half of each cup, and I was surprised how much the Ecuador continued to come through in the aroma at first, but after another swirl to mix it a little better, the Ghana took over and I could pick up the earthiness of it. I still think how it's so weird that the combined flavor doesn't taste very chocolatey to me. It definitely tastes like something, but my brain is having trouble picking out exactly what it tastes like.
My prediction from the end of the Ghana Light vs Nicaraguan Medium seems to be correct! The Ghana seems to be ever so slightly more chocolatey and the Ivory Coast seems slightly more grainy/nutty. I can especially pick it up in the smell. The Ghana is also just a twinge more bitter, both in taste and smell. They're really close, but not as close as I've found the Crio Bru Nicaraguan and Venezuelan varieties to be. I think I like the Ivory Coast just a tiny bit more than the Ghana.
These two are really close in flavor. Ivory Coast as a slightly darker and earthier aroma, whereas the Ghana has almost just a hair of that sharp brightness that the Ecuador Light roast has, and The Ivory Coast may be just a hair more chocolatey. I think the closeness of the two kind of wipes out the earthy or grainy flavor that the Ghana usually demonstrates. I think I prefer the Ghana by just the tiniest bit, but it mainly comes down to aroma rather than flavor.
Wow, these two are amazingly similar. I thought at least with Choffy normally being the more roasty version, even with the same roast level, there would be a lot more difference and the roast level would really stand out, but not so much. They're both earthy and a little chocolatey, but while the Ivory Coast has a little bit of that smoky flavor, it's somewhat bitter, and the Ghana is slightly sweeter with a tart edge to it. They're pretty evenly matched, really. It's like the bitterness of the Ivory Coast and the tartness of the Ghana are holding them each back. I think I'm calling this one a tie.
I started off with the Nigeria, and even though an earlier comparison today yielded a sweeter and lighter version, this time around it's more bitter and slightly burnt tasting. There's a decent amount of chocolate in the aroma, but it doesn't seem to be in the flavor so much, and the signature nuttiness is mostly gone altogether. Going over to the Ghana, both the aroma and the flavor are very light and bright. It's a combination of grainy and fruity. There's just a hint of tartness, but it's also leaning a little sweet. This is one of those times where it's reminding me just a tiny bit of "Ohs!" cereal. Going back to the Nigeria, it now tastes even more bitter and burnt than before trying the Ghana. The Ghana is by far the winner here.
I added vanilla almond milk to the Nigeria only since it did so poorly above. Immediately the flavor and aroma are very chocolatey and a little nutty, and as of now, the bitter and burnt flavors are gone. The unaltered Ghana next to it is still very light, grainy, and sweet, but the fruitiness is mostly gone. It's less like the "Ohs!" cereal, but still very good. But like things seem to go sometimes, it feels a little one-noted compared to the richer flavor of the Nigeria. I think the Nigeria actually squeaked out a win here.
With a splash of almond milk in the Ghana, now it really tastes like "Ohs!" cereal. It's much sweeter, with the strong grain flavor component, and it's just slightly buttery, but in a good way, like a nice croissant. It's not very chocolaty, but it's really good. Even with as good as the Nigeria is right now, the Ghana is better.
As it's been up to this point, the Nigeria is unsurprising. It's burnt and bitter with a hint of chocolate in the aroma. The Ghana has a light sweet aroma to it, a little like the sweetness I pick up from the Ecuador roasts, but not with the same sharpness. The flavor is light and grainy with not much chocolate to be found, but it's really good overall. It doesn't seem to impact the flavor or aroma of the Nigeria at all, so the Ghana is a the strong winner here.
I added a splash of vanilla almond milk only to the Nigeria to start with, because I suspect that the Ghana may wash out very easily when I do the same there. The aroma and flavor of the Nigeria is now much more chocolaty, a little nutty, but there's still a hint of the burnt and smoky flavor to it. Not much, but just a hint. Comparing this to the Ghana, the grainy flavor of it seems even stronger, and there's a hint of bitter tartness to it now. I still think it's better than the Nigeria, but the race is much closer.
Even with adding almond milk to the Ghana, it still has a strong grainy flavor. Well, it's not quite grainy... Oh, it reminds me of "Ohs!" cereal! I feel like I've run into that before, but I'm not sure if it was with this one or not. Ah, no, it wasn't. It was a chestnut tea from the tea Advent calendar my sister and I did after Christmas of 2021. Anwyay, there's still just the tiniest hint of the tartness here, but it's mostly imperceptible. It's really good overall, and is still the clear winner over the Nigeria.
After my discovery that the Choffy Volta and Crio Bru Ghana varieties all hail from the Volta region of Ghana, I needed to do this.
I gave the dry grounds an initial sniff as I was spooning them into the french presses, and they smelled exactly the same. Once they were brewed and I took another sniff, and the only difference I can maybe pick out is that there is a tiny bit of the darker roast of the Volta coming out, but it's so slight that it could be my imagination.
In terms of taste, I keep trying to pick out differences, but so far there aren't any. Not even roast level seems to have made a difference. They both have that "slightly less grainy than Ivory Coast" flavor to them, and I just can't tell them apart. I think this may be the first true tie since I got my brewing methods dialed in. It definitely makes me think I may need to redo any of the side-by-sides prior to round 13 where I featured Volta Medium. (an possibly more)
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!
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.
The Ghana starts out earthy and a bit chocolatey. I expected Anakin to be more "burnt" in flavor, but it's actually not too bad in comparison! It's roasty and toasty, but a little chocolatey, and somehow the Ghana helps bring that out. It's a tough choice, but going with drinking it black long term, I think I'd have to go with the Ghana.
With the strong roast flavor tamed by vanilla almond milk, the Anakin not only gets the familiar toasted marshmallow flavor, but even comes across as quite chocolatey in comparison to the Ghana! This is a big win for Anakin.
Adding just a tiny bit of almond milk to the Ghana washes out the flavor a lot. The aroma, though comes across as more... Not quite nutty, but very familiar to something that reminds me of Christmas. It's sweet, chewy, a little crispy around the edges, I think has oats or some sort of nuts in it, and is likely made with brown sugar or maybe even molasses, but I can't figure out what it is. Ugh, I hate that. Oh! No, I'm completely off... It reminds me a little of... Baklava? How weird. So in terms aroma it's a tie with the Anakin, but the flavor of Anakin wins. Well that was certainly interesting.
Shadow's Silhouette started off a little milder than usual. It's decently chocolatey, and only the tiniest bit tart, but it seems to be missing the stronger flavors and aromas that invoke the "brownies baking in an oven" feel. I mean, it's ok, but I was expecting... more. Oh, or maybe my tastebuds just needed to wake up a bit. There they are! The Ghana has a lightly earthy, almost dusty aroma to it, but in taking a sip, I was surprised to find a bright sweetness to it! It has that light grainy flavor to it, but it's not chocolatey, really, but just sweet somehow. Going back to the Shadow's Silhouette, the tartness is pretty much gone, but it's definitely more chocolatey. Wow, these two really elevate each other. Picking a winner is hard because even though they're both really good, I feel like even if I look at it with a long term drinking perspective, I think which one I'd pick would depend on what I'm in the mood for. I'm calling this a tie.
As usual, adding the vanilla almond milk to the Shadow's Silhouette goes super chocolatey and is so good! The Ghana, honestly, doesn't feel like it changed much. There may be just the tiniest bit more chocolate to the flavor, but it's still really hidden behind the sweet grain flavor. Although they're both great, the Shadow's Silhouette is the winner by far.
Starting off with Foglifter, it's awesome in the first sip or two. It both smells and tastes like fresh brownies, minus the sweetness. This is how I want it to be all the time. It's just a super fudgy and really good. I wonder how much that will change. Going over to the Ghana, it's a very light and grainy flavor with very little chocolate in comparison. It's also really good. But now comes the moment of truthiness... Ok! Foglifter has not gone super tart like it has in the past. It's still fudgy and really good, with only just a tiny hint of tartness in the background. It's still really good overall. I really like both of these this morning, and the race is somewhat close, but I have to say for now, Foglifter is the winner!
Adding just a little splash of vanilla almond milk only to Foglifter first, it starts off with a surprisingly nutty flavor compared to what it was. But it's also still fudgy and chocolaty and reminds me just a tiny bit of cooked chocolate pudding in its flavor. Granted, it's been years since I've had that, but it's just the memory it tickles at the moment. In comparison, the Ghana tastes just a tiny bit sweeter than it did a moment ago. They're both really good, and the race is even closer than it was before, but I think I still prefer the more chocolaty flavor of Foglifter over the grainy cereal-like flavor of the Ghana.
With a tiny splash of almond milk in the Ghana, it's coming across even more as a sweeter cereal-like flavor now. The Foglifter is still it's fudgy and slightly nutty self, which considering previous comparisons resulted in it going super tart, I'm both really surprised and pleased about. They're both super good, and I think I have to call this one of the best ties ever. Yum!