Tastes like chocolate and peppermint, but a little weak on both.
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:
I think they tried to keep the peppermint flavor a little more on the subtle side and not override the chocolate too much, but somehow it wasn't very satisfying for either flavor.
Out of the fall flavor sampler, this is the pairing that I've been looking forward to the most.
Taking a whiff of the dry grounds, the cinnamon smells a little muted, but it's there and warm and cozy. The peppermint smells absolutely amazing. After brewing, the added flavor of both is slightly subdued and I can smell the chocolate coming through a bit more.
The cinnamon one is decent, although the brewing process seems to have knocked some of the cinnamon flavor and scent out of it. If I didn't know it was cinnamon, I'm not sure I would identify it as such. I would probably be thinking, "there's something familiar here, but I can't tell what it is." Anyway, as I noted with the smell test above, it's the "warm and cozy" sort of cinnamon, like in a cinnamon bun, not the "spicy" variety you find in candies or gum. Actually, it's not quite like a cinnamon bun, either. It kind of reminds of the time where I thought it would be a good idea to put a teaspoon of ground cinnamon in my tea one morning, but it turned out I was wrong. Something about the smell reminds me of... "grandma's house in the 70's"? Oh! No, it's something closer to the basement of the house where I used to go to get my hair cut when I was a kid. I know all of this sounds terrible, but it's really not bad. It's just the weird thoughts and feelings the flavor evokes for some reason.
The peppermint one is also decent, but the strong peppermint scent that was in the dry grounds seems to have mostly baked right out of it in the brewing process. It's more subtle and subdued. There's something in the scent when I bring it up to take a sip where it makes my nose crinkle a tiny bit. A slight pungency perhaps, that feels out of place with the coolness of the peppermint, but on its own it would be fine.
It's hard to pick a favorite between the two. I don't see myself drinking either one long term. This one may be a tie just because they were both a bit disappointing compared to what I had hoped for either one.
For this round, there was a little extra of the peppermint grounds (about 1 tbs) in the french press because otherwise I wouldn't have had enough to do another cup, so this round is just a little stronger. I kind of wish I had tried this earlier because this is one variety that I think benefits from having a little extra grounds to process. The flavor overall is just a tad stronger, bringing out mostly the chocolate side a bit more. The peppermint is still very obvious, but it's not a "hit you over the head with flavor" type of situation. I think it's better than my previous cups, but I don't think that it would have necessarily changed any of my previous side-by-side preferences, though. Plus, I wouldn't have gotten this far with it if I had done 3 tbs in every cup.
As far as comparing it to the double chocolate, I just prefer the double chocolate flavor to the peppermint.
This is another where there's not a lot to say. The added flavors are quite different, obviously. The hazelnut has a flavor that reminds me more of chocolate than the peppermint does, and in this context, the peppermint has less of that "chemical" flavor to it than in previous pairings. I prefer the hazelnut over the peppermint by quite a bit.
This one is a little closer than the peppermint vs vanilla was. The peppermint has just a little bit of chocolate flavor to it, while the maple seems to be mostly maple. The peppermint also gives off just a tiny bit of that "smells like chemicals where I got my hair cut as a kid" vibe still, but not as strongly as it did when comparing against the vanilla. Even with the maple being less chocolatey, I like it a little more than the peppermint.
I feel like this pairing is what the original peppermint vs cinnamon side-by-side should have been. Both of these are decent overall, and I really like them almost the same. It's a really close race. The peppermint has more chocolate flavor to it than the Maya, but the spiciness of the cayenne in the Maya brings out the cinnamon flavor nicely. In the end, I think if I were to be drinking either of these long term, I'd probably go with the peppermint by a hair since I feel like I would just need to be in a particular mood to drink the Maya when not doing side-by-sides.
The first few sips I took of the mocha, instead of being hit in the buds with the cigarette smoke flavor I've come to expect, it actually tasted somewhat chocolatey. As I got to the end of those sips, though, the smoky flavor started coming out more.
The peppermint is decent with a nice minty aroma. The peppermint flavor is obvious, but a little on the weak side, and there's a little bit of chocolate flavor. Overall it's okay, and I definitely like it more than the mocha, but it's still a little "meh".
Pretty much as expected, the peppermint works with the chocolate, whereas the pumpkin spice works against it and tastes a little funky. I strongly prefer the peppermint, and there's not much else to say!
When I was imagining this comparison, I thought it would be a much closer race. Sometimes the peppermint comes across as pretty good, and other times it almost tastes like chemicals. I know I had a similar experience with the cinnamon the first time or two I tried that one where it reminded me of the place where I used to get my hair cut as a kid. I actually had a similar experience this time with the peppermint at first. Something about going from the vanilla to the peppermint seems to cause it, but I'm not sure why. For some reason, putting the vanilla next to the peppermint kind of makes the peppermint taste less pepperminty. For this side-by-side, the vanilla definitely wins.