Sometimes more roasty, sometimes less. Inconsistent from batch to batch.
Amount of grounds:
2 tablespoons per 10 oz of water
Brewing time:
8.5 minutes
Additions:
1-2 tablespoons of vanilla almond milk
Reusing grounds:
Reusing the grounds from 1 cup and adding 50% new grounds yields a fairly bitter brew when drinking it black, but it's not quite as roasty, and there's a little more of a chocolatey flavor to it. With vanilla almond milk it's surprisingly similar to Anakin with the "toasty marshmallow" flavor, but it still has more of a bitter edge to it. Overall, I don't think I'd recommend reusing the grounds.
Using grounds in food:
Not recommended. Contains husk.
General Thoughts:
The first batch I received (the sample size) was not nearly as dark as "uber dark" would imply. It was quite good to drink black, and adding vanilla almond milk to it yielded something "close to, but not quite" hot chocolate. The second batch (full size) I received is much more dark and roasty, and hard to drink black. It does ok with the vanilla almond milk, but it's much farther from the "hot chocolate" flavor the first batch had. I suppose this is more truer to the spirit of what the name implies, but I don't like it as much.
After my "drink all the Uber Dark first" comparison with Choffy's Ecuador Dark roast, I decided that's not really a good way to do it. While I'm fairly certain about the outcome of comparing the current batch of Uber Dark against most roasts, there are other subtleties that I'd wind up missing if I don't compare them properly.
Case in point, the strong darkness of Uber Dark against Crio Bru's Ecuador Light roast has some interesting points to note. When going from Ecuador to Uber Dark, the Uber Dark mostly tastes like char, though there may be a tiny bit of chocolate flavor in it. (it's not like my first batch of Choffy's Volta French roast) But when I switch and go the other way, what I expected was that the Ecuador Light roast would taste mostly chocolatey. And it does, but I was surprised to also taste in it was just a tiny bit of the "buttery bread" flavor that was really strong in Chocolate Alchemy's Big O blend. Luckily it's not so overpowering here, and it leans more chocolatey than bready and is pretty good.
Another thing that I'm a little surprised about is that I expected the lightness of the Ecuador roast to make the Uber Dark feel completely undrinkable since in previous comparisons, I had trouble finishing it without adding vanilla almond milk. But it actually turned out that I was able to drink it mostly fine.
As for the end result, it's exactly what I expected. I strongly prefer the Ecuador over the Uber Dark, but it will be interesting to see if future comparisons of the Ecuador Light roast against other things will yield that buttery bread flavor. If it does, I expect it mainly to happen on the darkest roasts.
I was kind of considering this one the battle of the "hot chocolates" because of how I felt they both had a more chocolatey flavor than some of the other roasts.
I think in terms of the chocolate flavor, the Ecuador French actually wins out. I mentioned in another side-by-side that the Uber Dark seems to have a little of the same pungency, and I'm really thinking that there may be some Ecuador origin in the Uber Dark because that pungent flavor is kind of getting lost between the two as I go back and forth. In the end, the roast level comes out as the stronger flavor for the Uber Dark, while the Ecuador roast has more of a pure chocolate flavor. I really like the Uber Dark, but the Ecuador wins out in this case.
Since both the Uber Dark and the Ecuador French are now from new batches and the flavors have changed, I needed to do a rematch. Also, I'm fairly sure that I did the above test without any vanilla almond milk because I'm pretty sure that I would have mentioned it. Considering how Uber Dark has now gotten really dark and, to me, pretty much requires that I add the almond milk to enjoy it.
The aroma of the Uber Dark is just very roasty, while the Ecuador actually has quite a bit of chocolate to it. The same holds true in tasting them side by side. Uber Dark is pretty much all roast, but the Ecuador comes across as almost sweet chocolate in comparison. I'm actually a little surprised given the differences I noticed between the old and new batches of the Ecuador. That means the old batch really must be very chocolatey in comparison. Under this circumstance, I could drink the Ecuador black and be happy with it, so it's a pretty clear winner.
I was going to add vanilla almond milk to the Uber Dark only and compare again, but my hand got ahead of my brain and I put just a tiny bit in the Ecuador. Even that tiny bit made a difference in the flavor of the Ecuador. Feh. Anyway, the almond milk in the Uber Dark is pretty decent. It's kind of starting to remind me of Anakin like this. It definitely has a more pungent and roasty flavor, but there's something about it that is starting to get that sweet toasted marshmallow flavor, but it's not really the same. I think this is where the blend of the origins used is coming out more over the roast. Even with the only that tiny bit of almond milk that got added to the Ecuador, having more of just a pure chocolate flavor, I still like it more.
Adding more of the regular amount of vanilla almond milk to the Ecuador, I'm finding that it's easy to wash out the flavor if I'm not careful. It's still more "pure chocolate" in comparison to the Uber Dark, but it's muddy and indistinct. But even then, I still like it more than the Uber Dark.
I still have the Uber Dark vs Anakin rematch to do, but after that, I'm not sure how I'm going to approach future comparisons with it. If I really don't like it black anymore, adding almond milk to it isn't necessarily going to be a fair comparison unless I add it to whatever I'm comparing it to as well. But I don't really want to do that. I have a feeling that Uber Dark is going to be my new "bottom of the barrel" roast that I'm pretty sure everything else will win out against, but I hate that being the case because I know about it's potential when it's not so roasty. But then again, it is called "Uber Dark" for a reason. I guess I should consider this to be its true form and go from there.
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.
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.
It's been a while since I've had Uber Dark because that was one of the first ones where I completed the side-by-sides a long time ago. I was curious if my outlook on it has changed since I've been away for so long... but nope, it's still super roasty with not much else going on. I thought for a moment I picked up on the sweet pungency of the lighter Ecuador roasts in there, but when I tried it again, it was gone. The Nicaragua next to it is reminding me a lot of Chocolate Alchemy's Big O: sour, bready, with hints of fermentation, and just a bit of chocolate. Hmmm. Drinking them black like this, I think I have to call it a tie. I don't want to drink either one long term this way.
Adding vanilla almond milk to both and starting with the Nicaragua, it goes super chocolatey and is really good this way. It's pretty much just a straight up no frills chocolate flavor. The Uber Dark also gets a much stronger chocolatey taste, but with the roast still lingering in the background, it also brings out a little bit of that sharp sweetness of the Ecuador roasts that I thought I picked up for a moment earlier. Both roasts go from "no way" to "yes please!" so fast it almost gives me whiplash. It's really hard to pick a favorite, but I think that with the hint of the bready flavor still in the background of the Nicaragua, I prefer the hints of roasty flavors in the Uber Dark.
It's been a while since I've touched Venezuela, and at first sip, it does come across as quite chocolatey. When switching over to the Uber Dark, there's a flavor that comes up that's not quite sweet, and not quite spicy. I think it's what I described in one of the Volta comparisons as "sharp". It's not the strong roasty quality, but something under it that I'm picking up. Drinking the Venezuela first also seems to knock some of the edge of the roasty flavor off. Going back to the Venezuela after the Uber Dark, there's just a hint of that buttery flavor I've picked up on some of the lighter roasts, but it still remains decently chocolatey, if just a little bitter. Between the two, I like the Venezuela better.
Blending the two towards the end, it's kind of a "more of the same" scenario. There's a bit of a dark roasted aroma, but the flavor doesn't seem to carry that forward. Everything is stuck in the middle again, with no characteristics standing out over another. It's good, but it's just indistinguishable. Since this is my last Uber Dark comparison (except for Nicaragua, which I can't get a hold of yet) I think my next test will be to take two of the blends and compare them against each other to see what, if any, flavor differences there are.
This is another where I'm comparing an old batch to a new batch. It turns out this one is quite different, and unfortunately, it's not a good thing. The old batch from the samples is very chocolatey, and was one of my top picks for a "hot chocolate replacement". The new batch is fairly pungent and very roasty, which I guess is more true to what Uber Dark is supposed to be. It actually reminds me a LOT of Choffy's Ecuador French roast. Even the new dry grounds smell about the same. Sadly, I don't like it as much, but this is now the big bag of it that I'm stuck with. I may have to do some side-by-side repeats, but I have a feeling that it's going to cause Uber Dark to drop down in my preference list.
I also wound up adding vanilla almond milk to both the old and new to see how it did, and the old really went very close to hot chocolate, while the new one stayed more pungent and was still quite a bit like Choffy Ecuador French. Booooo.
Starting with Ocumare, it's a little bitter and a little chocolatey. Going to the Uber Dark, I can kind of pick out the sweet pungency of Ecuador in there. It's quite roasty, as expected, but pairs well with the Ocumare, and it brings out more than just the roast, which is nice. Going back to the Ocumare, it gets more bitter and less chocolatey than before. Is also has a pungent smell that has a similar feel to onion or garlic. It doesn't smell like either one of those, but the quality is similar. Picking a favorite between the two is hard. I like the sweetness in the Uber dark, but not the deep roast. I like the lighter quality of Ocumare, but not the bitterness. It's such a close choice! But as of now, I think I could drink the Ocumare more long term, so I'm going with that.
Adding vanilla almond milk to both, they both get very chocolatey, and the other qualities mostly fade to the background, though the sweet "ting" in the Uber dark is still there pretty strongly, which is nice. I think that edges out the "straight chocolate" flavor in the Ocumare, though, so I'd call Uber Dark the winner here.
I didn't really do this comparison properly, mainly because I thought I already knew the outcome. With the Uber Dark being so, well, dark, I figured that the constant switching back and forth between the two would do two things. First, it would just make the Ecuador taste almost like nothing. And second, the comparative lack of flavor of the Ecuador would just make the Uber Dark taste that much darker and harsher. With those assumptions, I drank most of the Uber Dark cup before even touching the Ecuador, and it turns out that, yup, I was pretty much right. I really had to let the flavor of the Uber Dark dissipate before I could really wrap my face around the chocolatey and smoky flavors of the Ecuador. On the up side, by doing it this way, I was able to drink the Uber Dark without doctoring it up with anything, but I really enjoy the Ecuador much more than the Uber Dark.
I did a rematch so I could drink these in proper alternating fashion just to make sure I didn't miss anything. This definitely isn't my favorite pairing, but most of what I said in the first round still stands. The Uber Dark is quite overpowering compared to the Ecuador. But I will say that in a few other comparisons, I noticed the Uber Dark had a "sweet sharpness" to it that wasn't the usual roasty or pungent flavor, and that is completely absent in this comparison... on the Uber Dark side. I'm now picking it up in the Ecuador! It's a little bit of what makes up that "pungent" flavor I always talk about there. The Uber Dark, on the other hand, really is all roast this time around. I still like the Ecuador better, so that hasn't changed.
Like I started doing with other Uber Dark pairings, I blended the last third of a cup or so of each one to see what happens. I feel like this one retains more of the roasty aroma, and a little bit of the roasty flavor and pungency of both varieties, and even comes across as slightly... sweeter? Weird. But oddly, it still flattens out a bit. Not as much as the others, but more than I would have thought given the similarities between the two.
Just like the description says on the Ecuador French roast, it's more coffee like than the Uber Dark. Per the other times I've tried any of the Ecuador roasts, it's also more pungent and fruity. The Uber Dark is more roasted and slightly more earthy, and smoother. I think I like Uber dark slightly more.
I decided to try adding vanilla almond milk to both when I had about a half a much left of each, and for both of them, it brought out the chocolate flavor a bit more. I almost feel like either one could be a decent hot chocolate replacement if some sugar was added, but with the pungency of the Ecuador, I think the Uber Dark would actually do a better job of it. I'm really liking the Uber dark way more than I thought I would!
The flavor of Uber Dark has changed quite a bit due to being part of a new batch, so it required a rematch.
As I'm going through these rematches with Uber Dark, I'm finding that, in general, I'm just not liking it nearly as much as the first batch. In fact, at this point I'd go so far as to say that, to me, it's not enjoyable unless I add vanilla almond milk to it. But if there's a positive spin to throw on that, it's that it seems to be finally living up to its name.
That being said, the Ecuador French roast is milder, though still quite pungent, but has a hint of chocolate flavor to it. The Uber Dark, on the other hand, is nearly all roast. I'm not picking up much, if any, chocolate flavor from it, and it's just really really dark. In fact, if I sip Uber Dark and the turn around and sip the Ecuador too quickly after, my tongue is still overwhelmed and "flavor blind" to the Ecuador roast, and it doesn't taste like much of anything. The Ecuador is definitely the winner here.
This one starts out pretty much as expected. The Ivory Coast has that light grainy flavor, and the Uber Dark is super roasty and heavy. Going back to the Ivory Coast after the Uber Dark, I can pick out that little bit of a buttered bread note in it. Given that it's a common characteristic I'm seeing when comparing the light(er) roasts to something like Uber Dark, I'm wondering if what I'm getting isn't necessarily the actual flavor of the bean, but hints of the fermentation process that they go through before roasting. It would make sense that they all have that same note regardless of origin if that's the case. Anyway, it's no surprise, but I prefer the Ivory Coast over the Uber Dark.
Blending the last third of the mug of each, the aroma is still quite roasty, but the flavor doesn't back it up. This always baffles me, because I expect adding one to the other will combine the flavors somewhat additively, so things like the stronger roast or the grainy quality would stick out, but instead it's like everything cancels each other out.
Sipping the Ivory Coast Dark first, it's pretty much as the description says: a little chocolatey and kind of earthy or grainy. Drinking the Uber Dark right after it is pretty much as expected: super roasty and dark. When I go back to the Ivory Coast, it seems to lose most of the chocolate flavor and goes mainly to earthy. It's a pretty stark difference between the two, but drinking them side by side like this makes neither one terribly enjoyable. I'd go with the Ivory Coast over the Uber Dark if I were just picking one to drink outside of the comparison.
Like with the Ivory Coast French roast, I was curious about what would happen if I mixed them, so I did that when I had them both just over halfway done. The effect is very similar to when I blended Uber Dark with Ivory Coast French, in that the whole thing mellows out in all directions. It's less roasty and less earthy. I'm not quite sure how to describe the end result except for "muddy". It has a flavor and an aroma, but I can't place it as anything specific, yet it's familiar at the same time. I think the aroma leans more towards the earthy side, even though the flavor doesn't seem to match it, and if I really concentrate, the flavor is slightly more in the roasty direction. Again, like the french roast blend, it's weird. It's decent, but it's hard to describe. I suppose there's some chocolatey flavor to it, but I kind of feel like the separate flavors prior to blending are still influencing my perception of it. I feel like to get a true sense of this one, I'd need to either blend the grounds before brewing, or brew a smaller amount of each and blend them immediately before tasting or smelling either one.
Sipping the Ivory Coast French first, I pick up the earthy and smoky flavors fine. Switching to the Uber Dark, it's just all roast and pretty much wipes out any lingering flavor of the Ivory Coast, and when I go back to the Ivory Coast, the strong roasty flavor of the Uber Dark wipes out the smoky flavor and I pick up the stronger earthy flavor of the Ivory Coast, along with a much stronger chocolate flavor. Between the two I definitely like the Ivory Coast better.
I was curious about what would happen if I blended them, so when I got down to the last few sips of each, I poured the Ivory Coast into the Uber Dark. The whole thing kind of gets muted in all sorts of directions. The roasty flavor of Uber Dark is way subdued, as is the earthy flavor of the Ivory Coast. Interestingly, I'm left with a slightly roasty and mostly chocolate flavor, but it has a long after taste of the Uber Dark's roast flavor. That's weird. It's decent, but it's weird. Although, now that I'm thinking about it and experiencing it, I'm not 100% sure if I'm getting it from the blend, or if it's actually left over from when I was tasting the two separately. I know Uber Dark's flavor tends to linger quite a bit. I may need to make a point of testing it blended from the get-go and see what it's like.
Kicking off with the Nigeria, the burnt nut flavor is pretty strong this morning. There's a little bit of chocolate in the aroma, but not really any in the flavor. Going over to the Uber Dark, it seems a little muted in comparison. There's not much of a smoky or roasted flavor, although I can pick out some of the sharp sweetness of the Ecuador that I'm pretty sure is in the blend. As I go back and forth between the two, the Nigeria isn't really changing, although I am starting to pick up the roast in the Uber Dark. I'm not a fan of either one like this, and I think it's pretty much a tie.
With a splash of vanilla almond milk in each, the Nigeria loses a bit of the burnt flavor, but it's still somewhat nutty, and there's a stronger chocolate note coming out in both the aroma and the flavor. For the Uber Dark, there's also a little more chocolate in the aroma, as well as more of the Ecuador sharp sweetness. They're both ok, but I think the Uber Dark eeks out a win even if it's not great.
The Nigeria starts off with the usual flavors of extreme smoke and burnt nut. The Uber Dark has some of the Ecuador sharp sweetness to it, and there's an ok amount of chocolate behind that and the smoky flavors. Drinking it in this context, I actually kind of like the Uber Dark black, and it is the clear winner.
Adding vanilla almond milk to both, the smoky flavor of the Nigeria is eased, and the aroma has slightly more chocolate to it, but the flavor is still very much like a burnt nut. The almond milk does improve it, but only every so slightly. For the Uber Dark, the sharp sweetness of the Ecuador comes out a bit stronger, but I hesitate to say that it's any more chocolaty. It's pretty decent overall, and still the winner.
I'm not 100% sure if I'm going to wind up testing this one against everything else, as drinking it is always just so unpleasant. At the same time, I have a similar dislike towards Choffy's Ecuador French, but I keep trucking with that one. But then again, that one is mostly behind me. As of right now, for the Nigeria French, I still have 14 more comparisons ahead of me, and that's a lot to dread.
This is another one of the times where the lighter roast has a little bit of a buttery taste next to the Uber Dark. So I'm starting to think that rather than a particular origin being the culprit, it's actually a characteristic of cocoa beans themselves. Maybe that was the problem with Chocolate Alchemy's Big O for me. Maybe it was too light.
Anyway, between these two, there's the obvious roast level difference, but in trying to see beyond that, the Uber Dark has a sharper and more punchy flavor. It's not quite spicy, but pungent doesn't seem to quite cover it, either. I really think Uber Dark is starting to grow on me a bit, but even if that's the case, it's still not getting ranked over anything else as of now. The Volta, with it's lighter, more buttery, and slightly chocolatey flavor still wins out.
I blended the last quarter or so of each cup, and it's mostly "more of the same" as other times I've done it. This time around the roasty flavor of the Uber Dark sticks around more than previously, but it's subdued. The Volta doesn't seem to have any characteristics that stand out in the blend. It's not like it's more chocolatey or more buttery. It's just "less Uber Dark", really.
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.
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.
Anakin's appearance is a little darker than Uber Dark. Anakin has more of a roasted and toasted flavor, but the Uber has something else. I kind of want to call it "sweeter", but that's not quite right. And I wouldn't call it spicier. It's slightly more in the direction of the pungency of Choffy's Ecuador roasts, but not quite. I think I'd call it more chocolatey, but even that doesn't feel 100% right. I guess Anakin may feel a little "flatter" than Uber Dark, lacking some of the spectrum of flavor, but the roasty toasty makes up for it as far as enjoyment.
It's really hard to pick a favorite. I love to toasty flavor of Anakin, but the extra pungent or chocolate flavors of Uber Dark is super good. Even looking at it with the lens of long term drinking, I can't pick a preferred roast. I think this may be a tie, not in terms of tasting the same, but just in terms of preference. They're both so good.
Both of these are different because of new batches. The Anakin doesn't have quite the same toasted marshmallow flavor when adding vanilla almond milk, and Uber Dark is reminding me more of something that I've gotten from Chocolate Alchemy before, although I'm not quite sure it's Anakin. I think it may actually be kind of close to Ancillary Darkness.
While cooling, Anakin looks a little darker, but tasting them, Uber is just a strong pungent roast, whereas Anakin, amazingly, seems a little milder. That was a little surprising.
What's even more interesting is after adding vanilla almond milk, the pungency of Uber dark tastes more chocolatey, but for Anakin it tastes more smoky. It makes me realize it's that smoky flavor that reminds me of the toasted marshmallows without actually tasting like marshmallows, which makes total sense. There's something about having these two side by side disarms the rest of the marshmallow flavor and makes it pretty much only smoky.
I like the Anakin better both with and without almond milk, but the Uber dark at least isn't terrible in this scenario.
I started with the Uber Dark this time around, and while it's very dark, roasty, and smoky, it has more range of flavor to it than I pick up sometimes. I wouldn't call it chocolatey, but I do detect a hint of the sharp sweetness I typically find in the lighter Ecuador roasts. It kind of evens out the roast a little bit. Going over to the Shot in the Dark, it's all char and bitterness except a little tiny bit of a sour pungency that I used to hate in Ancillary Darkness. Going back to the Uber Dark, the Shot in the Dark really takes a lot of the roast out it and I get a stronger note of Ecuador's sharp sweetness, and it winds up as the strong winner.
Adding vanilla almond milk to both, the Shot in the Dark gets a little bit of a chocolatey flavor, but it still has a really strong charred component. With the vanilla in it, there's the tiniest hint of Anakin's toasted marshmallow flavor, but it's like the marshmallow was left to burn completely before blowing it out. It's better, but not great. This is one that I'm just really not liking, honestly. Going over to the Uber Dark, the roast is pretty much gone in comparison, and there's a light chocolatey flavor riding on top of the sharp Ecuador sweetness. I actually like it a decent amount here in this comparison, and while I'm not sure that I'd feel the same just drinking it alone, it's the definite winner.
(This was against the first batch of Uber Dark. If I ever find myself with one more cup of Long Dark Tea Time and can compare it against the new batch of Uber Dark, it would be interesting to see how it turns out.)
Welp, Uber Dark can't claim "darkest" here. Both are very dark, obviously, but Long Dark is the darker of the two, both in terms of taste and in terms of color. As I've noted before, Long Dark has the really strong pungency permeating it, and it's quite bitter. Uber Dark lacks the strong pungency, and comes across a little sweeter and more like chocolate. I like the Uber Dark "black" perfectly fine, but I still really don't with the Long Dark.
Adding vanilla almond milk, Long Dark gets a little marshmallow toasty. I added too much almond milk to the Uber Dark for this comparison, and it got mostly washed out. It's not really roasty at all, and just kind of mildly chocolatey in comparison.
Even with messing up the addition of the almond milk, overall I like the Crio Bru's Uber Dark better, especially since it doesn't require almond milk to drink it. The stronger chocolate flavor just really hits home.
Shadow's Silhouette starts off somewhat tart with a little bit of a fermented flavor, but also a bit fudgy and a little brownie like It's ok, but not great. The Uber Dark has a very strong roasty aroma, but in with it, I also smell a little bit of the sharp sweetness that I pick up from some of the Ecuador roasts. The flavor is also very roasty and smoky, but it's not as bad as I remembered it previously. It does bring out extra tartness and fermentation in the Shadow's Silhouette, though. I'm a little surprised, but I think I like the Uber Dark just a little more here, although I'd be hard pressed to say that I actually like it.
Adding vanilla almond milk to both and starting with Shadow's Silhouette, it goes from tart and fermented to pure chocolate. I am really loving that about this roast. It's always amazing to see such a difference. For the Uber Dark, while the roasty and smoky flavors are tamed, they're still there. The sharp sweetness does come forward a bit, which is nice, and overall it's improved by having the almond milk in it. But that pure chocolate flavor of the Shadow's Silhouette just beats it, hands down.