I also tried these all with a little sugar and milk, just for the sake of completeness.  I can’t say any were better or worse than any other.  The milk definitely rounded out the rough edges that I noted in the Choffy and Crio Bru.  And with sugar, they all start approaching what many people think of as a hot chocolate flavor.

On that last comment about hot chocolate flavor, I should mention brewed cocoa, regardless of source, is not an intense, thick mouth coating drink like many are accustomed to in hot chocolate or the other various processed chocolate drinks.  It’s more subtle and sublime than that.  It is its own drink.  If you compare it to hot chocolate, you may come away disappointed.  If you evaluate it for it own flavor and merits, I think you will come away impressed.

So, in review,

• They all looked about the same.
• They all tasted very similar, with variation for origin
• They are all roasted, ground cocoa beans.

Choffy claims some other proprietary processing method  (and they may have one) but if it looks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck and it tastes like a duck….you get the point.

The only other point I will make is this:

• Crio Bru: $14.95/12 oz bag
• Choffy: $15.00/12 oz bag
• Chocolate Alchemy Roasted beans: $10-14.50/LB (update - you can now order Brewing Cocoa directly, and it will come all roasted and ground)

I’ll let my very intelligent customers decide which way to go.

Finally, I will say, in I hope the next week or so (in between winnower building) I will be setting up a Brewing Chocolate category, with 8 oz bags of roasted and ground cocoa beans, with tasting notes.  In the mean time, if you would like your roasted beans ground, just leave me a note when checking out and I will be more than happy to prepare them for you.  Otherwise, you can grind them yourself in a spice grinder and you will be on your way to a new luscious taste experience. Just remember:

• 4 T/8 oz boiling water
• Steep 5 minutes
• Press (assuming you are using a press pot - drip works ok too)
• Enjoy straight, with milk (or cream) and/or sugar.

More subtle and sublime is good. This sounds good!!