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More On Chocolate

I recently happened upon a new item in Wegmans.  Well, maybe it's not COMPLETELY new, but it's new to me.  When I first found it, I actually picked it up and looked at it and then put it back.

The next time I picked it up and put it in my cart, only to later return it back to the shelf.

The THIRD time I walked by it... I decided, eh, why not!  And I'm glad I decided to get it.

So, the first time I made it, I did a half and half instead of just doing only all in.  The half and half is good.  But now instead of just doing a half and half, I do a smaller scoop as more like a third with my other two scoops.  It's the final fit to my morning cup.  Or, I guess it lasts me all day.

What is it?  And what am I talking about?

It's called Crio Bru.

 

 

https://www.criobru.com

It's just ground up cocoa beans.  I've yet to try it on its own.  What I did the first time is I mixed it with a blend of one scoop of coffee, and another of the beans.  Then I french pressed it.  Now what I do is I put two scoops of coffee... and then I do a third smaller scoop of the beans just to add to the coffee.  The flavoring is great, and apparently it gives you more energy along with some added health benefits!

What's not to love?

So, like today, I had my usual three part coffee blend brewed up in my french press.  One of the scoops is normal coffee.  It's usually something fancy pantcy that I find at the store in one of the 10 or 12 ounce bags.  The second part is an espresso blend of some sort.  I like the wegmans espresso one.  It's very finely ground.  Then part three is that Crio Bru stuff.

I just sip it slowly all day long at work.  Keeps me buzzing along.

Here's the thing though, I'm not sure how much Crio Bru is actually getting through.  I definitely taste chocolate notes in my cup of coffee, but I'm just not sure how much... Or if it's the full effect.  Why?

Well here's the thing.  Remember how I said I like espresso blend in my coffee?  A regular french press will just let that all go through the mesh filter.  You'll end up with bits of coffee grinds in your cup.  What I do is wrap a paper filter around the press plunger and I slowly, MUCH more slowly, press my cup of coffee after it's been steeping for a good little while.

So then what happens with the paper filter is it stops all those fine grinds of the espresso blend.  HOWEVER... The instructions of the Crio Bru say, use a regular press, or use a gold filter in your coffee maker and don't use paper.

The Crio Bru grind isn't very fine.  So, I imagine that I'm losing some of the brew when I use the paper filter in my french press.

I'm going to experiment more and just try the Crio Bru on its own without any coffee at all so I can really identify what the exact taste is and know how much is actually getting through.

So far though even just adding it to my coffee mix and still using a paper filter, I'm still liking it.  It definitely changes the feel of the buzz that you get from JUST coffee and it tastes really good too.

I don't actually drink coffee every day.  I alternate between tea.  So, tomorrow I'll do black tea with a lemon wedge and then later in the day I'll go to green tea.  But then the day after I'll be back to coffee again.  I've experimented over the years and I like that the most.   Alternate between tea and coffee every other day.