CRIO BRÜ [General]

2014 Aug 17

2014 Aug 17
Apparently you can also reuse the grounds in yoghurt etc, instead of putting them in the compost like coffee grounds.

2014 Aug 17
I have and didn't care for it.

2014 Aug 17
Apparently they were on Shark Tank, and the sharks didn't care for it either. What does it taste like ? I would have thought bitter chocolate.

2014 Aug 17
We will continue to simplify this until we are back to chewing the raw cocoa leaves, which is what we all, ultimately, really want to do isn't it ? :-)

2014 Aug 17
It tastes like dry bitter chalky little chunks of cocoa beans in the form it comes in. I tried three different types and tried them in, for example hot chocolate. I ended up throwing it out. Expensive lesson. However, many people love it so maybe it is just me and the Dragons. I saw that episode as well.

2014 Aug 18
This is something I'd like to try as a hot drink on it's own; I am more likely to like it than my wife I think, but may find it unpalatable as felinefan did. My dd is more likely to like it than I am as she's a lover of deeply intense dark chocolate. I'll have to ask her if she has tried it.
Now Francis, here is something else you might like to investigate and try. My son told me about Bulletproof Coffee a couple days ago www.bulletproofexec.com He enjoys it made with coconut oil rather than the MCT (medium chain triglycerides), butter and locally roasted OFT coffee. Now that's something I really don't think I'd like but I may try it, though maybe I'll wait til he's here for a visit next month if he's still drinking it then.

2014 Aug 18
If you want to try it, I found a link on the canadian website for a variety pack (and the cost per gram is slightly cheaper than the regular product, and shipping is free). www.criobru.ca/variety-packs/

I tried to order it last night, but I couldn't get past "verifiedbyvisa" in the checkout, ugh ! As an IT person glitchy shopping carts really annoy me. I emailed them. I still want to try it.

I drink my coffee black, and my tea plain. I love espresso and moka coffee (no sweetener). I may like this stuff.

I looked up the price of raw cocoa beans and nibs and they are not cheap. The price of the Crio Bru compares favorably by weight to the raw beans and nibs.

Meh, if I don't like the brew, I can always use the powder in cooking or something, or blend it with coffee to up the antioxidants . . .

Anything Kevin O'Leary hates can't be all bad, right ? [I watched the shark tank episode on youtube, O'Leary said it was a dumb product becuase the Mayan went extinct, or something like that. LOL.]

I'll check out the bulletproof coffee link. Thanks.


2014 Aug 18
I'll be very interested to read what you think of it. It may be that it is one of those products that you either love or hate, kind of like cilantro.:)

2014 Aug 18
Really? There are people who hate cilantro? C'est impossible, non? =;0)

2014 Aug 18
My wife hates cilantro, I can't have it in the house.

Some people have a gene that makes it smell like stinky socks, rather than lemony.

2014 Aug 18
Chef talk about cacoa powder vs cocoa powder:

www.cheftalk.com

Quote:

..and here is my reasoning and experience of 15 years in the cocoa business, and as a chemical engineer.

Cocoa powder and cacao powder is the same.
What is considered "raw" cacao is suppose to be a cocoa powder that has been in a process that never exceeded 110 degrees Fahrenheit...which is already an almost impossible scenario, since cocoa beans are grown in the Equator, and you may exceed that temperature while drying in the patio under the sun covered with black linens (to heat it up and allow the fermentation of the bean)....and yes, you need to dry them, otherwise they will rotten in a few days, and the shell will be too difficult to peel off.

Back to cocoa powder....
ALL cocoa powder comes from the cocoa bean, which without the shell is called cocoa nib (a.k.a. cacao nib). The first step is grinding of the nib (which again, when you grind something to such small particle size you will create a lot of friction with -that's right - heat!). That will give you the cocoa/cacao paste (a.k.a. cacao mass or liquor), which has about 50 to 56% fat (cocoa butter) in it...and ALL cocoa powders have to go through that stage.

Next stage is to take some of that butter away, which the raw community claims can be done through "cold pressing". For any that don't understand that term, cold pressing is done with oils like olive oil to preserve the oil almost intact by cooling the press plates while applying pressure (pressure generates heat, therefore it needs to be cooled). But here is a reminder, olive oil is liquid in room temperature, cocoa butter is SOLID, and it STARTS melting at about 100 degrees Fahrenheit ... so, you cannot control and cool it to a point where it will be still in a solid phase, because it cannot be pressed and "flow" out.

Last operation is to grind the solids left in the press, again - heat...and there is your cocoa powder or cacao powder... you tell me if you call it "raw", a term not defined by the FDA for cocoa, and that can be used by anyone just to sell the cocoa to a much higher price. Maybe that is why bigger, more serious companies don't have this product, since they do not want to be liable for false advertising...

Regarding "Raw" cocoa nibs or cocoa beans...yes, that is possible, and the only concern is the high bacteriological plate count... but how much you want to train your immune system is up to each individual. And yes, the less manipulated the cocoa, the more polyphenols and healthy chemicals you will obtain from it.

There is also a difference between alkalized or ducthed powders, and the natural ones (which do not contain any potassium carbonate), being the second ones the ones containing more of the healthy properties (antioxidants). But that is totally different than claiming a "raw" cocoa powder.

So, that is my explanation, and again, I respect anyone's opinion on what they want to eat or how they want to consume it. I just disagree with misleading the general public just to make juicy profits.

2014 Aug 23
While waiting for my Crio Bru Variety pack I decided to try brewing some Fry's Cocoa powder in a moka pot. 1 tsp coffee, then two tsp cocoa, and then a bit more coffee to fill the basket.

You know, it's not half bad, neither bitter nor watery.

The moka pot may be the way to make this cocoa drink, black.

Fry's cocoa is also a heck of a lot cheaper than Crio Bru.

2014 Aug 23
Francis, did you order the Crio Bru?

2014 Aug 23
@Feline, yes I ordered the Variety pack sampler last week (free shipping). It's coming from Alberta and hasn't arrived yet.

So in the meantime I've been experimenting with brewing cocoa powder . . . black. The secret in getting a rich taste (not watery or chalky) is to do a concentrated extraction. I've tried a moka pot, then I used a home espresso machine. That formed a thick slab of chocolate in the filter basket, the slab then cracked to let the water through. So far the best extraction has been in a Bialetti Moka Express, 3 cup.

Coffee brews best under 100C, but I don't know if it's the same for cocoa. I'll have to try different methods.

So how did it turn out in the moka pot? Well, kind of chocolaty, not bitter. Satisfying but no caffeine buzz. I did enjoy it. I was not like a hot chocolate, which I expect gets it's richness from milk solids and sugar.

2014 Aug 25
My crio bru sampler arrived. The bags are very small . . .

Hummm, for the life of me, I don't see any difference between Crio Bru and raw cocoa powder from the supermarket . . .

It's a rich, slight bitter drink though. Here is my brewing technique:

Fill the basket of a 3 cup moka pot in thin alternating layers of coffee and cocoa powder, misting each layer. Boil some water and fill the moka pot to the level of the valve. Assemble and brew it.

If you use a new moka pot, brew through a few batches of very salty water first, to rid it of the new metal taste.

Brewed pure in a moka pot, it has a slightly bitter, slightly sour taste, but enjoyable. It didn't clog the moka pot. The grind is a bit coarser than baking cocoa.

2014 Aug 28
Ok. The Crio Bru product is different from the baking cocoa powder, because it seems most baking cocoa uses the "Dtuch Process" and this lowers the flavanoid content of the product (while making it less bitter and more soluable).

en.wikipedia.org

Dutch process cocoa is on the left. It's darker. Non-dutch process is on the right, and that is the color of Crio Bru and also natural raw cocoa powder.

I tried just mixing the powder in water. It's a lot less strong than using the moka pot and less rich and satisfying.

With the moka pot, I notice the residue still smells like rich dark chocolate, so it's a shame to throw it away.

2014 Sep 12
One of my friends loves Crio Bru. He uses a French press, but he lets it brew for at least 5 minutes.