Tasting Crio Bru Brewed Cacao

Saw an add for this and it sounded interesting. Crio Bru is similar to coffee, but instead of using coffee beans, it uses cacao beans. It's ground the same way and brewed the same way as coffee, but like all chocolate, it has almost no caffeine. Rather, the pick-me-up from chocolate, and this, comes from theobromine (and the sugar in most chocolate foods/drinks). 

Full disclosure: Not getting paid for this, didn't get any free product, I paid the full price for the full-sized bag and two sampler bags. Just thought it sounded interesting and that others might also find it so! 

I bought the Nicaragua medium roast, already ground. You can smell the cacao through the bag - I think there's a port in it similar to higher-end whole bean coffee. It looked like a pretty coarse grind. 

I brewed it per the package directions - 2 tbsp cacao per 8 oz cold water. Standard Black & Decker drop coffeemaker; of interest, they say to use a permanent gold filter rather than a paper one. It doesn't say why, but it says "no paper filters" repeatedly on the website. As it brewed, it filled my kitchen with the smell of chocolate. 

Normally I drink my coffee with no sugar and a little 1% milk. I decided that, to get the full experience, I needed to try this black, as I normally do, and with some sugar. 

Black: As I raised the cup to drink it, the chocolate aroma intensified but was never overwhelming. It's pretty bitter, a little more so than coffee. I could drink it this way, but not sure I could do my usual 1-1.5 full pots a day black. 

White: About the same; the bitterness wasn't really cut. 

Sweet: As you'd expect, it's not that far off from hot cocoa. The mouthfeel is different - since I use 1% milk, it's not nearly as thick and rich as most cocoas are. Much stronger aroma of cocoa than actual taste. 

The key question: how's it compare to caffeinated coffee? 

Cost: $14.95 for 10-oz bag. https://www.criobru.com