GC7 wrote:In general though I've thought the Ethiopians shine when they roast a bit quicker.

This has been my realization and I'm 100% in agreement. Except for Ethiopians which are very acidic, you can usually go lighter and lighter for more improvement until you hit the threshold of vegetal favors.

GC7 wrote:

Any idea if this is actually the same coffee as the one sold at Royal?

The Captains Coffee sells it and they mention its's a Crown Jewel. "This premium coffee is a Royal Crown Jewel selection, meaning it's the true top shelf, best of the best coffee. Carefully curated by Bedhatu Jibicho, who has personally managed her farm for over 50 years,.."

Burman has sold it along with the washed version I believe for at least the last couple of years. The write up for background is pretty much the same but I don't assume it is the same lot. This isn't a special hand sorted COE type of offering so I might believe they were the same or very similar offering.

I got mine from Happy Mug and the listing has disappeared. I don't recall them using the term Crown Jewel or Royal.

The one we have is a different lot number than the 22lb box sold through the Crown Jewel store but is the same exact coffee. I asked my broker outright because I was confused as well and they explained the different lot number was purely to classify it as a full bag rather than 22lb box. We ran through our bag this weekend but I'm ordering more if it's still available and should have it in stock by middle next week! My roasting experience was what I've seen echoed here: nice quick roast pulled shortly (around 30 secs) after beginning of FC, best flavors at 4 to 5 days post roast. I don't have my log in front of me but I believe my best roast was just over 7 minutes based on cupping and pour over tests.

Currently drinking a roast that's about one week out. It wasn't the best roast -- slight crash at the end, higher BT drop than I would have liked -- but it's very good. In the first day or two after roasting I caught sharper lemon/apricot flavors, which I posted about earlier in this thread, but now the berry is coming through along with some grape candy and florals. Makes me wonder how good this is going to be when I dial the roast in!