Allowing the beans to roast to a higher temperature produces (you guessed it) a darker colored bean. This produces toasty carbony flavors, and often a complex sweetness from the caramelizing of the natural sugars in the coffee.
Coffees from some regions of the world seem to lend themselves better than others to a lighter roast. This roast is often referred to as a "City Roast", or a little darker is a "Full City Roast". Ethiopia produces some of my favorite coffees, and when lightly roasted the resulting brew has amazing floral and fruity flavors. So when I heard Starbucks was releasing a single origin Ethiopian coffee - I was anxious to try it out.
I'm sad to report that the SBX Ethiopian is roasted too dark. Mind you - it's a delicious cup of coffee, but to roast Ethiopian coffee into dark roast territory destroys all the lovely happiness that occurs in a light roast.
Starbucks makes plenty of dark roast coffees....so many, in fact, they earned themselves the nickname "Charbucks" from many of the coffee aficionado crowd. Not only do they not need another dark roast coffee in their lineup, but roasting Ethiopian this dark is senseless.
I suppose after nearly falling in love with the Kati Kati blend SBX released a few months ago - my expectations for the single origin Ethiopian were unrealistically high. Unfortunately, I'm having trouble distinguishing a difference between this and their French Roast (although admittedly I'm finding it more interesting, and will surely try it again).
SBX Ethiopian synopsis? Good coffee - yes. Better than the celebration of mediocrity that is Pike Place - yes. Good Ethiopian - no.
