In third place, represented by our friend Peace who we’ve known for a few years now in the competition world, is Coffee Project NY! This natural Ethiopian feels a little bit like a throwback to 2015/2016 with the naturals we saw on everyone’s shelves- tons of blueberries and lots of sweetness!

We liked this coffee brewed at 195 F, it’s a bit more developed than what typically lands in a Roastful box but still really nice and sweet and well roasted

Grind size: Medium coarse grind size with relatively quick brew times adds to a bit of the clarity that can sometimes be lacking in naturally processed coffee

Rest time: You’re good to drink this one now!

In second place we saw Ash (NC native what’s up!) from Hydrangea put on a stellar performance! Great to see our friends from Hydrangea really crush it on the national stage- such a great roastery that is really building a lot of momentum! Enjoy quite a different experience from this washed Ethiopian than the natural from CPNY, though still quite full and sweet!

Brew temp: 195-205, play around with it, it has a lot of room to go up and down depending on your taste preferences!

Grind size: Medium- too fine and we lose a lot of the acidity, too coarse and we don’t get quite the sweetness we may want from it. I’d lean more coarse than fine though.

Rest time: drink this one last! Let it rest for a few weeks.

And in first place we have our new friend Esther from Kumquat coffee. This was her first US brewers cup and she walks away with the title- don’t get it twisted though, last year she won the April brewers cup championship making her the first champion of both here in the states! This maracaturra is a nice change up from the two Ethiopian coffees you have in the box alongside it.

Rest time: 1 week

Grind size: medium fine- you can likely go a little bit finer than the Hydrangea- with the caveat of...

Brew temp: 190 F- only if going fine. If you coarsen it up you can raise temp, but if you’re using finer grind size make sure to drop the temperature.