MWJB Thank you!
Wouldn’t clarity be associated with telling the notes apart — say a bag specifies blueberry and blackberry as notes? This is assuming the roaster descriptions of the roast and notes are correct, which aren’t the case with a lot of roasters.
So a lack of clarify would mean the cup is muddled, which some ascribe to Conical. We have got to make too assumptions before taking the lack of clarity seriously. Some examples assumptions are no roasting, puck prep, dialling malfunctions.
When a barista on the YT says pay attention to clarity and not the body, they seldom explain what a clarity is and why it is important over the body / texture.
I am not sure brightness is clarity. You say Niche gives a brighter cup. The JX pro cup is equally brighter, even when I pull a shot off a medium dark bag. I can’t say it gives clarity in the cup vs pulling a shot of the same bag from a flat grinder. I haven’t tried and therefore I do not know.
This is far too a complex and a disputed area. I don’t think there will ever be an agreement on this subject.
I am not surprised you find the recent light roasts bag are on the darker side. I can understand in the case of decaf.
It does disappoint me when I find the bags are a lot darker or inconsistently roasted.
When I find the roasts and notes are way off the description, I begin to suspect that those descriptions are pure marketing key words.
It will a good read if you could link the SCAA study.
Edit :
Members here or on other forums can learn a lot from members like you. So, we are better informed than the majority. Unfortunately, the general public or lots of home baristas have to rely on opinions expressed by the You Tubers.