Coffee Roast Analyzer Questions

coffeescience

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Hi All,

I'm an optical scientist, and also have a love for coffee, so I've been kicking around the idea of developing a coffee analyzer. I'd be curious what others think might be important to measure for roasters in particular. My target device would probably be in the ~$1000 range, so not super expensive but also not something a hobbyist would likely purchase- I would expect medium sized and up roasters might find it valuable. Given the price range there's going to be some trade off in what can be done without making an expensive or difficult to use analyzer. I envision a handheld device that you could put up against some ground roasted (or green) coffee beans. Here's some ideas I have so far:
1. Roast color- visible color indication
2. Infrared roast color- similar to Agtron
3. Oil content- not sure if this is important?
4. maybe some volatile gases in the freshly ground sample? Sub 1 mg/L (1ppm) values are likely not possible but maybe.

Would any of this be of potential use to test either the coffee quality or roast quality? Are there other parameters that might be of importance? Any advice on potential parameters to measure as well as whether the price range makes sense are appreciated.

Thanks everyone!
 

coffeescience

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Yes, I have heard of them. My understanding was that their device is ~$10k and only measures the roast color in the IR- I think there's room for improvement to that both in price and measured parameters.
 

JumpinJakJava

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Hello Coffeescience --there is always room for true technology. Especially when it may be cost effective for small batch roasters to utilize such a tool.
And maybe not so small roasters! Often though in marketing, the big names(out there), such as Sae mentioned(Agtron), and others with proven products
also established in the coffee world have a great advantage. But not insurmountable. So consider this encouragement in your endeavor. Who knows,
someday you may be the best new product at one of the many Coffee Fests. I have often thought of purchasing some "tools" such as color comparisons
and true bean moisture. The problem often is when you set aside $ for the purchases, other bills or needs appear. Such is life.
 

expat

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I think the more information I can get pre- and post-roast the better roaster I can be. So all the measurements you've mentioned, if tracked over time, could give me quite a bit of important data that could impact my roast quality. If you can work it in, pre- and post-roast moisture content would be nice measurements to have. Like JumpinJakJava, there are several pieces of coffee equipment on my wish list so something that gives the the measurements of device A, but at 10% or 20% of the price, makes it much more likely that I can move that from my wish list to my roastery and actually make good use of it.
 

coffeescience

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Thanks JumpinJak for the encouragement and info- I'll be doing some testing in the upcoming months to see what kind of accuracy I can get. It sounds like moisture might be a good one to look into as well, hadn't thought of that but it's pretty obvious and likely possible- thanks expat.
 

coffeescience

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By the way expat, I lived in Ireland for a few years back in 2007 over in Galway. Even in trendy Galway there wasn't any real gourmet coffee roasters, seems like Ireland would be a ripe place for a roaster...
 

coffeescience

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Thanks everyone, I'll see if we can get something working without breaking the bank. The Javalytics looks good but it's still $3k, which is pretty spendy for small and even medium roasters...
 

Sidram

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Maybe you can make one for cakes too. Why do you wish to take all the artistry out of roasting? It is like baking a cake. Coffee is going to be different from lot to lot. Unless your running a really big operation knowing the information is not really needed. Have fun and let it flow, artistry roasters need a bean analyzer as much as we need a computer controlled roaster.

I personally roast for the love of the coffee and what I can make. Just my $0.02
 

expat

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Sidram, Understood completely. We occasionally buy an unusual bag of coffee just because we want to give it a try. But we sell primarily to the retail market. The supermarkets only give you a few slots on the shelf and they don't want coffee beyond the 'set' coffees you supply them (the smaller the operation the more flexible but when you get into a big nationwide chain they don't want any surprises). Also your customers want what they want. For the most part they find a coffee of yours they love and stick with it. If you try and change them to something else, even if it is better, the probably won't want it.

So, with all that said, the roast analyzer would be great for us, and folks like us, because it is all about -- again, for our business model -- consistency and repeatability. Today's roast has to taste just like last month's roast and next month's roast. The more I can control the variables the easier that becomes for us.

And as an aside, I supply some high-end coffee shops with baristas crazy about their coffee but their customers take a lot of education. They don't want change. So maybe that is more of an Irish trait. It is certainly regional. In the west of Irealand, which is very rural, people aren't on the hunt for the next different coffee. But over on the east side of the country -- Dublin -- there is a burgeoning coffee culture and folks are much more open to change and 'adventure'.

And so it goes . . .
 

mfortin

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Hello,
What about this espressofriend.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=440
It is about 1400 USD. What about availability, reliability??
I would certainly be very interested by your idea of having a colorimeter at about 1000.
How long do you expect to be done with this project?
Regards
 
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