Introducing roast color analyzer and particle analyzer

Up until now, our roasting degree has been determined by the weight difference before and after roasting and the roasting stop temperature. The standard value is 214℃ for a 12 minute roasting time, and the roasting degree is 214/250, which is 0.856.

This can result in some beans being full city in weight but city in temperature. We wanted to be able to quantitatively determine this, so we introduced a roast color analyzer.

A roast color analyzer measures the color of coffee beans using near-infrared light and expresses it in an Agtron value (some stores also judge the color based on brightness, etc.).

The Agtron value is a value that is widely used by roasters around the world, and allows the degree of roasting to be expressed on a global standard scale. However, the original equipment that can calculate the Agtron value, the Agtron scale, is quite expensive, so there are no prospects for introducing it at the moment. Therefore, we are introducing a measuring device that simulates the Agtron value. There is a paper that I have read about a method of calculating the Agtron value using near-infrared rays, so I think that is the method they are using.

You can judge the degree of roasting using color samples, but the color that the human eye perceives changes subtly depending on the environment. I feel the importance of managing the color numerically all the more in my everyday design work, so I felt that we needed to hurry up and introduce this kind of measuring device.

The mechanism of this roast color analyzer allows it to be expanded to measure the size of coffee beans from the data obtained (CV = computer vision). There are several products on the market that use this to calculate the size distribution of ground coffee beans. We have introduced this in our store and will use the particle analyzer to adjust the grinder we use to sell ground coffee.

The particle analyzer calculates the size distribution of the sample from the image and displays whether it is fine or coarse. This is useful when adjusting the grinder, and also helps to ensure that the grind is always consistent when selling to customers.

Since our store is called a LAB, we would like to increase the number of measuring devices like this. The next one is water activity value.