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Cropster : practical case
Jérémie Vergne | 2019-03-12
Last time round, I presented the different tools of Cropster Roast, but to fully understand Cropster, there's nothing better than a concrete example!
At roasting training sessions at Belco's School of Coffee, we conduct different types of practical exercises. One of the first of these concerns total roasting time and its impact on a coffee's sensory profile. Precisely in this exercise, participants in the training roasted a coffee with two different roasting times, one of 9 minutes and the other of 10 minutes 59. As you can see on the comparison of the curves, the final temperature as well as the time and ratio of bean development (time between the first crack and the end of roasting) are very similar on both roasts
Only the total time between two roasts is highly different and therefore the power of the gas sent to each bean (by looking closely we can also see a different starting temperature, but in this particular case, it has been the roaster who didn't put the automatic start detection function...) Quality control carried out using Cropster Cup by training participants shows that for this fully washed Ethiopian Ayana, roasting curve 390 (red) is clearly scored higher (by nearly two points) compared to roasting curve 397 (blue).
Fig 2 : comparison of two curves
Furthermore, criteria scored by participants is unmistakable between the two roasts. We can actually see negative notes appear (grain and cereal, dry sensation in the mouth, burnt caramel) which make you think of defects which we often find with a roast that has been too quick. Based on the cupping results, the roaster will (likely) select curve 390 as reference which the software then automatically uses as a profile benchmark during and after roasting as a means to keep track of consistency. You can then choose to reproduce this curve using the previous setting you used (burner power, fan...) or try to improve the roast of this coffee by tweaking your ROR on the final part of roast 390. I feel that this example allows you to easily understand the benefits of Cropster. By memorizing all your data, by carrying out regular quality control on your production, you will be able to understand much more easily how your equipment works, how your coffees react in your roaster's drum. You can also see much more easily any areas for improving your roasts and so get steadily closer to the Holy Grail which is so difficult to achieve on our favorite product. Consistency and a better understanding of our coffees.... to the delight of your customers!
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Fig 1 : cropster roasting curve
Only the total time between two roasts is highly different and therefore the power of the gas sent to each bean (by looking closely we can also see a different starting temperature, but in this particular case, it has been the roaster who didn't put the automatic start detection function...) Quality control carried out using Cropster Cup by training participants shows that for this fully washed Ethiopian Ayana, roasting curve 390 (red) is clearly scored higher (by nearly two points) compared to roasting curve 397 (blue).
Fig 2 : comparison of two curves
Furthermore, criteria scored by participants is unmistakable between the two roasts. We can actually see negative notes appear (grain and cereal, dry sensation in the mouth, burnt caramel) which make you think of defects which we often find with a roast that has been too quick. Based on the cupping results, the roaster will (likely) select curve 390 as reference which the software then automatically uses as a profile benchmark during and after roasting as a means to keep track of consistency. You can then choose to reproduce this curve using the previous setting you used (burner power, fan...) or try to improve the roast of this coffee by tweaking your ROR on the final part of roast 390. I feel that this example allows you to easily understand the benefits of Cropster. By memorizing all your data, by carrying out regular quality control on your production, you will be able to understand much more easily how your equipment works, how your coffees react in your roaster's drum. You can also see much more easily any areas for improving your roasts and so get steadily closer to the Holy Grail which is so difficult to achieve on our favorite product. Consistency and a better understanding of our coffees.... to the delight of your customers!
