Across all levels of the supply chain, specialty coffee has fully embraced automation. For an industry that was once defined by its emphasis on artisanry and craftsmanship, this underscores a significant shift in favour of consistency and quality control.
With recent advances in technology, automation has reduced, and in some cases eliminated, the possibilities of human error in tasks like roasting and brewing. In turn, businesses can offer consistent, uniform coffee experiences – an increasingly important factor for consumers.
But even as automation transforms the industry, optimising efficiency and standardising the scaling of operations, many roasters and café owners still hold onto the essence of specialty coffee: craft and artistry. Striking the right balance between these and automation has become essential for businesses to thrive in an increasingly competitive market while still retaining their brand identity and values.
I spoke to Stephen Brown, owner of artisan roaster and pottery maker Potterbeans in Cornwall, UK, to find out more.
You may also like our article on how super automatics will help specialty coffee become more accessible – but at what cost?
Automation has redefined roasting
Coffee roasting is an ancient practice dating back to the 15th century in Africa and the Middle East. Over the last hundred or so years, technology has transformed the process, emphasising a much bigger focus on consistency and quality control.
Automation emerged over the last few decades as a way for roasters to precisely measure and manipulate a variety of roasting parameters, including temperature, time, and airflow. In turn, roasters can create repeatable, customised profiles that highlight a coffee’s best characteristics at the touch of a button – massively improving efficiency and elevating coffee quality.
“The ability to collect and share data from thermocouples located in the bean pile and other areas of the machine has accelerated learning for everyone involved in coffee roasting,” Stephen says.
In specialty coffee in particular, industry professionals are leveraging automation to push the boundaries of roasting even further, developing innovative new techniques that unlock the full spectrum of a coffee’s flavours and aromas.
“Our willingness to share that information across online platforms has allowed people from outside the industry to enter the mix, often bringing unique approaches that don’t follow common practices and traditional approaches,” Stephen adds.
But it’s still an art form
Third wave and specialty coffee were born from a desire to “do things differently” in the industry, defined by their emphasis on craft and artistry. Terms like “hand roasted” and “hand brewed” were common, highlighting the technical skill of roasters and baristas to bring out the best attributes of coffee.
While recent cutting-edge technology has improved consistency in roasting, it remains an art which must be mastered with practice and experience. High-quality roasting still requires in-depth knowledge about a number of variables, including origin, variety, processing method, and bean density, underscoring the time and effort needed to develop the necessary skills.
As manufacturers integrate more automated and AI-driven features in their machines, roast profile development is set to evolve even further, arguably making it easier to create and duplicate roasting curves. Some argue that this risks eroding the skill and intuition that great roasters need to have, but ultimately, human-driven actions will always be essential to the roasting process.
“As I understand it, despite all the technological advances, there are certain scenarios that arise where software might not be able to navigate an unforeseen blip in the roasting process in the same way that an experienced roaster could,” Stephen says.
“We are not at a point just yet where it’s possible to give up the reins entirely.”
Maintaining a connection to roasting
Specialty coffee is a differentiated product, underscored by the attention to detail that actors contribute to the supply chain. Producers take great care growing, harvesting, and processing their coffee, while exporters ensure shipments are stored and transported correctly to maintain quality.
Baristas, meanwhile, prepare drinks with precision and consistency, while roasters spend time understanding different variables that affect the flavour development of their coffees to achieve the best results. Across the board, human intervention plays an important role in the final product.
“The most important connections that a roaster has with coffee are before it goes into the machine drum and how it tastes once it leaves the roaster,” Stephen says. “Through these connections, you can better understand the factors that impact flavour, such as origin, processing method, and altitude.”
A growing reliance on technology, however, can increase the risk of losing the human touch that adds value to the industry. Overusing automated and AI-driven features can dilute the craft elements of roasting in specialty coffee, diminishing its point of differentiation.
To maintain a connection with the roasting process and highlight its artisanal aspects, Potterbeans uses locally sourced oak wood to roast its coffee. This age-old method largely fell out of fashion in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as gas and electric-powered machines became increasingly popular.
“It was very much by chance that we acquired a dual-fuelled roaster,” Stephen tells me. “We intended to set it up as a gas powered machine, but I first wanted to try wood roasting.
“After tasting the results, I decided that this was how we were going to roast coffee. It was a very memorable moment.”
The impact of wood roasting on coffee flavour
Gas became the go-to heat source for many roasters in the early 1900s, allowing them to easily control roasting temperatures, while electric machines some decades later helped coffee businesses reduce their operating costs and improve consistency.
Still, there is a niche community in specialty coffee that has kept the tradition of wood roasting alive. Roasting over wood is a slower process compared to using gas or electricity, largely because wood contains between 12 and 15% moisture, whereas gas is a dry natural heat source.
“It was very important to us that the wood wasn’t kiln-dried, which burns fuel to create fuel, and was locally sourced,” Stephen says. “Sustainability was our prime motivator, but we have since become aware of how solar-dried wood benefits coffee quality.”
Higher levels of moisture inevitably prolong the first stage of the roasting process, known as the drying phase, requiring a more skilled and careful approach.
The result is a full-bodied, smooth flavour profile that retains more of the coffee’s natural oils, helping to balance acidity and sweetness – making it an ideal option for espresso in particular.
Balancing artisanry with consistency
For roasters to find success in today’s market and meet consumer expectations, consistency is everything. But simultaneously, specialty coffee companies need to stay on brand and retain a focus on craft, which means balancing both has never been more important.
Stephen explains that to achieve this, Potterbeans implements a number of quality control processes to capture and analyse roasting data.
“Measuring mass lost during roasting and collecting as much data as possible ensures we can recreate our successes and understand how to eliminate any defects that can happen,” he says. “In addition to this, we use and target specific percentages of mass loss during the roast to help gauge the roast level and bean colour.”
In an increasingly automated industry, holding onto craftsmanship and human skill is essential to keep the values of specialty coffee intact. Much like the trending “wood-fired pizza”, wood coffee roasting conveys a handcrafted quality that attracts a certain corner of the market.
According to research, 77% of consumers are willing to pay more for products they perceive as handcrafted. The artisanal quality of specialty coffee stands out as a point of differentiation in an increasingly commercialised market, allowing roasters to find their niche.
Craftmanship is synonymous with skill
Technological advancements in roasting certainly free up roasters’ bandwidth for other tasks, allowing them to focus on other areas of their business, but human touch and skill will always be integral.
As it’s the primary fuel source, the quality of wood affects the roasting process. Managing key variables like moisture, density, and size requires intuition and experience to achieve the optimal results, making human-driven actions indispensable.
Stephen explains how he and his team carry out visual and tactile assessments to understand how much energy a piece of wood may release as it burns. A quick visual assessment is also done between roasts to check how much energy is left in the existing fire, along with checking the machine’s drum temperature to assess whether more wood needs to be added to complete the next roast.
Automation has transformed and benefitted coffee roasting in endless ways, but retaining an emphasis on craft and artisanry will always be a part of specialty coffee.
While it can streamline operations and improve efficiency, automated technology can never fully replace human instinct, skill, and knowledge acquired through experience – which is what makes specialty coffee so unique.
Enjoyed this? Then read our article on why balancing efficiency and service is crucial for coffee shops.
Photo credits: Potterbeans
Perfect Daily Grind
Please note: Potterbeans is a sponsor of Perfect Daily Grind.
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