Know Your Beans: Quality Control of Coffee by Dynamic Image Analysis
Roasting and grinding are major sources of variability for the quality of coffee. Particle size measurement of whole roasted coffee beans with the Litesizer DIA highlights contamination with fine particles, while particle shape analysis underscores the degree of breakage. On ground coffee, particle size analysis is essential to tailor the grinding process to the brewing method.
With an estimated 2.2 billion cups drank each day, coffee is one of the most widely consumed beverages globally, and one of the most traded agricultural commodities. Its production is overwhelmingly concentrated in tropical regions, where it provides a key source of livelihood for an estimated 25 million farming households.
With such a variety of producers, coffee manufacturers need to perform strict quality control at all steps of the chain to ensure the continuity of their product’s sensory profile.
While the main sources of variability for green beans are climate, soil type, topography and storage, the roasting and grinding steps are also major sources of variability for the finished product.
Establishing morphological quality control criteria is an essential tool to minimize the amount of tasting necessary, both for whole roasted beans and for ground coffee. Here, we demonstrate how Litesizer DIA 500, Anton Paar’s Dynamic Image Analysis (DIA) instrument, can be used to perform this task.
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