Grinders' colour sorter keeps coffee beans in check

Grinders Coffee has started using electronic colour sorting technology which ensures only whole beans are packed in every bag.

The V400 Electronic Colour Sorter will work with the coffee company's existing quality management processes to ensure the best possible product.

General manager Neale Wood said the sorter was sourced from a company called ASM in Bologna, Italy.

The technology has already proved effective in industries such as rice and grain, and Grinders is the first company in the southern hemisphere to use it with coffee, according to Wood.

Due to custom modifications, it acts as a final check on Grinders’ roasted beans before they are packed, with a series of 16 colour and infrared cameras analysing the size, shape, colour and density of the beans.

Inferior product is ejected through a series of 288 air ejectors.

“Unlike other technology in the Australian coffee industry, the technology allows us to capture foreign materials that are otherwise identical in size and weight to coffee beans,” Wood said.

“Depending on the recipe, its settings can be changed to accommodate light and dark roasts.

“Interestingly, since we installed the new machine two weeks ago, examination of some of the rejected beans has revealed that despite their completely normal appearance, many have natural imperfections that significantly impact their taste.”

The machine also removes broken beans that have a higher chance of being over-roasted or even scorched when roasted and, due to their incomplete structure, don’t retain freshness in the same way as whole beans.

The machine is now operational at Grinders’ coffee roasting house in Fairfield, Sydney, and has the capacity to check 5000 kilograms of roasted beans per hour.