Published on January 13, 2006
Coffee lovers are almost unanimous in their preference for fresh coffee over the instant variety, and many of them who use coffee roasters know exactly how difficult it is to get that perfect taste.
The trouble with a roaster is that it’s very difficult to prevent the beans from being overroasted, thus ruining your hopes of sipping that perfect brew. During the roasting process it’s very important to keep a check on the time and the temperature needed to roast the coffee beans, which is generally between 150 and 200 degrees Celsius.
At present, users of coffee roasters have to rely on their own expertise while calculating the time needed to roast each type of bean. Aiming to eliminate this problem, Ing Doy Company Limited, which is an OEM supplier of coffee roasters to coffee shops across Thailand, has been working on the prototype of a new machine. Jarad Khemasmitt, Ing Doy’s director, explained that oxygen plays a key role in the rapid burning of coffee beans, both during roasting and cooking. At present, a roasting machine allows oxygen to come into full contact with the beans. This often leads to the beans being over roasted or worse, being burnt, he added. Jarad said: “We needed to remove oxygen from the process to eliminate the problem of uncontrollable burning. Therefore Ing Doy is developing a machine that uses a vacuum box where coffee beans can be fed in and roasted without any contact with oxygen.” The new roaster is also equipped with a pump that works to suck the air from the cooking area. By doing this, the temperature during the roasting process is controlled automatically. There is also a system that pours water into the machine to cool the roasted beans. Jarad said that the new roaster is the first of its kind in the world and his company is going to file a patent application for “the perfect roaster”. Wipaphan Sangsomboon, factory manager of Ing Doy, said the prototype would be completed by the middle of the year. If it lives up to expectations, the company may consider producing the vacuum coffee roasters commercially. The National Innovation Agency (NIA), which finances innovative projects, has approved Bt800,000 for the development and production of the new roaster. At present, Ing Doy produces about 10 tonnes of roasted coffee annually. It markets three types of fresh coffee: Premium Blend, which is made of 100 per cent Arabica, and Royal Blend and Special Blend which are mixtures of Arabica and Robusta. suchalee@nationgroup.com Suchalee Pongprasert The Nation
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