A machine with a taste for espresso
Posted by TheShot on 09 Feb 2008 | Tagged as: CoffeeRatings.com, Quality Issues
What will those wacky Swiss think up next? Apparently, it’s an espresso-tasting machine: A machine with a taste-for espresso.
Yes, it’s the latest invention from the people who brought us yodeling and clandestine overseas bank accounts. But with the Swiss, it’s not all good stuff. They have also brought us brain-dead, monkey-operated, superautomated espresso machines — such as those manufactured by Franke, Nespresso, the Schaerer. (The latter of which is responsible for the dreaded Verismo, part of a secret Swiss plot to bring about the downfall of Starbucks.)
So the nation that has built robots to do everything from stacking wheels of cheese to pumping out sickly cups of espresso has turned its attention to espresso tasting. (More sophisticated coffee industry robots that also wear hoodies and bike messenger bags, collect tatts, and listen to Cat Power on iPods are apparently still in the works.)
The machine operates by analyzing gases released by a heated espresso sample. By evaluating some of the over 1,500 aromatic and flavor compounds in a brewed espresso, the developers hope to replace a lot of the human profiling that still goes on in coffee production. A study on the effectiveness of the device, which is rumored to be nearly as accurate as a panel of trained human espresso tasters, is planned for publication in the March issue of Analytical Chemistry.
Robots to brew, robots to drink
The coffee industry still relies heavily on human senses for evaluating what makes a good cup. While some day a Swiss-made, espresso-tasting robot may put CoffeeRatings.com out of business, I was also struck by something James Freeman told me yesterday at his new Blue Bottle Cafe. He took a moment to sample his siphon bar coffee after serving it — noting how he was impressed with how the bartenders at his neighborhood Nopa often sample their cocktails from the ends of stirring straws as a way to keep tabs on the resulting product.
Technology can go a long way towards modeling the physical world. But until coffee is served by robots for robots, chances are that some things just can’t be replaced without the human touch.
UPDATE: Feb. 12, 2008
More news of this story is starting to hit the presses. This includes the Royal Society of Chemistry, which uses espresso-tasting profile charts as illustrated by the Centro Studi e Formazione Assaggiatori: Machines get a taste for espresso. There’s also the actual ACS publication: When Machine Tastes Coffee: Instrumental Approach To Predict the Sensory Profile of Espresso Coffee, where other blogs have excerpted some of its illustrations. Plus a weak, one-minute audio spot from Scientific American: Scientific American: Coffee Tasting Machine Stirs Industry.
4 Comments »
on 10 Feb 2008 at 12:28 am -06:00T 1.Wayne said …
Ciao Greg,
I have to say, you have one of the best coffee blogs I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen quite a few.
Re the Swiss, they’re an odd lot, eh? They rule the super-automatic espresso field, for what it’s worth, but they still make the Olympia Cremina, the Mother of All Levers. Go figure.
BTW, have you heard about Starbucks getting Clover machines?! I’m serious! First they look like they’re on the ropes, resorting to $1 drip java to pull in the punters, and then they get Clovers?! Those sneaky bastards!
Still, I’m gonna check out Blue Bottle Cafe first. I may own a Sirena, but I’m not a complete idiot!
Happy Brewing,
Wayne
on 10 Feb 2008 at 12:47 pm -06:00T 2.TheShot said …
Thanks, Wayne. You do know flattery will get you nowhere. But given that we don’t even accept advertising, we’ll take it!
The Swiss seem to be masters at creating engineering solutions to human factor problems. More power to them — I’m not at all anti-technology (it is my day job, after all). That probably has a lot to do with their love of mechanical precision combined with seriously high labor costs and prohibitively expensive immigration policies.
I did see that Starbucks purchased a couple of Clover machines recently. Two down, only 14,998 to go (to supply their retail cafés). Though I’m sure they purchased them for research purposes. But combining that odd news with their new “dollar days” promotion really makes you wonder, given their recent shake-up, if they replaced their executive VP of corporate strategy with a Magic 8-ball.
And I wouldn’t necessarily knock the Sirena — other than I don’t want BMW Design Works involved in my espresso production just as I wouldn’t trust Starbucks with the anti-lock brakes on my car.
That said, it sounds like one of their better home private labels in quite a while.
Thanks for posting. And do check out Blue Bottle Cafe. I’ve been there four of the past five mornings — it’s becoming a nasty habit already. (Their simple breakfast/brunch menu is also a standout.)
on 12 Feb 2008 at 1:30 am -06:00T 3.Andrew Porter said …
I would disagree with some of your premise -Does Starbucks really make coffee? Does it therefore need [ or anyone else ] to blame any manufacturer for the quality of its product?
The Swiss make the best bean to cup - reliable easy to use, yes you can be ‘brain dead’ press a button and get a reasonable cup of coffee -but there is a good computer expression very relevant to the coffee industry ~ “rubbish in, rubbish out!”
on 12 Feb 2008 at 8:03 am -06:00T 4.TheShot said …
That’s kind of where I will have to disagree with some of your premise, Andrew. I think the Swiss are great at making consistent, fault-intolerant coffee that is always better than average — but consistently incapable of any “greatness”.
I’ve had amazing espresso shots made for me by champion baristas around the world. And one thing they’ve all had in common is that they invariably test and toss out shots that don’t meet their standards. Just in the process of making me a cup.
Which isn’t to say the Swiss machine manufacturers don’t have room to improve upon where they are now. It’s just that they are too intolerant of that kind of “waste” to entertain the chance at making something truly that good with their devices. To some degree, greatness requires risk — and there’s no room for risk in the Swiss equation.