The invention concerns an apparatus for roasting coffee beans comprising: a vessel (1) to contain coffee beans, a heating device (12) to heat coffee beans contained in the vessel, a control system (180) operable to control the heating device and configured to apply a roasting recipe (R), wherein for a customised quantity m of coffee beans of type Ny introduced inside the vessel, the control system is configured to obtain at least the quantity m of coffee beans introduced inside the vessel and the type Ny of coffee beans introduced inside the vessel, and based on the obtained type Ny, the control system is configured to get access at least to a roasting recipe Ry, said recipe being adapted to the roasting of one pre-determined quantity M of beans of type Ni, and to said pre-determined quantity M, and based on the accessible roasting recipe Ry and on said obtained quantity m of coffee beans introduced inside the vessel, the control system is configured to determine the roasting recipe (R) to be applied to the quantity m of coffee beans of type Ny introduced inside the vessel.

An apparatus includes a receptacle configured to receive a container containing a substance for processing. The container includes a readable tag having processing information associated with the substance. The apparatus also includes a processing chamber operably coupled to the receptacle and configured to receive the substance and process the substance. The apparatus further includes a controller operably coupled to the processing chamber and configured to generate one or more processing instructions based on the processing information in the readable tag and further based on additional processing information received from a remote device. The processing is also configured to process the substance based on the one or more processing instructions.

A bean roasting system includes a removable vessel, a roasting drum, and air handling system, a roasted bean container, an air outlet conduit, a coupling, an air exit subsystem, and a fluid conduit. The removable vessel includes a residual chaff chamber and a residual water chamber fluidically isolated from each other by an inner wall. The roasted bean container is configured to receive roasted beans from the roasting chamber. The air outlet conduit couples the roasting drum to a chaff separator. The coupling couples the chaff separator to the residual chaff chamber of the removable vessel. The air exit subsystem removes exhaust air from the air exit subsystem and/or roasted bean container. The fluid conduit routes condensed water from the air exit subsystem to the residual water chamber of the removable vessel.

A bean roasting system comprises a roasting drum including (1) a housing enclosing a roasting chamber and having a curved inner surface defined by a curved lower wall, and (2) an air inlet chamber fluidically coupled to the roasting chamber and configured to direct air toward the curved inner surface which redirects the air in a first rotational direction. A distal end of each blade from a plurality of blades is disposed from a axis of rotation toward the curved lower wall by a distance no greater than R. The curved lower wall is spaced at least a distance R+G from the axis of rotation to provide a minimum gap G. The agitator blade set and the directed air are collectively prevents accumulation of beans along the curved lower surface during a roasting process.

An apparatus according to an embodiment includes a bean roaster core, an autoloader configured to be removably coupled to the bean roaster core, and a bulk receiver configured to be removably coupled to the bean roaster core. The bean roaster core includes a roasting drum and a recirculating air subsystem fluidically coupled to the roasting drum, and has a single-batch configuration and a multi-batch configuration. The bean roaster core is in the multi-batch configuration when the autoloader is removably coupled to the bean roaster core. The autoloader is not removably coupled to the bean roaster core when the bean roaster core is in the single-batch configuration. The bulk receiver is configured to receive a product or a byproduct of a roasting process from the bean roaster core when the bean roaster core is in the multi-batch configuration and the bulk receiver is removably coupled to the bean roaster core.

The invention concerns an apparatus (10) for roasting coffee beans comprising: a roasting chamber (1) presenting a bottom opening (11), an air driver (2) configured to drive a flow of air inside the roasting chamber through the bottom opening of said chamber, an electrical heater (3) positioned below the bottom opening of the chamber configured to heat said flow of air driven to the bottom opening of the roasting chamber, wherein the apparatus comprises a conduit (6) to drive the flow of hot air from the heater (3) to the bottom opening (11) of the roasting chamber, and wherein said conduit (6) comprises a local transversal constriction (61), and wherein at least one temperature probe is positioned at said local transversal constriction (61) of the conduit.

Some implementations of the described methods relate to a process for frying coffee beans (and/or another food product) in a fry medium (such as cooking oil) and then centrifuging the coffee beans (and/or other food product) to remove a significant portion of the fry medium. Although the frying and centrifugation can occur in separate devices, in some cases, the described systems comprise a device that acts as both a fryer and a centrifuge. Indeed, in some cases, after the coffee beans (or other food product) has been fry roasted in a perforated container (e.g., a basket), the fry medium is drained from the container, and container is spun. In some cases, liquid nitrogen is also applied to the beans (or other food product), before and/or after being fry roasted. Other implementations are described.

An apparatus for roasting coffee beans includes: a vessel to contain coffee beans, a heating device to heat coffee beans contained in the vessel, and a control system operable to control the heating device and configured to apply a roasting recipe. For a customised quantity m of coffee beans of type Ny introduced inside the vessel, the control system is configured to obtain at least the quantity m of coffee beans introduced inside the vessel and the type Ny of coffee beans introduced inside the vessel, and based on the obtained type Ny, the control system is configured to get access at least to a roasting recipe Ry. The recipe is adapted to the roasting of one pre-determined quantity M of beans of type Ni, and to the pre-determined quantity M, and based on the accessible roasting recipe Ry and on the obtained quantity m of coffee beans introduced inside the vessel, the control system is configured to determine the roasting recipe to be applied to the quantity m of coffee beans of type Ny introduced inside the vessel.

The present invention concerns a roasting module (10) for roasting natural products, in particular beans, grains, seeds or nuts, comprising a tray (11), in particular a cubic tray, for containing the products to be roasted, wherein the tray comprises a bottom in the form of an inverted truncated pyramid (15), a grid covering the larger base (15a) of the inverted pyramid, wherein the mesh of the grid is sufficiently small to retain the products to be roasted when placed on the grid, the tray further comprising an opening (12) positioned opposite the inverted pyramid (15), the opening (12) being configured to introduce the products to be roasted into the tray, the tray further comprising on the smaller base (15b) of the inverted pyramid an air inlet (16), the roasting module (10) comprising first means for supplying hot air into the tray through the inlet (16), wherein the inlet (16) and the first means for supplying hot air are adapted to supply a flow of hot air with a rate of at least 4000 m.sup.3/hour per 1 m of height of products to be roasted and per 1 m.sup.2 of surface of the larger base (15a) of the inverted pyramid and in that the first means for supplying hot air are adapted to supply air at a temperature in the range of 105 C. to 250 C., preferably at a temperature range between 115 C. and 200 C., advantageously between 125 C. and 170 C., in particular between 135 C. and 150 C. The invention relates also to a processing line (100) for natural products comprising a roasting module (10) according to the present invention, as well as to the use of such roasting module (10) or such processing line (100) for roasting of natural products, especially of beans, grains, seeds or nuts.

The invention concerns process of calibration of a coffee beans roasting apparatus in order to reproduce coffee beans roasting recipes defined with one specific master roasting apparatus, said calibration process comprising the steps of: aintroducing at least one second temporary temperature probe inside the chamber of the roasting apparatus, bcontrolling the heating device to reproduce a preset curve R said control being based on the temperature Treg regulated by the at least one first temperature probe, cduring the reproduction of the preset curve Rset, measuring the temperature Tcal in function of time inside the chamber, dcomparing the temperature Tcal@ti with the temperature Tref@ti of a pre-determined calibration curve Rref obtained with the master roasting apparatus (M), said calibration curve Rref representing the temperature Tref measured in the chamber of the specific master apparatus (M) while controlling the heating device of the master apparatus to reproduce said preset curve Rset, ebased on this comparison, calibrating the roasting apparatus by applying a correction, to the temperature Treg regulated by the first temperature probe inside the control system of the roasting apparatus.