Ai-run machine could soon be determining coffee quality

The days of experts gathering in a sealed-off room to sip coffee and grade beans on their colour, aroma and taste may be numbered.

An Israeli company has developed a handheld device that is able to scan beans to determine their quality.

The machine, powered by artificial intelligence, will need a human to input the quality parameters first, but after that, it will be able to classify coffee before it's even roasted. The company has completed a pilot program with Carcafe, the Colombian division of Volcafe, one of the world's largest coffee traders.

A shift to computers would upend the traditional way coffee has been graded by humans, known as cupping.

The well-paid and trained examiners, or Q graders, at the ICE Futures U.S. exchange in New York conduct the toilsome task of determining the quality and value of the coffee beans received by the bourse. Trading houses and roasters also usually have their own graders.

Cupping is an involved process, not unlike that undertaken by wine sommeliers.

“It's the human that establishes the sensorial part,” said Oswaldo Aranha Neto, a coffee industry veteran who just joined Demetria as a board member.

“You need to teach the robot what to do.”

Demetria last month closed a Us$3-million seed funding round led by Latin American-israeli investor Celeritas and a group of private investors.

Volcafe, a unit of ED&F Man, is in the process of adopting the technology and rolling it out.

Demetria's chief executive Felipe Ayerbe added the tool will also help growers generate coffee with the characteristics buyers want, possibly helping fetch better prices.