Coffee beans sing distinct tune
Crackling sounds could be key to automated acoustic roasters
By Meghan Rosen
The snap-crackle-pop of coffee beans could tell automatic roasters when to turn down the heat.
Hot beans sing a distinct ditty that reveals their stage in the roasting process, mechanical engineer Preston Wilson of the University of Texas at Austin reports in the June Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.
Java roasters know to listen for some basic sounds, commonly called “first crack” and “second crack,” but until now no one had measured and analyzed these noises, Wilson says. He roasted a small batch of green coffee beans — an espresso blend — in an electrically heated drum roaster and recorded the crackling sounds as the beans got toasty.