Interested in a little light reading?

The SCAA (Specialty Coffee Association of America) has produced a series of eight visual color standards for roast classification of ground coffee.

Visual SCAA Coffee Standards for roast classification

SCAA – Specialty Coffee Association of America

Long Beach, CA 90831 USA

+562-432-7222

sca.coffee

then search in their Online Store for item # R400100D SCAA/Agtron Roast Color Kit.

Visual SCAA Roast Coffee Color Standards from “very light” to “very dark”.

HCCI – HunterLab Coffee Color Index measures the reflectance of ground coffee products at 640 nm, which is optimal for defining the degree of roast.

HCCI works best for measuring during the roasting process, taking the coffee product to a consistent end point.

HCCI = [HCCI_slope * R%(640 nm)] + HCCI_offset

where default coefficients for HCCI_slope = 1.958 and HCCI_offset = – 3.32.

HCCI* comes with a user-adjustable bias and offset in each setup to allow display in agreement with existing instruments.

HCCI values are typically displayed to 1 decimal place.

HCCI correlates well with the visual SCAA Roast Standards and exhibit 20 unit range.

The HunterLab ColorFlex EZ Coffee meter comes with a built-in correlation to report HCCI – HunterLab Coffee Color Index, SCAA # and SCAA Roast Classification, all used to quantify the degree of coffee roast.

HunterLab ColorFlex Coffee with HCCI# with correlated SCAA# and SCAA Roast Classification displayed.