Our first take on recording a Popper roast profile on Artisan, featuring a 92 point Ethiopian coffee
We just started experimenting with logging roasts of certain beans in our green coffee catalogue using Artisan, an open-source software that aids in the logging of roast profiles by recording them.
(Related Article: Logging Roast Temperatures: How to set up Popper + Phidgets + Artisan)
We used Popper as a Coffee Roaster for this first roast profile because we believe that its straightforward design — being easy to mod and, frankly, easy to drill holes for temperature probes — makes it an accessible starting point. We’ve found Artisan to be useful for comparing one roast to another on the same machine, but how useful the data is between roasters remains unclear. If your probes aren’t in the exact same position as ours, the results could be totally different.
With that said, we’re sharing our Artisan logs for Ethiopia Dry Process Hambela Goro, an intense 92 point coffee that we speculated might make a really delicious, sweet iced coffee (we were right!). Roasted on Popper, this batch of Ethiopia was dropped around the City+ range to preserve the juicy, tart fruit flavors we wanted. Check out our timelapse of the roast on Facebook for a visual guide.
| Roaster | Popper is a Coffee Roaster |
| Starting weight | 110.2 grams |
| Ending weight | 94.5 grams |
| Weight loss | 14.25% |
| Fan setting | HIGH |
| First crack | 5:25 |
| 960 watts | 0:00 – 5:55 |
| 1115 watts | 5:55 – 7:00 |
Download a .ZIP file with the .ALOG, .CSV and .JSON files through the link below.
We’ll have a more in depth article from Thompson about using Artisan on Popper is a Coffee Roaster soon. Until then, let us know if you have any questions about using Artisan on Popper and what your experience using logging software has been!
5 Responses
Did you create a video on how to modify POPPER to be used with Artisan?
Yes! Just been editing the video and support web page to make very simple step-by-step instructions
Why did you increase the power at FC? Your roast/curve was going along fine. Why not keep the power level and add time to get to the desired roast level?
Hey Hewie, the Popper needs a little pushing to keep ROR increasing, which I think is what happened here (Jarrett, who did this roast is out today, but I’ll double check when back). You can wind up in a holding pattern, and without increasing power, run the risk of baking your roast. One alternative would’ve been to bump up to 1115 watts a little earlier in the roast, then drop back down just before 1C to try and achieve a gentle 1st C. I think the main thing with this roast was to demonstrate the recording process, though FWIW, the roast tasted delicious!
Best,
Dan
Thanks Dan!
I bought this digital SCR for $20:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ST1RMB2?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
I mounted it in an old junction box and connected it in the circuit between the control board and the heater coil. I found that if I keep the the heat knob on the Popper set at 1:30, it gives me fairly precise digital control of heat between ~700 to about 1050 watts. I am getting about 8-10W for every unit increment on the controller. If I set the control to 77 it gives me 811W, which is 77% of 1050W. At 78, I’d get 820W, and so on. It is a simple way to get more control and repeatability.