Typica
Typica
In Typica it is possible to enter degree of roast measurements as one of several consistency metrics you may wish to track. If you're using a Javalytics device with network communications such as the JAV-RDA-D, you can operate that directly from Typica, but it's also possible to type in measurements taken from any device that produces a numeric result.
There are two options for entering degree of roast data. If you have your meter set up convenient to the roasting area and the person roasting the coffee has time to take these measurements, you can take these from the New Batch window prior to sending batch data to the database.
If it is more convenient to take these measurements away from the roaster, simply ignore those fields in the New Batch window and use the Edit tab of the Batch Details window instead. If you're using the batch tag printing feature, this is even easier as you can use a barcode reader to scan the batch tag to look up the correct batch information. This makes it harder to accidentally enter data on the wrong batch.
Typica will track whole bean or ground color and either of these is optional. Which should you choose?
You might decide that whole bean color is acceptable for your needs. This has the advantage that the measurement is non-destructive, meaning that once you've finished taking the measurement you can still pack and use the coffee.
On the other hand, ground color is generally considered the more relevant metric as it provides information about the inside of the coffee and correlates more strongly with flavor observations. As the coffee must be ground to take this measurement, some coffee will likely be wasted when taking this measurement, but only a small amount of coffee is required.
Some people are interested in the difference between whole bean and ground color, and this requires taking both measurements. It should only take about a minute to prepare samples and take both of these measurements. The author of Typica recommends starting by taking both sets of measurements and evaluating your use of this data before deciding if you want to stop taking one of the measurements.
Once you've collected enough measurements to characterize existing practices, you can use the Degree of Roast By Item report to see what these measurements tend to be and how much variation exists from batch to batch. In the Edit Roasting Specification window, the Color tab can be used to set whole bean and ground color and tolerance. This appears when entering new measurements so you can easily tell if this part of the roasting specification has been satisfied.