It’s a challenging time for roasters in today’s coffee market. Green coffee prices remain high, while labour, logistics, packaging, and operational costs have all increased significantly.

In turn, roasters’ margins are tighter than ever, but many continue to look for ways to add value to the products they offer. As some switch to more cost-effective yet high-quality single origins and blends, others are investing in enhanced quality control systems that maintain product consistency and improve operational efficiency.

I spoke with Kacper Ornat and Łukasz Jura at Coffee Machines Sale and Nikolai Fürst at Desarrolladores de Café about why quality control is more important than ever in today’s competitive specialty coffee market.

You may also like our article on why roasters and coffee shops need to strategise menu pricing.

Why coffee prices and business costs are rising

The surge in the C price over the last two years signifies a long overdue change in the coffee industry. Historically low coffee prices have left many farmers unable to cover the costs of production, ultimately affecting their long-term financial security.

In an industry that advocates for higher and fairer prices paid for coffee, record arabica and robusta futures should align with the values of many specialty coffee roasters and importers. At the same time, the entire supply chain feels the impact of rising green coffee costs, reshaping the buying behaviour of many businesses.

The reasons for the historic market highs are complex and interconnected. Brazil and Vietnam, the world’s top two coffee-producing countries, have seen lower yields in their harvests due to climate change and a lack of available land to expand growing areas.

Additionally, logistical challenges, like the temporary suspension of operations at ports in Djibouti (where the majority of Ethiopian coffee exports are processed), have disrupted green coffee sourcing, thereby creating a more competitive marketplace.

Simultaneously, business operating costs are increasing across the board. Energy costs are likely to rise 7% in 2025 in the US, and at similar rates in other regions, while global inflation rates have remained consistently high in a post-pandemic world.

Balancing price with quality

Roasters everywhere now face the difficult decision of balancing price hikes with retaining customers. Business operators have to quickly adapt to find new ways of managing cash flow and tight profit margins while maintaining, or ideally improving, the quality and diversity of their offerings.

“Sustained high coffee prices significantly impact profitability, making it crucial for roasters to ensure every purchased bean contributes positively to their final product,” says Kacper Ornat, the head of sales and marketing at Coffee Machines Sale, a coffee equipment distributor and supplier in Piła, Poland that offers international shipping and global support services.

“As consumers are paying more, coffee is increasingly perceived as a premium product,” he adds. “Therefore, delivering only the highest-quality beans is essential to meet these elevated customer expectations.”

As with all types of premium products, specialty coffee consumers expect a consistent minimum level of quality. Sourcing unique lots of green coffee that meet the baseline quality standards is just the beginning; shipping, roasting, packaging, and brewing are all key parts of the process to ensure a high level of quality is always met.

“When coffee prices remain high, every kilogram of green coffee becomes a more significant investment,” says Łukasz Jura, the sales manager at Coffee Machines Sale, the 2009 World AeroPress Champion, and a World Coffee Roasting Championship head judge. “This increases the financial pressure on roasters, because any inconsistency – whether in roast development, moisture content, or green coffee defects – translates into a bigger risk of financial loss.”

Roasters often operate on slim profit margins, meaning that an additional US $1/lb added to green coffee costs can have huge implications on cash flow. When accounting for factors such as shipping costs, wastage, and weight loss during roasting, the final cost of green coffee often fluctuates from the price initially paid.

Quality control methods in coffee roasteries

Roasters invest time and money in implementing strict quality control procedures across all operations in their roasteries, ranging from optimal roast profile development to proper packaging processes that preserve freshness.

“Quality control is no longer an extra you can offer; it’s a fundamental part of protecting your margins and ensuring customer satisfaction,” Łukasz says. “Tools like moisture meters, roast color analysers, and optical sorters aren’t just about precision – they’re about maximising the value of every bean.

“They help reduce waste, improve repeatability, and allow you to confidently deliver quality, even when raw material costs are at their highest,” he adds. “In short, the more you pay for green coffee, the more you need to protect that investment – and that starts with smart quality control.”

A key step in the quality control process at any roastery is sorting. This is when coffee professionals inspect and separate beans to remove defects, impurities, and foreign objects, ultimately improving the quality and flavour of the final product.

Quakers are some of the most common defects, which are usually the result of subpar coffee plant health or nutrition, or picking underripe cherries.

“Quakers are coffee beans that haven’t matured properly and contain insufficient sugar levels, which results in beans that remain pale or yellowish after roasting,” says Kacper. “Due to their underdevelopment, quakers negatively impact the final cup profile through undesirable flavours, such as grassy, peanut-like, or cereal notes, reducing overall sweetness and balance.”

The number of quakers can vary for several reasons. Natural processed coffees, for instance, are generally found to have higher amounts of quakers per batch compared to washed coffees.

Regardless of processing method, producers can take measures to minimise quaker content in various ways, such as optimising soil health, picking only ripe cherries, and floating them in water tanks.

Why investing in the right equipment is key

According to research from Scott Rao, even one quaker in a cupping sample can reduce cup score by as much as one point, making it essential to remove them.

“Removing quakers through optical sorting is essential for maintaining flavour consistency and ensuring customers consistently receive high-quality coffee,” Kacper says. “When a café fills its grinder hoppers with uniformly brown, high-quality beans, it visibly communicates to customers that only the best coffee is served.”

Traditionally, many roasters discard quakers when identified in the cooling tray. However, removing the majority of them by hand is not only laborious but also inconsistent, which risks a drop in final cup quality.

In turn, most roasters invest in automated equipment to assist the process.

“With green coffee prices elevated, maximising yield without compromising quality becomes essential,” Łukasz tells me. “Instead of downgrading or rejecting batches because of visible defects, the MINI-125 colour sorter allows roasters to precisely remove quakers, discoloured beans, insect-damaged coffee, and other foreign objects.

“This means you retain more usable volume from every bag and reduce the amount of coffee that would otherwise go to waste,” he adds. “At the same time, you protect the consistency of your flavour profiles, which is critical for customer trust, especially with high-end or subscription offerings.”

Small solutions for smaller roasters

When investing in equipment, one challenge for smaller roasters, in particular, is the lack of available space to set up machinery in a way that optimises workflow, which can lead to further issues down the line.

“Since the MINI-125 is compact and purpose-built for small to medium-sized roasteries, it can fit into existing setups without the cost or complexity of larger machines,” Łukasz says. 

The MINI-125 can also process up to 125kg of roasted or 250kg of green coffee per hour, utilising two high-resolution CCD cameras to detect quakers, defective beans, stones, and sticks.

“In today’s market, this kind of precision isn’t just an operational upgrade; it’s a competitive advantage,” Łukasz adds.

Consistency and efficiency are non-negotiable

Designing and implementing quality control processes in a roastery requires a balance of extensive coffee knowledge and high-performing technology. 

“Our green coffee must meet the highest quality standards. For years, we pre-sorted coffee by machine screen size and, in some cases, used a density table prior to manual hand-sorting,” says Nikolai Fürst, the CEO at Desarrolladores de Café, a specialty coffee roaster and education centre in Medellín, Colombia.

“Previously, sorting defective coffees by hand was very slow; we did only 5kg per person per day. But when we met Kacper through Scott Rao, we were impressed by the quality of the MINI-125 colour sorter,” he adds. “We can now process up to 100kg per person per day, representing a 1,900% increase in efficiency.”

However, effective coffee sorting isn’t as simple as investing in high-quality machinery; roasters also need to understand how to use the equipment to achieve the best results. Without the appropriate experience and knowledge, roasters can easily “over-sort” beans (especially lighter-coloured brown ones) and ultimately end up losing money. Calibrating machines can also be complicated, which increases labour costs.

How optical colour sorters work

“Most colour sorters can handle black or red beans, as well as partially black or red beans,” Nikolai explains. Overripe cherries, over-fermentation, or fungal damage can lead to black beans, whereas red coffee beans are often referred to as “sours” or “partial sours,” indicating an issue at the fermentation stage.

“The MINI-125 colour sorter takes it further, sorting and removing insect-damaged beans, which appear as tiny black spots inside the coffee,” Nikolai adds. “It’s also user-friendly; you don’t need years of experience to operate it.

“The process is simple: take a photo of both high-quality and defective beans, let the AI module categorise them, adjust key settings like sensitivity and defect size, press a few buttons, and it’s ready to sort your coffee.”

Additionally, the sorter includes smart technology and machine learning, meaning that it continuously optimises the process to improve consistency and efficiency. 

Nikolai adds that the Coffee Machines Sale team also provides global after-sales support with dedicated technical assistance and training services.

“A few video call sessions with Kacper are enough to become proficient at using the machine,” he says.

The price gap between commodity and specialty-grade coffee is narrower than ever, meaning roasters have an opportunity to highlight their high-quality lots. Marketing and branding can only do so much, though; it ultimately comes down to consistent quality control.

Access to equipment like optical sorters that support those goals has never been better, helping streamline processes, improve efficiency, and increase customer satisfaction – all of which are essential in the current landscape of the coffee industry.

Enjoyed this? Then read our article on how smaller roasters can mitigate risk.

Photo credits: Coffee Machines Sale, Blackbird Coffee

Perfect Daily Grind

Please note: Coffee Machines Sale is a sponsor of Perfect Daily Grind.

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