A London-based startup is looking to bring yet another level of refinement to the kitchens of coffee aficionados by launching a smartphone-controlled micro-roaster. Billed as the world’s first digital micro-roaster, the Ikawa countertop machine can roast green coffee beans in 3-10 minutes, ready to be dropped in your smartphone-controlled coffee machine.
The beans are roasted using a cyclone system patented with the support of James Dyson. The process is started with a push of a button on the device itself, but can be adjusted using your iPhone or Android device. The app includes a number of different recipes you can use to change up your roast, controlling things like the temperature in your roaster, the duration of your roast, and the air flow to your beans during the roasting process. Depending on the blends of those factors, you’ll get a different flavor profile from your beans.
You can go beyond the built-in recipes to try out your own combinations, and if you stumble upon something good, you can share it with the community through the app’s built-in social network of sorts.
If you don’t have a spot to buy green, unroasted beans near you, Ikawa can deliver some to your doorstep. The company sources the beans from popular coffee destinations such as Burundi, Ethiopia, Brazil and Guatemala, and says that 10 percent of the sales of those beans will then be reinvested in projects that work with farmers to create better-quality beans and allow them to earn more money for their harvests.
Ikawa is currently raising money on Kickstarter for its first run of roasters and has already reached its funding goal. You can secure one of the first roasters off the assembly line for an investment of US$690. The first Ikawas are expected to ship in February of 2016.