The IMA Coffee Lab hosts the Coffee Grinding Research Week and the first Academy Day

An important month has just ended for the IMA Coffee Lab. The new space, one of a kind, dedicated to coffee at 360° located at the IMA Petroncini production facility, has opened its doors to coffee professionals for a full immersion on the topics of grinding, coffee tasting and coffee technologies, roasting and packaging.

Starting with the first Coffee Grinding Research Week, a five-day coffee tasting from 17 to 21 October 2022 featuring a panel of coffee experts from Italy and Switzerland engaged in tasting more than 200 espresso coffees, ground with different grinding technologies and extracted with different espresso extraction technologies. The working group was coordinated by Andrej Godina, PhD in sensory analysis of espresso, who outlined the work program and chose the equipment for the research.

“This first week of work stems from the need to deepen the quality of espresso coffee grinding technology with flat grinders with a diameter of 64 and 65 mm. To make the research scientifically valid, with the working group, we addressed all the possible variables that can affect the quality of the espresso and we worked to keep them fixed so that the only discriminating variable could be the coffee grinder. The works were guided by the desire to photograph the state of the art of grinding with 4 coffee grinders among the best sellers in the world extracting the espresso with the three most important extraction technologies: the lever, the one which contributed to the birth of the espresso coffee as we know it today, a portion of liquid topped by a surface cream, with 53 mm diameter filters. The machines with electric pump respectively with the 58 mm filter of Faeamina and with the filter from 54 mm from the Dalla Corte Studio. The espresso drink is by far the one that is most affected by any small variation in the extraction parameters that can significantly affect the flavor. For this reason, the espresso machines with volumetric pump have been chosen for their extreme precision and thermal stability in order to guarantee constant and repeatable extractions. The tasting panel was able to perceive evident differences in flavor with the same roasted coffee extracted with only 0.5 °C of difference between one and the other.” Andrej Godina – PhD in sensory analysis of espresso

To ensure an efficient workflow with the tasting sessions, the Cropster platform and the Cropster Cup APP were used, allowing each judge to evaluate the espresso extracted. The roasted coffees were produced specifically for the work session using a recipe created by Andrej Godina and with the roasting profiles by Maurizio Galiano, who faithfully reproduced the three most representative roasting profiles: a medium dark color for Arabica, a color medium for the Arabica/Canephora blend and a light color for the Specialty Coffee. The coffee experts were supported by the technological instrumentation and the Coffee Lab technicians for the laboratory analyses.

The team of tasters of the Coffee Grinding Research Week has already begun the analyses of the data in order to obtain consistent results on the quality of the grind at the end, already setting a new appointment in December for a new tasting session in line with the work program and equipment involved in the research.

The ACADEMY DAYS of the IMA Coffee Lab

October was also the month of the first Academy Days of IMA Coffee, the new format of events dedicated to training and research on coffee that will host coffee experts, roasters and international producers. A unique opportunity to bring the coffee supply chain together in the spaces of the IMA Coffee Lab, to share projects and experiences on coffee-related issues. The program of the day was full of important presentations and workshops, starting with the roasting sessions of Specialty coffee with roasting curves dedicated to espresso, followed by sessions to compare the analysis of the particle size distribution produced by different grinding technologies and live coffee tastings along with the panel of tasters of the Coffee Grinding Research Week.

The Academy Day of October 19th was the perfect opportunity to present the new Coffee Lab pilot plant, a complete, small-scale plant capable of processing coffee starting from reception and cleaning, passing through the various roasting and degassing technologies, grinding and finally packaging, in bags or capsules.

An event that involved many professionals in the world of coffee, starting with important Italian roasting companies who were enthusiastic about taking part in the day of exchange and training between professionals. The Academy Day also hosted large companies producing coffee equipment and, of course, recognized international coffee experts.

“We were fully satisfied with the success of this event. We believe in training and research dedicated to coffee as an important driver of technological innovation and growth in product quality. We are thrilled to be able to support the supply chain by offering all our expertise as producers of roasting technologies and from now on also providing a “meeting point”, a real physical hub, which now takes the name of IMA Coffee Lab, where coffee is at the center of the scene in all its forms and where it is possible to always experiment with new formulas in order to increase knowledge about the product and enhance its transformation” declares Nicola Panzani, Strategic Director of the IMA Coffee LAB and CEO of IMA Petroncini. “Starting from this concept, it was a great pleasure to host in the spaces of the Coffee Lab the presentation of the Guida del Camaleonte, coordinated by Andrej Godina and Mauro Illiano, the two editors of the Guida del Camaleonte, whose methods of review were illustrated during the event. A good opportunity to give resonance to a beautiful initiative, truly one of a kind, to reward quality coffee.”

Together with Massimiliano Marchesi, coffee expert of the Guida del Camaleonte, during the Academy Day, a technical tasting of some of the coffees awarded by the Guide was conducted, declining their qualities and highlighting their peculiarities, through a guided tasting that follows the protocols set by the Guida del Camaleonte for the tasting and review of the coffees in review.

“We decided to create the Academy Days format in order to connect all the sectors of the supply chain in a virtuous circuit. In fact, there will be other events dedicated to important issues to be explored related to the transformation of the product. Soon many other news.” concludes Panzani.

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