Merlo’s own Rosa the Roaster

In 2014 we christened our brand new Brambati KS120 toastatrice (roaster) as ‘Rosa’. She is a state of the art machine that has a production capacity of 300 roasted kilos per hour (from input of 360 raw kg).

We have the ability to adjust the burner temperature, drum speed, percentage air recirculation and air velocity at seven points during the roast cycle, which enables precise consistency of roast profile.

The bean temperature probe is accurate to within half a degree, providing exact colour matching per type of coffee.

Rosa’s system is largely automated, meaning that once calibrated by eye (and taste), automation eliminates the possibility of human error (over or under roasting).

There are scales on both the input and output enabling accurate calculation of roasting loss.

The waste material, in the form of coffee husk/chaff, is collected in a husk compactor where it is squeezed into a salami shaped “brick”.

This is not only a very clean and tidy system, but it also greatly reduces the potential fire hazard of loose husk.

The Brambati destoning system is also extremely sensitive, so that when balanced correctly, all foreign matter (stones, nails, bullet casings etc.) are separated out from the roasted coffee.

Although the green bean can be blown up to the loading cone (as it is very hard), the roasted output is quite brittle and must be vacuumed into the silo. Rosa achieves this very efficiently, with minimal bean breakage.

Combined with bean ladders inside the silo, this means virtually all roasted beans are kept whole to lock in that superior Merlo freshness.