Building a QC programme for a roastery
Quality control is a set of small, regular checks with clear rules for what happens when one fails. A programme a small roastery can run every week.
7 min read Updated 9 October 2026
QC catches problems before customers do. It also gives you evidence when a customer says this week's coffee tastes different: you can show the batch log, the colour reading and the cupping notes.
The programme, step by step
- Green in: check every delivery against the approved sample: moisture, smell, visible defects, and an arrival cup. See grading and cupping.
- Every batch: log the roast and compare it with the reference profile and tolerances. See roast profiling.
- Roast colour: measure each batch, or a sample of batches, with a colour meter if you have one, against a target band per coffee.
- Cup production: cup a set of the week's batches against the reference, blind. See production cupping.
- Release: batches within tolerance are released; anything outside is held until cupped and approved, reblended or downgraded.
- Packed product: check weights, seals, labels and lot codes at the start of each run.
- Complaints: link every complaint to a batch, investigate and record the outcome.
- Review monthly: batches out of tolerance, complaints, cupping scores by coffee.
What to measure
| Measure | Why |
|---|---|
| Batches within profile tolerance | The single best indicator of consistency |
| Roast colour against target | Catches drift that taste alone can miss |
| Roast loss per coffee | Shifts in loss signal changes in green or roasting |
| Cupping score vs reference | The customer-facing check |
| Complaints per 1,000 kg | Trend over time |
Keep it small enough to happen
A QC programme that takes three hours a day will be skipped in a busy week. Start with batch logs, a colour check and one weekly cupping session, then add measures as the team grows.
Where Roastnet helps
Questions roasters ask
- Do I need a roast colour meter?
- It is not essential, but it gives an objective number that helps catch drift. Many roasteries add one once wholesale volume grows.
- How often should a roastery cup its production?
- Many cup a selection of each week's production, and every new lot and every batch outside tolerance.
Read next
A cupping protocol for production, not competitions
Production cupping answers one question: is this batch the same as the reference? A simpler, faster method than full scoring, with the controls that keep it honest.
Roast profiling basics for consistency, not just flavour
A profile is a recipe that anyone trained can repeat. The business value of profiling is not one perfect batch, but the same good batch every week on any shift.
Food safety records a roastery should keep
An inspector judges your food safety system by its records. A short, complete set kept every day beats a thick folder filled in the night before. What to record, and how often.
Run the roastery from one place
Green stock, roast plans, wholesale orders and the green coffee market in one platform, with a free roast-logging app for your machine.