IoT coffee grinder re-orders beans when they lose freshness

Voltaire is a portable, smart coffee grinder that monitors the beans and re-orders more when it needs a fresh supply.

There are dozens of products, such as this at-home micro-roaster, that can help amateur baristas perfect their coffee-making at home. But the one thing that makes the most difference to a good homebrew is the freshness of the beans. Now, Voltaire is an IoT, portable coffee grinder that monitors the beans and re-orders the user’s favourite coffee when they need a fresh supply.

Once they are roasted, the quality of coffee beans begins to diminish in a matter of days. But lots of factors can affect how quickly the coffee loses its best flavours, so it is impossible to predict an exact best before date. Instead, the Voltaire grinder uses a sensing platform to measure bean freshness, using an algorithm that takes into account everything from the roast date and bean variety to gas concentration, temperature, humidity and bean mass. It connects to a smartphone app and tells the user when the beans are beginning to degrade. Users can choose to either receive notifications or have their beans automatically re-ordered before they go bad.

Voltaire’s algorithm will get smarter and more precise as the number of users increases. The smart grinder is currently crowdfunding on Kickstarter. Backers can pre-order the device from USD 199. Could similar sensing and recording systems be used for other food and drink items?