How to Record Roast Curves with Artisan Software

If you’re trying to understand why your light roasts taste grassy or your dark roasts are baked, the issue might not be your beans — it could be your roast curve. Professional roasters rely on precise temperature tracking to shape flavor, but without the right tools, it’s hard to know what’s really happening in the drum. That’s where Artisan comes in.

Artisan is free software that lets coffee roasters record, visualize, and analyze roast profiles by connecting to temperature sensors or PID controllers. It automatically generates detailed roast curves, helping you adjust variables like heat application and airflow to influence the final cup flavor.

What Is Artisan and Why It Matters

Artisan is a cross-platform application designed specifically for coffee roasters who want to take control of their roast profiles. Instead of guessing when to turn up the heat or when to drop the beans, Artisan provides a real-time view of what’s happening inside the roaster. By logging temperature data from thermocouples or PID controllers, it creates a visual roast curve — showing changes in bean temperature (BT) and environmental temperature (ET) over time. This allows roasters to analyze Maillard reaction timing, first crack, and cooling rates with precision.

How Artisan Works with Your Roaster Setup

To use Artisan, you connect your roaster’s temperature probe or PID controller to a computer via USB or serial connection. The software supports a wide range of devices, including:

• Fuji PXR/PXG 4 & 5 PID
• Delta DTA PID
• Omega HH309, HH506RA, HH802U, HH806AU, HHM28
• CENTER 300–309 series
• VOLTCRAFT K202, K204, 300K, 302KJ
• EXTECH 421509
• Arduino TC4
• TE VA18B
• non-wireless Amprobe TMD-56 (same as Omega HH806AU)
• virtual or manual devices
• external programs

You can even run multiple devices simultaneously, allowing for advanced setups with dual temperature probes. Artisan supports both Fahrenheit and Celsius, and includes filters for live Rate of Rise (RoR) calculations for both ET and BT. These metrics help predict how the roast will develop and when critical phase transitions — like color change or first crack — will occur.

Key Features for Roast Analysis and Control

Artisan isn’t just a curve logger — it’s a full analysis suite. Key features include:

• Customizable roast phase statistics
• Background reference profiles for comparison
• User-defined cupping profiles and graphs
• HTML and CSV export for sharing or archiving
• Specialized import for Omega HH506 and K202 CSV files
• PID duty cycle monitoring
• Curve design and wheel graph editor
• Mathematical plotter for advanced users
• Localization support (German, French, Spanish, Swedish, Italian)
• Multi-core CPU optimization
• Alarm systems with programmable outputs
• Automatic CHARGE (start) and DROP (end) event detection

The interface includes large, touch-friendly buttons and live visual feedback, making it usable in high-pressure roasting environments. You can manually log events like first crack start (FCs) or end (FCe), and program custom event buttons for your specific workflow. With template playback and background reproduction, you can replicate successful roasts consistently.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Artisan coffee roasting software?

Artisan is free software that helps coffee roasters record and analyze roast profiles by connecting to temperature sensors or PID controllers. It creates visual roast curves showing bean and environmental temperatures over time, allowing roasters to adjust their approach for better flavor control.

Which devices work with Artisan for roast profiling?

Artisan supports a wide range of PID controllers and thermocouples, including Fuji PXR/PXG 4 & 5, Delta DTA, Omega HH309/HH506RA/HH806AU, CENTER 300–309, VOLTCRAFT K202/K204, EXTECH 421509, Arduino TC4, TE VA18B, Amprobe TMD-56, and virtual/manual devices. It can also connect to multiple devices at once.

Can Artisan help improve my coffee flavor?

Yes. By visualizing your roast curve — including Bean Temperature (BT), Environmental Temperature (ET), and Rate of Rise (RoR) — Artisan lets you adjust heat application, airflow, and roast timing to better control the Maillard reaction, first crack, and overall flavor development.

Does Artisan work on Mac, Windows, and Linux?

Yes. Artisan is cross-platform and runs on macOS, Windows, Linux, and even PowerPC systems.

Can I export my roast data from Artisan?

Yes. Artisan allows you to export roast profiles as HTML reports or CSV files for analysis or sharing. It also supports importing CSV data from Omega HH506 and K202 devices.

Is there a mobile or touch-friendly version of Artisan?

Artisan includes large buttons suitable for touchscreens and is designed to be usable in live roasting environments, though it is primarily a desktop application.

Recommended FrontStreet Beans for Roast Profiling

Try FrontStreet Coffee’s Ethiopia Humbera for bright, floral notes to test your light roast curves, or their Yirgacheffe for juicy berry complexity. For medium roasts, their Classic Blend offers balanced chocolate and citrus — ideal for experimenting with Artisan’s Rate of Rise and first crack timing. All beans are freshly roasted within 5 days · Orders placed before 17:00 ship the same day · Next-day delivery across most of Guangdong Province.