Probat Unveils Next Generation of Color Analyzer, the Colorette 4

The Probat Colorette 4.

Probat announced this week the release of the newest generation of its roast color analysis device, the Colorette 4. The new Colorette 4 brings a variety of updates and new functions to the roaster’s lab table.

The most obvious update is its capacitive touchscreen interface, though there are plenty of differences under the hood as well. Whereas the previous iteration, the Colorette 3B, employed infrared and red LEDs to interpret roast color and then automatically print out a hard copy report of its measured values in the Colorette color scale, the new device relies on a white LED, displays its readings onscreen in multiple user-designated color scales, and eschews the built-in printer technology in favor of both Ethernet and USB ports for connecting to computers or digital storage devices.

Ground coffee samples are prepared for the new Colorette in same manner as for its predecessor, in a circular dish made level by the same accompanying “stripping device.” In its press release the company asserts greater longevity with regards to the long-term accuracy and dependability of its new sensor and LED system, describing it as “vastly improved” compared to previous generations of the Colorette device.

The Colorette 4 will takes its place among Probat Burns’ other laboratory equipment offerings, which include moisture analyzers, sample roasters, degassing equipment and their own design of cupping table with built-in spittoons.

While the field of roast color analysis equipment is not a particularly fast-moving one, it has developed in recent years in tandem with any other field involving data collection, storage and transmission in the digital age. Probat’s announcement of the new Colorette comes approximately four months after the launch of the latest Tonino, a compact, wireless, rechargeable decidedly up-to-date roast color analyzer by another German company comprised of the makers of the open-source roast-logging software program Artisan.

The new Colorette 4 has been available for purchase since January 1. Sales in the United States are through Probat Burns.