Bellwether Coffee Launches Second Generation of Its Innovative Roasting System

A Bellwether Series 2 machine, which features a larger, 24-inch touch screen, among other upgrades. Press photo.

Commercial coffee roaster maker Bellwether Coffee has launched the second generation of its foundational machine and technology.

According to the Berkeley, California-based company, the Series 2 Bellwether Automated Roasting System includes new and upgraded features such as a 24-inch built-in touchscreen with new roasting software, improvements to an armless cooling tray, and other efficiency and durability upgrades.

A company representative said the new version boasts dramatically increased hourly roasting capacity through improvements to the internal fan system. The number of roasts per hour can be three or four, depending on the roast profile, with a 6-pound capacity per batch.

Bellwether Coffee was founded in the Bay Area in 2013 before making its public launch in 2018 and subsequently securing two funding rounds totaling more than $50 million.

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The company’s innovative home-refrigerator-sized electric roasting machine is accompanied by proprietary roasting software along with Bellwether’s own curated green coffee marketplace. The company pitches environmental friendliness given the lack of need for gas power and the machine’s built-in smoke suppression system.

In the United States marketplace, the machines have most commonly been installed as shop roasters, offering coffee retailers a relatively small-footprint, production-ready solution for roasting coffees under their own brand and specifications.

The copper hopper of the Bellwether. 2018 photo by Daily Coffee News/Nick Brown.

According to an announcement from the company today, approximately 67 of Bellwether’s existing customers never roasted coffee prior to their use of the Bellwether system.

A company representative told DCN that the Series 2 machines are being manufactured within the company’s Berkeley headquarters, and orders are being accepted now for shipping and installation within “the next few months.” The company said the in-house manufacturing has allowed the Series 2 machine to be sold at the same price as the original Bellwether machine.

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