The Value of Independent Quality Control Testing

The following article was originally published in Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.

Why do independent test laboratories for coffee and tea products exist? This article examines the need for independent quality control testing and consulting, and why or when companies should retain their services.

As the coffee industry expanded in the 1990s and into the early 2000s, it became apparent that there was an increasing need for technical assistance. New companies were launched, and existing companies expanded into new qualities, new packaging and new markets for sales and distribution. Business needs for technical services were amplified, creating the demand for independent quality control testing and consulting.

Today there are many businesses with fully equipped testing laboratories and highly trained technologists ready to assist coffee and tea companies. Most often, inquiries for testing projects are precipitated when testing equipment or expertise to conduct the tests are not available internally within a company. Projects are often commissioned at independent analysis laboratories due to lack of capacity or internal resources, or to audit and verify the analytical results from internal quality control testing.

The value of independent quality control and consulting for coffee and tea products is best presented by referring to a typical inquiry from a manufacturer. The conversation illustrates the discovery process for manufacturers to understand the complexity of testing, logistics, required equipment and other details for a testing project to decide how best to proceed.

Assessing Manufacturers’ Needs

A typical inquiry comes in from a manufacturer or brand seeking information on quality control testing because they are unable to test the coffee on their own and may need assistance. The first question is usually about price. After providing the product testing guides and price lists, the potential client will often comment that they expected the service would be less expensive without clearly understanding the scope of work and required methods for analysis when testing coffee or tea products.

To best explain the cost of the service, it is important to identify the manufacturer’s immediate needs. Are they seeking consulting services to upgrade their internal testing protocols? Do they have the appropriate equipment for testing but need to know how to create standard operating procedures for published methods of analysis? Or are they seeking to have their products tested at an independent laboratory for quality control? For independent quality control companies, both projects – consulting to provide coffee solutions and product testing for quality control – are of interest since the overall goal is to support and contribute to the success of the client.

Whether it is a consulting or testing inquiry, the conversation frequently includes questions regarding what testing is included in the different packages, why is the testing important, and how does an independent laboratory’s testing differ from what the company [potential client] is currently doing. The fundamental concern of the manufacturer is to identify the appropriate tests – physical, sensory and chemical – and not include any tests that are unnecessary or not relevant to their needs.

After explaining industry best practices, quality standards, published methods of analysis and other operational details used by testing laboratories and quality control departments, the manufacturer must consider the benefits of commissioning a consulting project to obtain training for quality assurance or to bundle both consulting and testing together. Technical consulting for quality assurance is a strategic approach since the training will be retained knowledge to be applied on all products and into the future.

Starting the Process

For the consulting project to begin, independent laboratories start by discussing the equipment and facilities necessary to complete the testing and compare it to the equipment list for their internal laboratory. Equipment lists are often categorized by what tools are necessary and which equipment is nice to have but not critical for the management of the physical and financial risk of their supply chain and manufacturing operation. Independent laboratories keep the target of product consistency and uniformity to the consumer as the critical priority. An essential component of independent quality control testing is the unbiased testing that is not influenced by the relationships or terms of transitional contracts.

Laboratory analysis measures the physical attributes and sensory characteristics of the products to determine that the buyer is getting what they are paying for, and the coffee or tea products adhere to product specifications. For this purpose, the scientific testing equipment must be calibrated to standards and operating to manufacturers’ specifications. The list of equipment required for a fully equipped quality control lab includes, but is not limited to: digital scales, testing screens for bean and leaf size, appropriate equipment to follow published methods of analysis for moisture water activity, and density. Sample coffee roasters, thermocouples and timers are required as is a well-lighted grading station. Additionally, headspace analyzers, total dissolved solids measuring equipment, pH testing equipment, coffee grinders, tea strainers, and particle size analyzing equipment. Other equipment for sensory analysis includes coffee brewers, hot water kettles, cups, spoons, timers, etc. The cost to equip and operate a quality control testing laboratory is often more than many manufacturers realize or budget for.

For small operations or start-ups, building and equipping a fully functional quality control laboratory may be cost prohibitive. Companies should identify the products and attributes that are the highest risk for product quality and consistency, for both supply chain and manufacturing, and begin with the testing equipment required to evaluate and manage those quality attributes.

The Testing Process

Quality control testing laboratories should be free from distraction. The testing areas should be free from noise or aroma contamination that could interfere with product testing. Also, a water filtration system is needed to control the water quality for cupping and tasting. These additional expenses along with the fuel or energy for the sample coffee roaster should be accounted for in the operational budget. Once testing equipment is installed and operated additional expenses for machine repairs and maintenance to ensure calibration measured standards to the manufacturer’s specification is required. Quality control testing is very time sensitive; operational schedules must be flexible to begin analysis quickly so that reporting can be completed in time for business decisions to be made. It is critical to complete green coffee analysis or tea testing quickly, within two to three days, to provide a commercial decision to supply chain on the approval or rejection of product to the purchase contract. Importers and traders do not always have the luxury of time and need to act quickly to move products or allocate inventories to meet the needs of their clients. Roasted coffee analysis and tea product analysis is also time critical to provide reports to manufacturing and distribution regarding the product’s adherence to specification to determine if it is acceptable to ship or needs to be placed on hold in pending a decision regarding disposition. Maintaining separate quality control staff from the production or purchasing employees will help facilitate testing to meet the timely needs of the business for both suppliers and customers as well as minimizing conflicts of issues.

How testing occurs is critically important to understanding and interpreting the results. For results to be compared to other reports, the methods of analysis that are technically used for recording the data must be similar. Manufacturers collecting data for their own purposes can develop their own protocols and testing methods, then are able to review the quality trends. However, these self-created tests and data collections will not provide actionable data when compared to test results from suppliers or customers. For example, cupping and tasting scores will not correlate if different roast development levels are used to evaluate the coffee or different steeping protocols are used for tea.

An example for finished product testing is to utilize the same brewing recipes and brewing process to evaluate the quality of the beverage. Following published methods of analysis for product testing ensures that the variables recorded are specific to the coffee, not the protocol used or the method of measurement. Methods for testing coffee and tea are published by the International Standards Organization (ISO), the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), the Association of Official Agricultural chemists (AOAC) the Green Coffee Association (GCA), the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA), the World Tea Association (WTA), and the Specialty Tea Institute (STI).

Considerations Before Commissioning

The last consideration when discussing independent quality control testing, is the alignment of tasters/cuppers/sensory panelists. Similar to following the same methods for testing for physical and chemical attributes, following protocols and judging the coffee or tea using the same scale and describing the flavors using the same terminology is vitally important to understanding the results of sensory analysis. When testing is similar and results can be compared, management decisions can be made regarding the quality level and disposition of the products.

Alignment of sensory panels begins with comparing individual credentials and methods for analysis. For coffee, how many cuppers are licensed Q graders, and for tea, how many tasters are certified by the World Tea Academy or the Specialty Tea Institute? Are the scores averaged from a panel or singular from one person? Companies often create their own standard operating procedures for sensory analysis, making it difficult to compare quality or descriptive results with other tests. For operational efficiency and to ensure sensory scoring is not influenced by a single panelist, independent quality control laboratories typically have large trained and calibrated sensory panels allowing members to rotate on or off the panel to avoid fatigue or to cover when a panelist is not available.

Independent testing laboratories should be operating in a manner to prevent bias, prejudice or influence when testing samples. For example, the identity of the supplier and contract terms are not relevant to any quality control analysis for green coffee, and the quality of the green coffee or example of whole bean roasted coffee are not appropriate to be part of the cupping process. Similarly, the package type, physical attributes and even the identity of the roaster shall be eliminated from the information provided to the sensory panel when evaluating roasted coffee products.

The last consideration when judging the value of independent quality control testing and consulting is knowing the professional expertise of the staff members. Comprehensive technical support is best provided by consultants who have fundamental and practical experience working the coffee or tea industry, with experience managing products or processes, and who have had the responsibility and authority to make decisions similar to that of their clients. Expertise in testing coffee and tea can be acquired through diligence and on the job training in the laboratory; however, interpreting the results and guiding the client through actionable management options can only be achieved through professional experience in the industry.

Commissioning an independent laboratory to test coffee and tea products is a serious departure for many companies that have previously conducted the testing on their own. Relinquishing responsibility for quality control and seeking technical support through consulting is a sign of strength, not weakness, for entrepreneurial and start-up companies. Having the right tools, the expertise to know how to use the tools, and the operational efficiency to complete testing products accurately and timely, make independent quality control laboratories a valuable partner to any company’s quality assurance or quality control programs.

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Spencer Turer is vice president of Coffee Enterprises in Hinesburg, Vermont. He is a founding member of the Roasters Guild, a licensed Q grader, and received the SCAA Outstanding Contribution to the Association Award. Turer is an active volunteer for coffee trade associations, is an Ambassador for the International Women’s Coffee Alliance, a member of the Coffee Writers Guild, and is a member of T&CTJ’s editorial advisory board.