What is the turning point in coffee roasting?
The turning point is when the temperature graph stops dropping and starts to rise – it’s the bottom of the curve on your bean temperature graph. It marks the moment when the temperature of the beans and the roaster reach equilibrium.
It’s worth noting that the beans are getting hotter the whole time – even while the graph shows a drop. That dip happens because the temperature probe picks up the cooler temperature of the beans, not their internal heat. As the beans absorb energy from the drum and air, the reading eventually begins to climb again. That’s the turning point.
This stage is a useful reference for tracking consistency across roasts, but it isn’t actively controlled – it’s just a result of how your roaster and beans interact in those first moments.