Goal: Learn best practices for naming, updating, and managing your roastable inventory throughout your roasting operation.
Prerequisites: You have bean lots added to your inventory. You understand what roastables are from our Understanding Roastables guide.
Naming Your Roastables Properly
Name your roastables with general names that make sense to you and your team, not overly specific names. This applies to both single-origin and blend roastables.
✅ Good names:
"House Blend"
"Ethiopia Pour Over"
"Brazil Espresso"
"Espresso Blend"
"Guatemala Light Roast"
❌ Avoid these names:
"House Blend - May 2025"
"Christmas 2024 blend"
"Ethiopia - Lot ABC123"
"Brazil Santos 2024.12.20"
"Guatemala December 2025"
The reason is simple: as components change over time, you can update your roastable recipes rather than creating entirely new roastables. RoastLog will track all the variations and changes for you automatically. Creating new roastables every time something changes defeats the purpose of the system - let RoastLog do the tracking work for you!
When to Update Roastables
You'll need to update your roastables in several common scenarios:
For Single-Origin Roastables:
When you finish one bean lot and source a new lot from the same origin or farm
When you want to switch to a different bean lot for seasonal availability
When adjusting shrinkage values based on roasting experience
For Blend Roastables:
When you run out of a component and need to substitute with a different bean lot
When you want to adjust the proportions of your blend recipe
When adding or removing components entirely from your blend
How to Update Roastables
Updating roastables is straightforward from the roastable detail page:
Navigate to the Roastables page and click on the name of the roastable you want to update
On the roastable detail page, click the "Edit this item" button
Make your changes to components, percentages, or other settings
Click save to apply your changes
Navigation to get to the "Edit" screen for a roastable.
The edit screen for a roastable, where you can change components and percentages.
When you make changes to a roastable recipe, RoastLogger automatically picks up those changes when you visit the Roast Queue page.
Tracking Recipe Changes Over Time
Because we track roastable recipes over time, you can see the complete history of how your roastables have evolved using the Roastable Recipe Changes Report. In this report, you can select a roastable and a time range to see exactly how the recipe has changed over time, including component modifications, substitutions, and the duration of each configuration.
This historical tracking is invaluable for understanding how your blends have evolved and can help you make informed decisions about future recipe adjustments.
Setting Up Shrinkage Values
A useful feature of roastables is the ability to set a default shrinkage value. Shrinkage represents the mass lost during roasting - primarily due to moisture loss - as a percentage.
When you populate the shrinkage field for each roastable, RoastLog automatically calculates the end mass for your roasts based on this approximate shrinkage percentage. This saves time and provides consistency across your roasting operation.
If you prefer maximum accuracy, you can enter the actual end mass after each roast. RoastLog will then calculate the actual shrinkage percentage for your records.
Archiving Finished Roastables
When you're done with a roastable - perhaps you've discontinued a blend or finished with a seasonal offering - you can archive it by clicking "Delete this item" on the roastable detail page.
Important: RoastLog doesn't actually delete the roastable. Instead, it archives the item and keeps a complete history of all roasts and recipe changes. This preserves your valuable roasting data while keeping your active roastables list clean and organized.
Managing Archived Roastables
You can view all your archived roastables by clicking the "Archived Roastables" link on the main Roastables page. This gives you access to your complete roasting history, even for discontinued items.
Reactivating Archived Roastables: Sometimes you'll want to bring back an old roastable - maybe a seasonal blend that's popular again, or a single-origin you want to reintroduce. To reactivate an archived roastable:
Click "Archived Roastables" on the main Roastables page
Click on the name of the roastable you want to reactivate
Click "Reactivate this item" on the detail page
Archived roastables page, showing the "Reactive" button.
Note: Reactivating an old roastable will almost certainly require updating the recipe, as the original components are likely no longer available in your inventory. Plan to update the recipe immediately after reactivation to reflect your current bean lot availability.
Roastables Flexibility
One of the powerful aspects of the roastables system is that you can use the same bean lot as both a single-origin roastable and as a component in multiple blends. Your Brazil Santos, for example, might be featured as:
"Brazil Santos" (single-origin roastable)
Component in "House Blend"
Component in "Espresso Blend"
Component in "Decaf Blend"
Each roastable tracks its own usage independently, giving you complete visibility into how your green coffee inventory is being utilized across your entire operation.
RoastLog gives you complete flexibility to evolve your roastable offerings while maintaining a comprehensive history of your roasting operation.