Coffee Apps

Coffee Brewing Apps

A brewing timer tells you when to act. A recipe app adds instructions and target quantities; a brewing journal records what you actually did and how the coffee tasted. Decide which job you need first.

For a beginner, our recommendation is to start with a clear timer and a short record of each brew. Detailed graphs can wait until you have a question they might answer. The wider coffee technology guide puts these tools alongside other connected equipment.

Filtru: for guided recipes

Filtru’s published description includes step-by-step brewing timers, recipes, espresso tools and support for compatible Bluetooth scales. Its current UK App Store listing covers iPhone and iPad, with a free download and additional features under Filtru PRO.

It is worth considering if you want prompts while brewing rather than a blank form afterwards. Follow the developer’s official store link: the name to check is Filtru, not “Filter”.

The limitation is feature access. The listing places several logging and espresso functions under PRO, so check that your intended workflow is included before committing to it. These are developer-described capabilities, not findings from independent hands-on testing.

Beanconqueror: for a detailed brewing journal

Beanconqueror’s published features include customisable brewing parameters, bean tracking, water records and connections to supported Bluetooth devices. The project describes it as free and open source, and provides links to Apple’s App Store and Google Play.

Our recommendation is to consider it when your main question is, “What did I change between the cup I liked and the one I did not?” Its adjustable records are particularly relevant when you want to connect a coffee, grinder setting, brewing method and tasting note.

Start with only the fields you will use. A short, complete record is more useful than an elaborate one abandoned halfway through breakfast.

A shortlist by task

The criteria here are guidance, record-keeping, hardware dependence and access to the core software. Availability and published features were checked in November 2026.

What makes a useful brewing record?

For your first trial, look for somewhere to record:

• Coffee identity and roast date, where supplied.
• Brewer, grinder and grind setting.
• Dry coffee dose, water added or espresso beverage yield, and elapsed time.
• Water source and any treatment used.
• Taste, followed by one planned change.

Use explicit labels. “Water added” and “coffee collected” should not share an ambiguous “output” field. Likewise, identify whether a timer starts with the first pour, pump activation or first espresso drops.

For filter and immersion recipes, write coffee to water by weight. As an illustrative calculation, 15 g of coffee with 240 g of water is 1:16 because 240 ÷ 15 = 16. For espresso, label the dry dose and beverage yield separately. This is a record-keeping example, not a prescribed recipe.

Keep tasting notes concrete: “sharp acidity, little sweetness, dry finish” gives you more to work with than “not great”. Repeat the recipe, change one variable, and compare your notes rather than trying to improve every setting at once.

Coffee Roaster Apps

Roasting software serves a different purpose from a brewing timer. Artisan and RoasTime publish tools for recording roast profiles and, with the appropriate equipment, controlling roasting settings. A roast profile is a record of measurements and events throughout a roast.

Distinguish logging from control. Recording a temperature does not establish that software can safely change your machine’s heat or airflow. Check the documented connection and permitted functions for the exact roaster.

Artisan: for compatible roasting equipment

Artisan is free, open-source desktop software. Its published capabilities include roast profiling, rate-of-rise curves, event recording, profile comparison and automation with supported configurations.

It is worth investigating when you want detailed records without choosing software tied to one roaster brand. However, “supported” needs checking at the level of the machine, measuring device, connection and operating system.

Before connecting anything, establish whether your configuration supports monitoring only or also control. Follow the machine-specific instructions rather than copying another owner’s settings.

Artisan’s documentation also covers local profile files and export. Keep the editable profile as well as any graph you share: a picture is useful for discussion, but should not be your only archive.

RoasTime: for Aillio Bullet owners

Aillio publishes RoasTime for macOS, Windows and Linux. Its documentation describes roast logging, control of Bullet settings and automated roast recipes, with Roast.World providing cloud storage, sharing and related records.

This makes RoasTime the relevant starting point for a Bullet owner, rather than a general recommendation for an unrelated roaster. Check the instructions for your particular Bullet generation before installation.

Automation is not permission to leave the machine unattended. Aillio explicitly says users must remain physically present during automated roasting. Treat the software as an operating aid, not a substitute for supervision.

What should a roasting log contain?

Use a consistent batch identifier and record the coffee, green weight, roasted weight, machine configuration and your observations. Artisan’s published properties dialogue provides fields for batch information and roasting or cupping notes, so the profile need not stand alone.

Choose a naming convention that lets you find the corresponding coffee later. When tasting, attach the result to that batch rather than leaving it in an unrelated notebook. Our recommendation is to judge the usefulness of a profile by whether it helps explain or repeat a cup you want to drink.

What Features Matter in Coffee Apps?

Before choosing, run this practical acceptance check:

1. Confirm availability. Open the developer’s official download page and the appropriate UK store listing. Check the required operating system on your actual device.
2. Complete a realistic task. Follow a recipe or enter a previous brew. Count unnecessary steps and remove fields you do not need.
3. Test the timer. Check alerts, screen locking and background behaviour on your phone before using it beside hot water.
4. Check hardware precisely. Match the model and generation against the compatibility list, then check any firmware requirements.
5. Check offline behaviour. Establish what remains usable without internet access, including access to existing records.
6. Export a sample. Check whether the result includes notes, recipes, images and graph data.
7. Practise recovery. Follow the documented restore procedure without risking your only copy of existing records.

Keep machine connectivity separate from app usefulness. Read about smart coffee makers for the equipment category and app-controlled machines for machine-specific operation. A good brewing journal need not control a brewer.

Privacy, Backups and Free Versus Paid Features

Local records do not mean no analytics

Beanconqueror’s website describes brewing records as stored locally, while its separate Data & Tracking page describes usage analytics. Those statements concern different things: where your recipes live and what information the developer receives about app use.

Filtru’s App Store privacy section lists developer-declared data practices. Apple states that it has not verified that declaration. Read the privacy policy alongside the store summary, and review permissions before enabling optional features.

For workplace use, our recommendation is to avoid entering staff names, account credentials or commercially sensitive notes into a shared coffee log. Use a neutral equipment name and a workplace-controlled backup location.

Check what a backup actually includes

Beanconqueror’s backup instructions make a useful distinction: its automatic exports do not include images or brewing graph data, while the full-backup procedure covers those additional files.

Make this a question for every app you assess. Ask whether an export is a readable report, a restorable database or both. With cloud services such as Roast.World, also check sharing settings before uploading production records.

Free versus paid: compare the task, not the badge

Beanconqueror and Artisan describe their core software as free; Aillio describes RoasTime as free. Filtru combines a free download with additional PRO features. Artisan also distinguishes its core application from its separate cloud inventory service.

Our recommendation is to consider paid functionality only when you can name the task it improves. That might be a particular recipe workflow, espresso recording or production administration, but establish the current entitlement first. Check subscription renewal, cancellation, export and what happens to existing records when access changes.

For workplace deployment or a wider software service, obtain itemised written quotations defining included functions, support and account administration. Review this shortlist at least annually, and sooner after a major app or operating-system change.