Beverage Color Measurement Solutions

What Are Color Measurements for Beverages?

Beverage is an umbrella term for a variety of consumable liquids, from sodas to spirits, fruit juices to coffee, and more. Because the beverage market is so competitive, manufacturers must ensure their products are high-quality, especially when it comes to color.

The human brain is affected by different shades and hues of color, which can ultimately impact purchasing decisions. Studies show that consumers increasingly value harmonious color schemes and view color consistency as an indication of quality. When you measure the color of beverages, you can monitor and control the shades and hues to produce the best and most consistent color possible to maximize your sales potential.

Types of Beverage Colors

Beverage colors fall into several different categories of liquid type. The specific beverage color measurement instrument you will use depends on which category your beverage falls under. They include:

Opaque: Opaque liquids have a high solids content, which prevents light from penetrating through. Examples of opaque beverages include coffee and milk. Opaque samples are best measured using a 45/0-degree reflectance tool.
Translucent: Translucent liquids have a medium solids content, which allows for light to pass through diffusely. Examples of translucent beverages include fruit juices and sodas. You can use reflectance and transmittance instruments to measure these types of samples.
Transparent: Transparent liquids have little to no solids content, which allows light to pass through with minimal distortion. Examples of transparent beverages include water, spirits, and beer. You can only use transmission instruments to measure transparent liquids.

Our Beverage Color Measurement Tools

At HunterLab, we have advanced beverage color measurement instruments for whatever type of beverage color you may need to measure. Our products include:

Vista

The Vista tool is ideal for measuring the color and haze of sodas, syrups, fruit juices, spirits, and other translucent or transparent liquids. Our haze measurements conform to ASTM D1003 Procedure B standards for a highly accurate assessment, as well as other beverage-specific standards and scales. The Vista includes features such as one-touch standardization and smart user interface with data management.

With state-of-the-art capabilities and user-friendly features, The Vista is a revolutionary product in the color science world. It's ready to go out of the box, so you can immediately implement it for your daily operations. With a compact design, customizable workspaces and a range of other optimized features, this equipment can meet your critical requirements seamlessly. Lightning-fast measuring speeds maximize productivity for your day-to-day projects.

Aeros

The Aeros tool is designed for roasted coffee beans, green coffee beans, and ground roasted coffee, and provides quality control software that includes SCCA (Specialty Coffee Association of American), HCCI (Hunter Color Coffee Index), and other coffee scales. This benchtop, non-contact directional measuring tool features the largest sample area of any benchtop spectrophotometer or colorimeter.

Accurately measure nonuniform and heavily textured samples with the Aeros Spectrophotometer/Colorimeter. Offering an auto-height positioning center and smart communication tech, this equipment can help keep color consistent across production lines. The device features an industrial touch screen with a user-friendly interface, rapid sample measurements and built-in Wi-Fi, email, Ethernet and USB data connectivity.

ColorFlex L2 Coffee

The ColorFlex L2 Coffee tool provides an accurate measurement of the color of roasted coffee grounds, including instant and freeze-dried. It provides the SCAA number, SCAA roast classification, and HCCI (HunterLab Coffee Color Index) coffee scales. This benchtop device is small, compact, and easy-to-use.

Specifically tailored to ground roast coffee measurements, this solution implements 45º/0º optical geometry — the only technology proven to mimic the human eye's color perception accurately. The equipment can provide consistent quality for each batch of coffee products. It requires minimal bench space and offers features for spectral data, color data, color plot and spectral plot displays.

ColorFlex L2 Tomato

The ColorFlex L2 Tomato tool is the world's number one choice in the classification and color measurement of tomato juice. It includes Tomato Juice Scores (TJS) and other common tomato scores.

Specially designed for accurate measurement of tomatoes in all their processed forms, from ketchup to paste to fresh, this system offers optimized technology that measures according to human color perception. Offering increased performance and product-standard storage, it is compact and user-friendly for your applications. It's compatible with EasyMatch QC software and can connect to a PC or printer as needed.

ColorFlex L2 Citrus

The ColorFlex L2 Citrus is the top color measurement tool worldwide for citrus juices. It provides values for Citrus Red (CR), Citrus Yellow (CY), Citrus Number (CN), and other common scales.

Intuitive, fast and highly accurate, this solution can measure reflected color for essentially any semi-opaque or opaque liquid. Its compact design requires minimal bench space, while its measurement geometry accurately represents how the human eye perceives color. Providing pass/fail tolerances and product-standard storage, it delivers the capabilities you need for rapid measurement of citrus produce and other liquids.

Why Beverage Color Consistency Matters

Color consistency is crucial when selling or marketing a beverage product. It helps to maintain quality control across production lines and enforces a critical standard for your output. In any workflow, production undergoes broad variation, from unique machines to operators. To help you effectively evaluate the quality of the final output, the color perception of the human eye is essential.

Key reasons to invest in color consistency include:

Protecting your reputation: When you maintain color consistency and quality across your products, you can establish your brand's reliability and build customer loyalty.
Increasing brand recognition: With a consistent color scheme, you can establish a specific appearance for your brand that customers can quickly identify when they want to make a purchase.
Maximizing engagement: As you set your business apart for your quality and distinguish your brand with consistent color standards, you can deepen consumer engagement across markets.

Count on HunterLab for Color Measurement for Beverages

At HunterLab, we deliver optimized production solutions that match your unique applications. For over 60 years, we've been providing state-of-the-art tools to address color measurement needs across industries. We understand the importance of color measurement accuracy and consistency, and we provide innovative solutions to prioritize accuracy. Our industry-leading equipment helps you ensure long-term reliability and quality for your output.

Whatever your requirements, you can partner with our expert team to find the best tools for color measurement and quality control. Our solutions can address a wide range of beverage color measurements to help ensure uniformity and build consumer trust.

Our tools will help ensure your beverages are the right color for consumption and maximum appeal. For more information about our beverage color measurement tools, contact us today.