On July 22, at the Twosome Place Awesome Pairing Plant (APP) in Eumseong, North Chungcheong Province, automated equipment was in full operation. Roasted coffee beans moved along rails installed on the ceiling, while yellow 'delta robots' continuously packed the beans into boxes. Only eight workers managed this expansive production line, showcasing a futuristic factory where most processes, from bean input to roasting, packaging, and loading, are automated.
Opened in July 2022, APP is a 20,000-square-meter facility specializing in coffee and desserts, marking its fourth anniversary this year. It is the first coffee roasting and dessert production system established in a single location among domestic cafe franchises. The facility handles the entire process of coffee production, from bean storage to roasting, packaging, and shipping, supplying approximately 1,900 tons of beans annually to stores nationwide. This capacity translates to about 290,000 servings of regular-sized iced Americanos per day. Currently, the facility is equipped to produce up to 2,600 tons annually, allowing for increased supply as store expansion occurs.
A key differentiator of APP is its 'fully automated process.' Human intervention is minimized from the initial input of raw beans. In the past, workers manually tore open 60-70 kg bags of raw beans, but at APP, automated equipment lifts and cuts the bags before sending them to the production line.
Stringent quality control measures are in place to manage foreign substances that can affect bean quality. Raw beans undergo four stages of cleaning, including wind sorting, stone removal, metal detection, and color sorting, to eliminate impurities. Additionally, during the packaging stage, vision and X-ray inspections are conducted, resulting in a total of six rigorous quality checks before final shipment. This multi-step quality management system is established from the arrival of raw beans to the final product.
The roasting area, a core process, is designed with a focus on maintaining quality. Raw beans imported from five countries—Colombia, Brazil, Guatemala, Ethiopia, and Papua New Guinea—are automatically blended according to product recipes and roasted in drum roasters for about 15 minutes. The burner room, which generates heat between 500 and 600 degrees, is separated from the roasting room to prevent heat from affecting bean quality, and the roasting room is built approximately 20 meters high to allow heat to escape upwards.
Notably, the method of transferring beans is innovative. Instead of the conventional air pressure system, the 'Z-Bucket' system is employed to minimize breakage. Roasted beans, which can easily crack due to their fragile structure, are slowly transported in basket-like equipment to maintain quality. Kwak Kyung-dong, a manager in the Twosome Place coffee production team, explained, “While this method takes up more space and costs more, we adopted it to minimize bean breakage.”
The packaging process is also led by robots. After beans are automatically filled into bags and pass inspection, delta robots, known as 'spider robots,' pack the products into boxes, while palletizing robots neatly stack them onto pallets. An industrial robot vacuum cleaner can also be seen managing fine dust around the production line.
Twosome Place plans to use APP as a base to further enhance its coffee competitiveness. Last year, the company sold 49 million servings of Americanos, averaging about 140 servings sold per minute. The company first introduced 'dual sourcing' in 2014, followed by a rebranding in 2019 with 'Blackground' and 'Aroma Note,' completing a 'triple sourcing' system by adding decaffeinated beans. In line with the growing health trend, the company plans to expand consumer choices by introducing cold brew menus with varied caffeine levels and new concepts for Americanos and lattes in the second half of the year.
Lee Sang-guk, head of the Twosome Place production division, emphasized, “Even as our stores rapidly increase nationwide, we are establishing consistent quality standards from the production stage so that customers can enjoy the same high-quality coffee and desserts at any location. The Awesome Pairing Plant is a key production hub supporting Twosome Place's coffee expertise and quality competitiveness.”
* This article has been translated by AI.
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