Bellwether Coffee, a leading brand of ventless electric coffee roasters from Berkeley, California, will make its first appearance in Taiwan at the "Taiwan International Coffee Show" from November 15 to 18, 2024, at the Nangang Exhibition Hall 1, 4th Floor, booth L-628 in Taipei. Bellwether has signed an official partnership agreement with prominent coffee equipment distributor Cojaft International to expand into Taiwan's rapidly growing coffee roasting market. Interested parties are invited to visit Cojaft’s booth to learn more about the Bellwether roasters on display.


From left to right: the third-generation SHOP ROASTER 1.5kg floor-standing model, the third-generation SHOP ROASTER 1.5kg countertop model, and the second-generation SHOP ROASTER 3kg floor-standing model (Photo provided by Cojaft International).

According to Cojaft's General Manager, Ning-Chun Tseng, Bellwether's founder, Ricardo Lopez, who hails from Napa Valley's wine industry, observed the rapid growth of the specialty coffee industry over the past decade. Seeing a similar growth potential as the early wine industry, Lopez founded Bellwether in 2014 to develop a roaster suitable for use in retail shops, attracting investments from prominent venture capitalists, including Peter Rive, co-founder of SolarCity.

Bellwether identified a key challenge in roasting coffee within cafes: managing smoke emissions. Their proprietary smoke-reduction technology enables cafes to roast beans without disturbing neighbors. The roaster is fully electric, eliminating safety concerns associated with gas or propane. Bellwether’s SHOP Roaster employs a fully automated roasting process—from bean weighing, roasting, cooling, to roast profile management—all managed through a cloud-based system, reducing labor and improving consistency.

Now in its third generation, Bellwether roasters have evolved from the second-generation model, which, though high-performing, was challenging to market due to high costs. The third-generation SHOP ROASTER features a streamlined design with a smaller footprint, a reduced batch size of 1.5kg, and optional automatic bean-loading capabilities, allowing up to 13 consecutive roasts with a single touch. Recently, the Bellwether roaster received praise from renowned coffee YouTuber James Hoffmann, who has over 2 million followers, and it won the Best New Product award at the 2024 SCA World of Coffee exhibition in Copenhagen, Denmark.


Beyond the U.S. market, Bellwether began expanding internationally this year, with sales now reaching Europe. In Asia, MUJI has adopted Bellwether roasters, using them in its Tokyo Ginza and Osaka Grand Front stores to roast and sell coffee beans on-site.