Nucleus Coffee Tools has released the latest firmware update for the LINK sample roaster, introducing a suite of new features designed to give you more control, flexibility, and confidence when developing your roast.

Launching in July 2026, LINK Addis 4.2 is the most comprehensive update yet for the LINK roasting ecosystem, combining user-requested improvements with new tools designed to change how roasters think about profiling, airflow, and flavour expression.

The update expands the way roasters can approach profile development, with new airflow-based flavour control, additional profile packs, expanded app functionality, and more tailored recommendations throughout the roasting workflow.

One of the biggest additions in Addis 4.2 is Fan Priority — a new feature that allows LINK users to influence flavour expression through airflow behaviour without changing the underlying roast plan.

Rather than manually adjusting airflow during a roast, users can select a preferred flavour direction before roasting begins. Four fan styles allow roasters to emphasise:

• Clarity and acidity for bright expressive coffees (A)
• Balance and harmony for versatile everyday profiles (B)
• Sweetness and body for richer, fuller cups (C)
• Classic LINK expression using the existing default setting (D)

The feature is designed to simplify airflow decisions, allowing users to explore the impact of airflow on flavour while maintaining the consistency of LINK’s algorithm-driven roasting system.

Addis 4.2 significantly expands the LINK profiling system, increasing available profiles from 1,010 in the previous version to more than 6,000 options.

This broader library gives roasters more starting points for experimenting with different processing methods, roast styles, and flavour outcomes.

Following Nas Jaafar’s historic 2026 World Brewers Cup win using the LINK sample roaster, Addis 4.2 includes filter profiles inspired by the style used for his winning coffee.

The profiles are designed to highlight aromatic complexity, sweetness, and fruit-driven characteristics, particularly for expressive coffees such as anaerobic and naturally processed lots.

Responding to demand for deeper roast styles, Nucleus Coffee Tools has added Bold profiles across Cupping, Filter, Espresso, and Omni categories.

Rather than simply extending roast time, these profiles are engineered specifically to create the best possible cup at a noticeably darker roast degree. Driven primarily by a larger post-crack temperature increase, the profiles trade origin transparency and brightness for body, caramelisation and roast forward character.

Addis 4.2 also introduces a new Arabic Coffee profile pack designed for traditional coffee preparation styles where spices such as cardamom, saffron, ginger, and cloves play a central role.

The profiles stop well before the first crack, designed to create a warm, sweet coffee base that complements spice blends rather than overpowering them. Trading conventional roast character for Maillard-driven warmth and sweetness, with six levels ranging from 18c to 8c that determine coffee presence vs spice presence.

Espresso drinkers and café professionals also benefit from two new competition-style espresso profiles developed by Nucleus Coffee Tools’ Angus Mackie, a certified World Barista Championship judge and experienced competitor.

The espresso G and H are built for roasters and cafes who want competition quality results in everyday service.

Espresso G is designed for fruit-forward natural and anaerobic coffees, while Espresso H delivers a softer, rounder profile suited to honey, washed, and decaffeinated coffees.

Alongside firmware improvements, the LINK App has received a major update focused on improving guidance and usability.

The refreshed app provides more detailed profile information, clearer roast plan explanations, power curve recommendations, and additional inputs such as coffee variety, continent, and country of origin to help refine roast suggestions.

Users can now better understand why a profile is recommended, what flavour direction it is designed to create, and how different settings may influence the final cup.

With Addis 4.2, Nucleus Coffee Tools is continuing to develop LINK as a platform that combines precision technology with practical usability.

By adding more flavour control, expanding profile options, and improving the user experience, the update gives roasters more opportunities to explore new coffees while maintaining the repeatability and consistency that LINK users rely on.

For roasters, cafés, and coffee professionals looking to push flavour development further, Addis 4.2 offers a broader toolkit for turning green coffee into exceptional cups.