jim_schulman Senior Member Joined: 19 Dec 2001 Posts: 3,772 Location: Chicago Expertise: I live coffee
Posted Sat Sep 28, 2002, 1:40pm Subject: Re: COFFEE ROASTERS
There's no best home coffee roaster, and all the current models - popcorn poppers, the Freshroast, the Hearthware Gourmet, the Cafe Rosto, and the Alpenrost will do coffee to any degree of roast you desire. The only restriction is if you want to roast Mocha beans, don't get the Alp, since it's perforations in the drum are too large for tiny beans.
There's a number of factors to home roasters, and none of the machines is best on all of them:
Roast Quality The Alp produces the slowest most mellow roast, the Rosto and HWG are intermediate, Poppers and the FR tend to be brighter.
Modifiability Roast profiles (i.e. how mellow or bright a roast is) can be controlled by adding a variac or heavy duty dimmer (ca $40 - $70) to poppers, the FR, or the Rosto. They don't work for the Alp or HWG.
Roast Quantity Poppers, the FR, the Rosto, and the Alp can do about a pound per hour (with repeated roasts). The HWG is slower, about 3/5 pound per hour.
Ergonomics the FR and HWG are easiest to use, the Rosto is fairly easy, poppers and the alp each have certain difficulties. The Alp is very quiet, the FR fairly quiet, poppers are intermediate, the Rosto and HWG are very loud. Smoke control is easiest on the FR and HWG, intermediate on poppers and the Rosto, hardest on the Alp.
Reliability Poppers are easy to replace, the FR and Rosto have good reputations, the Alp and HWG have spotty reputations.
Heft Poppers and the FR are plasticky. The Rosto and HWG look like kitchen appliances, and the Alp is beefy and professional looking.
Intangibles People either come to dislike or enjoy roasting with a particular setup. Enjoying oneself is more important than all the objective factors. However, if you know your preferences and peeves, the objecive factors can give you a clue about which roaster you'll enjoy most.
Price Poppers $5 to $25, FR & HWG $65, Rosto $125, Alp $250.
Forthcoming The Hottop, a drum roaster like the Alp, but built better and more controllable will be out some time soon at $500. The new Hearthware, an airroaster with built in profile control is rumored to come out early next year, probably at around $175.
If you know what's important to you, this list should help you narrow your choice.
Posted Sat Sep 28, 2002, 2:46pm Subject: Re: COFFEE ROASTERS
Jim...If this isn't one of the best FAQ (sort of) posts I have seen on the internet for coffee roasters I don't know what is. This was very informative.
jim_schulman Senior Member Joined: 19 Dec 2001 Posts: 3,772 Location: Chicago Expertise: I live coffee
Posted Sat Sep 28, 2002, 4:20pm Subject: Re: COFFEE ROASTERS
coffeebeing Said:
Jim...If this isn't one of the best FAQ (sort of) posts I have seen on the internet for coffee roasters I don't know what is. This was very informative.
(I'm enjoying the espresso blend by the way and will write you within the next day or 2-got it on Wednesday by the way)
Posted Sun Sep 29, 2002, 9:05pm Subject: Re: COFFEE ROASTERS
I'm joining the party late as usual but Jim, I just want to agree with the others. Your information is, as always, clear and concise. I've benefited from your advice several times in the past and want to thank you again for sharing your knowledge and experience.
Oddly enough, contrary to being a chore, I look forward to my roasting sessons and was sorely disappointed when my failure to reorder from SM's quickly enough (after my first order) resulted in running out of green beans too soon. Perhaps I'll tire of it at some point but for now, there's a tremendous sense of gratification when a roast is completed, cooled and in the jar for me to inhale.
Posted Sun Oct 27, 2002, 3:11pm Subject: Re: COFFEE ROASTERS
Jim,
I too would like to thank you for your post. I've been considering getting a hot air popper and some green beans and experimenting with roasting my own.
Posted Tue Oct 29, 2002, 11:34am Subject: Re: COFFEE ROASTERS
Hello All,
I'm waaay late on this discussion, but, need to chime in against the FR, here's why. The metal base is bonded onto the glass roasting chamber with sloppy amounts of clear RTV silicon(or something). Consider that 400+ degree air is coming in contact with this and then bubbling through your beans. Is that something you want? I don't.
Symbols: = New Posts since your last visit = No New Posts since last visit = Newest post
Forum Rules: No profanity, illegal acts or personal attacks will be tolerated in these discussion boards. No commercial posting of any nature will be tolerated; only private sales by private individuals, in the "Buy and Sell" forum. No cross posting allowed - do not post your topic to more than one forum, nor repost a topic to the same forum. Who Can Read The Forum? Anyone can read posts in these discussion boards. Who Can Post New Topics? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post new topics. Who Can Post Replies? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post replies. Can Photos be posted? Anyone can post photos in their new topics or replies. Who can change or delete posts? Any CoffeeGeek member can edit their own posts. Only moderators can delete posts. Probationary Period: If you are a new signup for CoffeeGeek, you cannot promote, endorse, criticise or otherwise post an unsolicited endorsement for any company, product or service in your first five postings.
= No New Posts since last visit 