It seems that there are far more flexible options when buying an espresso machine or grinder versus home roasting. The home roasters have really only 3 choices:

1. modified roasters like the popcorn roaster, breadmaker or Bar B Q
2. Branded hot air roasters like the iroast or freshroast which roasts small amounts very quickly
3. More expensive home roasters like the Behmor, Gene Cafe or Hottop which roasts larger amounts up to nearly 1 lb. but cost becomes more significant.

My situation is that we drink 1 lb. to 1.5 lbs coffee per week which I grind for both the Bunn and my Giotto. Now I would prefer to not spend every evening grinding 6 ounces of beans as I do have other things to do. Therefore I am assuming that my choices would be either choice 1 (breadmaker) or 3. Since it is very cold here in the great white north we call Canada, I am assuming that the breadmaker would create too much smoke. (My wife already has issues with my coffee hobby) The Gene Cafe is not readily available in Canada and I am told they are redesigning the roaster to be released...... ? So then the choices come down to either the new entry Behmor which looks like nice but has little track record or the Hottop which has been out awhile and easily upgraded or repaired albeit the most expensive of the lot.

Is it worth spending $900 (taxes included on a hottop so that I can roast 1.5 lbs. coffee a week)? $900 buys 60 pounds of coffee. That is 3 years of coffee! If the savings is 50% then it would mean 6 years before we break even. At that point the Hottop would likely need to be junked, I would think. Of course the calculations do not include shipping of the roasted beans but also do not include time to roast or energy costs for the Hottop.

So question is : How can I sell this so that it would make sense to my better half?

For me home roasting is not about spending or saving, it is about learning, experimenting, doing and enjoying. I could most certainly get better from an artisan roaster, but I enjoy doing it myself. Getting better at it, learning what I like and don't like, the conversations that it generates, on and on. Spending and saving really don't figure in to the picture for me.

So question is : How can I sell this so that it would make sense to my better half?

Selling the idea is another thing altogether. Sell the freshness, the variety, the hobby, the love of doing yourself (unless it's a haircut).

Barry B

I go though 1.5 - 2 lb. a week. I get my greens from Sweet Maria's. Price per lb. is about $6 for green. Roasted is about 15 from local roaster. You do the math.

Roasting is a hobby. I enjoy having fresh roasted coffee. I enjoy the different characteristics coffee has. I even enjoy my mistakes. But most of all, I love my morning cappuccino.

Roasting coffees is fairly straightforward, but it takes at least a year or so to become proficient. Many amateurs and professionals never become proficient, since they need to do much more than just roasting espresso blends in a way they think "tastes OK.":

• You need a roaster or need to modify one so you can control the heat level and read the bean temperature
• You need to compare your roasts with professional roasts of the same coffee
• You need to do light roasts and cup them, so you can spot the mistakes you are making early in the roast
• You need to do occasional dark roasts and make sure they don't taste ashy. If they do, you'll need to learn to control the maximum temperatures the beans are getting (this is equipment dependent).
• You need to buy coffees at least as good as are being sold by the top roasters.

So as with most buying advice -- all the choices are lousy unless you are willing to do the work.

Consider carefully before you decide to home roast. It does not save money. It takes a lot of time to become proficient.

The ONLY reason to home roast is to learn about coffee.

Ditto the previous posts.

It definitely does not save money, but sure it's tons of fun.

Of the roasters you mentioned, HotTop B probably offers the most control out of the box without modification. If you do get the HotTop, it may be a good idea to roast until you reach a comfortable, proficient level, before modification.

From your screen name, I don't know if you perform surgery. But at least for me, like any surgical instrument, it is a good idea to really know the equipment before modifying it for "off-label" use.

Yes, you get the greens for about half the cost of roasted beans, but you'll double your personal consumption and will find friends and family are willing to help you take some of that roasted coffee off your hands before it stales.

It's a great hobby, if you're looking for one, and can expand to fit any amount of time and money your willing to throw at it, but it is a very enjoyable pastime.

-Chris

I have found the Behmor to work for me but I had to mod it almost immediately after purchase for my needs. The primary mod is non-invasive and reversible but likely voids the warranty. You do need to come to terms with hacking something you paid $300 for a week because some guy on the internets told you to.

It is substantially less expensive than a Hottop or Gene and has proven to be durable. I get 1/2 lb of roasted beans every 15-18 minutes. It tries pretty hard to be "smokeless" but I recommend additional smoke management or roasting somewhere that you don't mind getting smoky.

WES

This is truly a very helpful site. For background I have been a coffee lover since the early 70's when I was preparing turkish/greek coffee on the stove. Enjoyed black coffee ever since. Then came the melitta days, cone filters but surprisingly have only started making espresso the past 1.5 years so can call myself a novice in that regard. Never enjoyed store bought coffee though as they all tasted bland. The coffee hobby has certainly evolved with appreciation of so many varieties of single origin coffee. Confusing as it may be.

So now I find myself ordering coffee from all over the country. There are 3 relatively local roasters who can provide fresh roasts which makes such a huge difference in the espresso. Without a fresh roast I just stick to milk drinks which are more forgiving. The espresso just is too thin if the coffee is not fresh. I would think that home roasting would be very interesting and would be a source of fresh roast all the time. No more waiting for the delivery and paying shipping costs. Can order more bulk in green beans and keep them longer. Just roast what I use that week or even for 2 weeks if I have a busy schedule.

Now for the learning curve... From reports the Behmer is supposed to be the easier roaster to get started with but less control, right? The Hottop is supposed to be the tried and true home roaster, been around longer so more profiles available and more control. Easier to repair with more parts available . and more upgradeable. Probably better for the long term but double the cost of the Behmer. Do you really think that it will take 1 year for me to be able to produce a decent roast? i know that there are nuances in the coffee that can be brought out in the roast but does that mean that I cannot produce a roast comparable to some of the professional roasters for 1 year. Wouldn't the fresh roast that is 5 days old be at least comparable to a professional roast that is 2 weeks old for instance?

Now I am still developing my tastes in coffee. I would guess and hope that I have many years to continue to develop my tastes. I would imagine that those tastes would become more sensitive with roasting experience. What do you see as a learning timeline?

Certainly I am planning to build a vent into a chimney which is now not in use, put a fan into the aluminum dryer vent and build a hood to collect the smoke. Can't have anyone complaining that the house smells unless it is just a roasted coffee smell. Am planning to roast in the furnace room. Also can vent into the exhaust of the heat exchanger but do not want to find that I end up with smoke being pushed throughout the house. Therefore the chimney is the safe way to go. Would the Hottop create much more smoke than the Behmor? I would think they would both smoke significantly as the second crack is approached.

My philosophy on buying equipment is that if you make the first investment into quality then usually it ends up as a saving. The market is good for used quality and the enjoyment is heightened with quality equipment. Same applies to surgery . You can do the same work with either Pakistan instruments but the German ones work better and make the job easier for years after you have thrown that Pakistan instrument in the garbage. So with that thought which is the better roaster?

I don't remember the amount of smoke by Gene Cafe, but Behmor produces much less smoke than HotTop. I tried the HotTop under the kitchen 600CFM hood, and it was not sufficient, so I roast outside or in the garage, until I got the Mini 500.

The HotTop requires cooling down to 167F before the next roast. Some people modify it to bypass this safety mechanism. The cooling time is about 20 minutes, so to roast one pound, two roasts, requires about 50 minutes.

A fellow roaster states she places her Behmor atop the refrigerator, and it produces negligible smoke. I have only used it at SweetMaria's warehouse, so can't comment about it in a residential kitchen setting. But I remember the smoke was much less than the HotTop. The settings can be changed in the middle of the roast to alter the profile for the HotTop B and Gene Cafe, but not so easily with the HotTop P. You can also set the HotTop B or P to automatic setting. The Behmor and Gene Cafe may require removing the beans out of the drum manually for cooling. The HotTop dumps the beans to an effective cooling tray.

There are current discussions on Quest M3 which may warrant consideration. Another interesting small gas drum roaster is the Fuji Coffee Discovery.