Well I have been preparing Espresso with my Giotto and Mazzer mini this year after graduating from a Silvia and Rocky. Went the step further and picked up a slightly used iRoast2 to see if I would enjoy roasting my own coffee. Well here are my impressions as a home roaster.

I am truly enjoying the process of buying different beans and roasting my own coffee more that learning to make my own espresso. Of course I know that saying this in this forum is akin to heresy but the immediate rewards from drinking your own roast are very satisfying. In addition the learning curve is less. It took no time at all to get a decent roast. I use a Bunn for drip looking forward to tasting every new batch. Drip coffee is more forgiving of the roast so it is easy to just compare different coffees and the roasting levels. Espresso adds another variable or variables. After I find just the right coffee and blend that I wll stick to then I will get back to espesso. Right now I am blending Kenyan AA with Sumatran (3:1) . Lighter roasts of the Kenyan are bit grassy so I am taking the roast in my profile to 10 minutes 35 seconds. I have bought a K probe meter and am detailing my roast curves now but truly with bean color , smell and smoke as well as listening VERY closely for cracks (Difficult for 2nd crack) is a good indicator of where you are in the roast. After 3 or more days taste is a very good measure. Once a roast profile you like is found you just need to follow your profile. Truly not that difficult. Bit what a difference in taste. Even my wife who keeps repeating that she does not see a difference in coffees is commenting on how much better our coffee is compared to store bought of other people's coffee.

And that is with an iRoast 2. Advantage with the iRoast are that it is less expensive (Cost me $50.00) Reasonable batch size for a couple of drinkers. I usually have 4 or 5 batches resting for the coming week. Larger batches would make more smoke, would waste more coffee if your roast is off when in the learning curve, and does a good job agitating the neans and getting an even roast. I understand that the life of the roaster is not long, 2 years at the most especially due to the fact that I sometimes do 2 or even 3 roasts in 1 night. (30 minutes + between roasts) Since I live in the cold white north I roast indoors and devised an exhaust hood with fan that exhausts outside

So I guess that I can expect that at some point I will be looking to upgrade to another roaster. No need at tis time, I think. We will see when my Brazillian and Ethiopean beans arrive and I start roasting for espresso. Everywhere I read that I should not extract espresso with Kenyan as it is too acidic. We will compare when the Brazillian and Yirgacheffe arrive.

Hi Mike...
Glad you are having such fun! I love roasting and it gets in your blood.

I've been using a pair of iRoast for 2 years-plus and often roast 3-4 batches in a row...have from day one. They seem to be doing fine. I'm sending one of them to my son who is still using a 4 year old FreshRoast, and hanging on to the other as a backup to our new Behmor.

When/if you decide to upgrade, there are sure good choices these days.

Yes, the decided advantages of roasting at home for me are: 1) the freshness of the beans, & 2) Control over the roast level. Most local roasters go too far into 2nd for my liking.

Keep having fun and keep us posted as to how it's going as you grow in this...obsession...