As stated in Tom's and my post above, forum participants may disagree, but are expected to be respectful when stating their disagreement. James and others have reminded contributors to this thread earlier:

King Seven wrote:I'm more than happy to have my review picked apart - on a technical level, or a theoretical level if you disagree with what Scott wrote (and I thought was useful, smart writing) then I'm happy to have that debate. Between myself and my staff we've put in a fair number of hours into this stuff, countless batches and cuppings. I was familiar with most (but not all) of what Scott published before reading the book, so it isn't a blind endorsement.

I'm locking this thread for a cool down period while forum members ponder the #1 guideline, "Be respectful". Thanks.

Brief Review:
I just finished the book and thought it valuable in a number of ways. Many of Scott's techniques and conclusions are invaluable for someone using a drum roaster equipped with real time BT plotting to the C/C+ through FC/FC+ level of finishes; a description which applies to more than a few H-B participants.

Many of the most important (techniques and ideas, not participants) are not original with Scott and have been discussed here as well as in other places. Don't get me wrong though (a) I learned plenty new; and (b) never underestimate the pleasure of validation.

The book seems particularly pointed at people who want to make the transition from small-scale, intuitive roasting using fairly primitive equipment to modern, artisanal, craft roasting using gas fired, drum roasters of commercially viable size -- say 3kg to 15kg; and that's not a description which applies to many of us. However, almost everything in the Companion is worthwhile to people roasting with small drums in the HT/Huky/Quest class either for its practicality or in the way it makes you think about things you may never do.

At the very least it will teach you a style of roasting which balances sweetness with floral and fruit terroir and full "development."

Perhaps the Companion's largest flaw is that it gives short shrift to other styles -- for instance, hot, fast and sweet. Another (which may bother me more than many other readers) is the lack of recognition given Ramp as a discrete and important interval.

Of interest, but of no great value (to me anyway) are Scott's discussions about the flaws in automatic roast profiling software, and regarding the utility of a refractometer as the best arbiter of proper Development.

On the other hand, I don't think it's going to be particularly good for someone roasting in a Behmor, Gene, or anything else which can't be set up to plot accurate, real time BT; that is, unless that person's looking for an excuse to buy a more sophisticated roaster. But Scott does devote time to the two things most important to any roast master, planning and cupping, as well as to other subjects which cut across all equipment boundaries.

Four Caveats:
First:
Why is this night different from all other nights? Wait. No. Okay.

A couple of years ago I would have said that real time BT plotting was helpful but incidental to good results. Now I'm an enthusiastic convert to the idea that it is HUGELY important to the control and consistency necessary for modern, artisanal, craft roasting.

But not all equipment is created equal. I'm not sure how valuable a refractometer or green bean humidity testing is to non-commercial, home roasting. It seems to me that you can glean what you need to know about development by tasting, and what you need to know about humidity from a sample, "milestone" roast.

Second:
Based on things I've read in H-B, I'm not sure that everyone gets that RoR is more useful when viewed algebraically, i.e., calculated over a minimum amount of time -- say 15sec -- than when seen through a calculus prism, i.e., a derivative calculated for some given moment. This is especially important when trying to follow Scott's Second Commandment regarding an always declining RoR while managing the very tricky period preceding 1stCs and going through "rolling" 1stC -- because without perfect anticipation you're going to see a few moments of rising RoR.

Remember that RoR doesn't reflect the state of affairs in the roaster until some time well after two minutes, post Charge.

Also remember as you plot your roasts that Scott doesn't look at Ramp as a discrete interval. In my "classic drum" roaster it takes increasing the power quite a bit to keep the RoR sufficiently high for a mild decline between 300F (where I arbitrarily call End of Drying) and the anticipation point for 1stCs where I drop power and increase air.

Third (it pains me to say this because this is my style of roasting):
Just because a declining RoR style consistently produces good results, it doesn't mean that other styles stopped producing delicious results on Scott's publication date. In Scott's defense -- not that he needs it -- he does talk about "Nordic" and "Italian" styles which fall a little outside some of his rules but still work well in the cup.

Fourth:
The Roaster's Companion is targeted to people with an interest in learning to roast in a particular way, AND either already own or are willing to invest in equipment which will allow them to do it. If, for example, a Behmor makes you happy and you have no further, future ambitions, don't bother with the book.

Conclusion:
I didn't list as many positives as the book deserves. Consider the above as praising with faint damns.

Rich

I read the whole thing in an afternoon, and was very pleasantly surprised. For someone well past the basics and nowhere near vast experience, I found it very well written, chock full of information considering its relatively small size, and very useful for this Hottop owner. Yes, a lot of the material is re-packaged (and attractively so), but there are enough new thoughts to be explored that it has turned out to be a worth-while purchase. The negative comments that it has generated are educational, and serve as additional fodder?

Interesting read in this topic and the other one, related to the declining ROR. I'll have to buy and read this book as son as possible. Maybe change a little my homemade roaster to add more heat power to test what Scott is saying in his book (my roaster's ROR wont go higher than 15 Celsius degrees per minute) when the temps start to increase after charge, even when I charge the beans when the ET is about 260°C.

Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine has a short, but interesting interview with Scott Rao on The Coffee Roaster's Companion here.

I just finished reading the book myself. As someone new to roasting, it's it's very nice to have that amount of information in one book. It is very well written. I look forward to trying out some of his "commandments" (to the extent that I can with a P1). I'm very happy I bought this book