My guess is that you are correct, the problem is that the popper in not heating sufficiently. Are you measuring the temperature as you roast? If so, how are you measuring and what is the temperature at the end of the roast? It could be that your bland coffee is not stale, but rather baked

If you are roasting to 2nd crack, I don't see how changing roasters will lessen the amount of smoke -- except, perhaps by roasting smaller batches. In which case, Ikawa might work -- or any of the smaller fluid bed roasters, like SM's Popper, maybe

Thanks for posting this, Randy. Madeleine's posts were always a delight to read, even when the topic of the thread was not of interest to me. I miss her as well

How long have you been using a router speed controller? I have used them on my split-wired WB Poppery, but they burn out after a year or so. Have you not had that issue? Or have you solved it?

It doesn't bother me. My theory is that they are called beans because they bear a superficial resemblance to legume seeds. Anyway, it is a long established custom and is not likely to change any time soon. Just curious; do you also object to the term, vanilla beans? Andrew

I might be mistaken, but it is my understanding that Specialty coffee, as differentiated from commodity coffee, is designated as such in its country of origin according to its quality, as determined by such things as species and variety of coffee, agricultural and processing practices, and cup quali...

I don't know where it was bought. It was a gift

I know this has been discussed here before, but my attempt to search did not yield any helpful information. Is there a standard (industry standard, government standard, etc.) for the meaning of "best by (date)" as it relates to the roast date? I ask because I was given a pound of roasted coffee with...

Have you considered Roastmaster? It was developed for IOS. {link}

It is difficult to judge because all roasters and all individual tastes are different. The most important criterion is how the coffee tastes to you. Do you like it? Your profile looks quite good to me, especially if you are a beginner roaster. It looks like you ended the roast at about 200°C with 17...