Hello,

Having never roasted coffee, I would like to start roasting coffee at home (I'm UK-based). Due to time, and other constraints, I am looking for a solution that requires as little human intervention as possible.

I was thinking of getting a GeneCafe CBR-101 Coffee Roaster (https://www.amazon.co.uk/GeneCafe-CBR-1 ... 01A5OJLM8/). Considering that they're not cheap (£583 at time of writing), I would like to know what the machine's main pros and con are.

Thanks in advance,

They're £100 cheaper at Bella Barista (who are known for excellent after-service)
https://www.bellabarista.co.uk/catalogs ... ster+101a+

Lucas,

I used the Gene Cafe roaster for about 5 years, with probably 500+ roasts on it. A couple of important caveats for you:

- NEVER leave a roaster unattended - they can and will catch fire, especially in the later stages of a roast. If you want something really "hands-off" I would not recommend roasting as a hobby.
- Roasting creates a lot of smoke. The larger the batch and the darker the roast, the more smoke there is. If you have some outdoor space or a strong kitchen vent, this may not be too much of a problem for you.

My thoughts on the GC:

Pros:
- Good quality coffee, pretty consistently
- Batch size of ~200g or so (I always just filled a normal sized mug to the top, seemed to be a good size)
- not too involved - I'd preheat at 350F, then 5 min at 350F, 5min at 400F, then max until the end.
- Cost is pretty reasonable compared to a lot of other roasters
- Much easier to be consistent than a cheap fluid bed roaster like a FreshRoast

Cons:
- Can't change the batch size too much in either direction
- Couldn't reliably roast much lighter than full city
- Hearing cracks over the fans can be difficult
- Not as much adjustability as drum roasters
- Design is a little unique, often tips from other roasters won't work on the GC.

I'd be happy to try and answer any questions that you have.

Dave

Thank you, @mathof for passing details of the Bella Barista site.

Thank you, Dave for all the information.

I wasn't aware of the fire risks that coffee roasters pose. Thank you for the advice.

Regarding the smoke, my kitchen has a big window, I'm not sure if that would suffice for ventilation.
About monitoring the roast, if I understand correctly, it wouldn't take longer than 25 minutes to do a single roast. My intention was to roast early in the morning, while I'm preparing breakfast.
Would the GC required my undivided attention?

Thank you, once more.

Totally agree with Dave. I've owned one for around 5 years also and did around 800+ roasts on it. NEVER leave a roaster unattended and especially the Gene due to the design. I've had 2 fires from chaff flying around even in the more early stages of the roast (one just after first crack and one when second crack was due). I always did my roasting in the shed as I would never do it inside as it smells awfull (the good smell comes a day after roasting) and the smoke is really oily.

And especially with the Gene you need to be around all the time to change temp and keep an eye on roast level and speed. It can give great results if you invest a lot of time in the theory of roasting and tweak the Gene constantly during roasting. I wouldn't even go away for 2min. And for cooling you need to dump the beans in a selfmade cooler or it'll roast you beyond what you wanted to achieve. With heating up for 5min roasting after that took around 12-13min a batch of 250gr greens so around 220gr of roasted coffee.

If you want a roaster that doesn't need so much attention look at a Aillio Bullet or a Hottop KN-8828B which are in a whole different class pricewise. With the Gene I could get better results then most roasters here but it does require a lot of work and attention. Or have a look at a Behmor which doesn't require much attention but hasn't got the control you can get from the Gene (and thus some lower quality roastng) but is also pretty affordable.

In essence if you want to start roasting you need to invest a lot of time in figuring out how everything works. If it's just something you don't want to spend a lot of time doing then it's better to just buy roasted coffee.