Roasting Census

[Gouezeri]

Seeing as we now seem to have a fair number of roasters here, I thought it might be interesting to have some figures.

[simonp]

I had to vote Hottop, but I would also like to have put one in for the Imex/opcorn one as I did that for a year, and will probably use the popcorn machine on occasion to do small batches, like doing some robusta for blends, lets face it, who would want 250g of roasted robusta on their hands

[JonathanM]

Hottop. I've never tried the Imex/Popcorn approach - I wanted to have a simple source of fresh roasted coffee suitable for a total novice, and was spending too much on postage! Sometimes I wish it coud deal with a larger batch size (250g green equates to about 1-2 days of coffee supply). Sometimes I would like to do smaller batches, for example when I'm trying to follow one of your blends, or wanting to test a different roast.

Simon - maybe you will be posting some 250g pre-blended recipies soon?

[jumper]

heatgun. i also use a sample roaster at work some time if i'm out of coffee and need a quick fix

[simonp]

Hottop. I've never tried the Imex/Popcorn approach - I wanted to have a simple source of fresh roasted coffee suitable for a total novice, and was spending too much on postage! Sometimes I wish it coud deal with a larger batch size (250g green equates to about 1-2 days of coffee supply). Sometimes I would like to do smaller batches, for example when I'm trying to follow one of your blends, or wanting to test a different roast.

Simon - maybe you will be posting some 250g pre-blended recipies soon?

Blimey, 250g in 2 days That will last me a week! Sometimes a bit less if Jess is drinking espresso in the evening.

The only downside I can see with the Hottop is that due to our not that large consumption, if I individually roast each bean in a blned the coffee will go very stale before we get through it. Generally though a blend can be split, the beans that take longer to roast (wet processed and Indonesians) can be done together, and quicker roasting beans (dry processed ones like Cachoera & Harrar, and aged beans) can be done together.

For my first Hottop roast (apart from a test roast with some old Malabar Gold) will be my blend of a week or so back, with Brazil Lagoa, Lintong, Guatamalna, & Yirg. These are all wet processed and should roast well together.
I know Phil always roasts separately and the post-roast blends, but I think he sticks to 3-bean blends.

[Jo2]

I used to roast very small badges in my microwave / oven (set to hot air), and i tried stovetop last week, but since i'm so close to the fire (;-)) at work, i hardly ever roast at home anymore...
I voted "other".

[stevenzaat]

I vote for Hottop, roasting with the machine almost a year and I reallly love it.

Best regards,

Steven

[zix]

For me it is still heatgun, popper and oven, with heatgun being the favourite for taste, popper the favourite for quick-and-easy roasts and oven the favourite for lots of body and larger batches. Still no home-made drum mkII, shame on me...

If I had the money and the space for a pro drum roaster, like a sample roaster, I would probably get one.

[Beanie]

Hottop for me. Got the new panel as a present. Haven't roasted with it yet; but hopefully tonight. Will be good to see the temperatures That's been what I've been missing the most.