Manual Roasting
In general there is not one BEST machine, or BEST way to roast - only a lot of different options that you ought to consider and then pick one that seems to fit.

The fundamental choice in home roasting is choosing between a manual method and a more automated method. In both of these methods, my personal opinion is that the most important thing is to look at the roast itself - and that process is pictured and described on this page - http://sweetmarias.com/roasting-VisualGuideV2.html All the timing, settings and temperature readings are signposts along the way. The most important thing is to watch the coffee and develop a sense of where the roast is by color, smell, sound and most importantly taste of the roast when done. None of the settings on the fanciest, most expensive roaster in the world will help if you do not know to how to judge the coffee itself. (The analogy that comes to mind is how folks spend $$$K on a Viking range but can’t boil water. It is not the equipment that is important.)

Manual methods using an oven, stovetop popper, skillet or wok are just that - you control the temperature, time and movement of the beans entirely by hand. These are all conduction methods and result in a slower, more full-bodied roast. Roast times will be in the range of 10 to 20 minutes and you can roast up to a full pound in a stove top popper (though Tom prefers working with a half pound batch as it is easier to keep moving). You can also use a hot air popcorn popper (which does a bit less than 4 ounces per batch) and control it manually. This is a fluid bed roast and has more in common with the small machines discussed below. Tom has instructions for all these methods on this web page - http://sweetmarias.com/instructions.html

I think some folks wrongly dismiss manual methods out of hand as too hard. If you like to cook, then a manual roasting method is not that difficult and, with practice, you can get great results. Like making your own bread, when you get it right it is delicious and thrilling - a real accomplishment. Even mistakes are generally tastier than your average store bought loaf or er, coffee. A timer and/or a thermometer is a good idea for manual roasting.

Benefits of manual roasting are:
very low equipment costs (provided you have a stove or oven)
direct control of the roast
higher volume batches (up to a pound)

Problems are:
More labor intensive
No automation of temp or time controls
More smoke (more coffee equals more smoke)

The Machines (Coffee Roasting Appilances)

Home coffee roasting machines do have a niche market because while folks enjoy good coffee and might even consider roasting - the idea of standing at the stove for 15 minutes stirring coffee is a hindrance. Tom does have a chart of the various machines to compare them in terms of size, cost, pros and cons and that is here - http://sweetmarias.com/roastercomparisonchart.html

The Hearthware iRoast 2 is a unit that we like a lot because it is relatively small and affordable, and allows you to program in various roast profiles. The Gene Cafe also allows you to control the temperature and time very directly. The HotTop now has an optional programmable control board which gives youan incredible amount of control over the roast. More and more machines are allowing some programming of the roast since it is best to tailor the roast to the beans when possible - and it also allows you to compensate for low or high voltage, and low or high ambient temperature. But there are limitations with say the Hearthware iRoast 2, in terms of the fan failing or chaff blocking up the collector, etc. The Nesco Home Coffee Roaster (formerly called the Zach & Dani's) machine has the convenient feature of a smoke reducer, which is great but means that the roast is longer and slower since a faster roast overwhelms the convertor. If you like dark roasts, you have to reduce the batch size and make other adjustments in order to use a Nesco roaster. The Behmor roaster too has smoke reduction - but it might be too large a machine if you are the only coffee drinker in the house.

More details on the pros and cons of each machine are detailed in the tip sheet for each roaster and the roaster comparison chart - and all of them, and I mean ALL OF THE MACHINES have pros and cons. Again, based on my experience, some roasting methods are a better fit for some folks than others.

I think you can tell from Tom's page of Homemade Home roasters - http://sweetmarias.com/homemade-homeroasters.html that some folks like to tinker and come up with their own design. I personally would probably prefer a manual method since I like to cook - though honestly in our house Tom does all the roasting and he uses a variety of methods to roast, a small drum sample roaster, the Hearthware I-Roast, Gene Cafe or Behmor . So there is not one BEST machine, only a lot of different options that you ought to consider and then pick one that seems to fit. -Maria

The Coffee Library

• Roasting Basics Information Sheet
• Stovetop Corn Popper Roasting (Whirley-Pop)
• Stovetop Pan or Wok Roasting
• Oven Roasting
• Air Popper Roasting
• Coffee Blending Basics
• "Degree of Roast" Pictorial
• Many more information sheets...
  Sweet Maria's Roasting Appliance Tip Sheets: Select a tip sheet from this list... FreshRoast Tip Sheet Hearthware i-Roast Tip Sheet Nesco Coffee Roaster Hot Top Roasting Tip Sheet Hearthware iRoast Tip Sheet Caffe Rosto Tip Sheet SwissMar Alpenrost Tip Sheet Zach & Dani's Tip Sheet Hearthware Precision Tip Sheet More Roasting Tip Sheets Behmor Tip Sheet