I’ve done the popcorn popper thing. My brother got me interested in the late 80’s - early '90s (pre-internet, for me anyway). I got into it again a couple of years ago, but learned to modify the popper. I removed the thermostat for the popper and installed a thermocouple to be able to read the temperature. I then added a rocker switch so I could turn the heat on and off. This way, I can control the temperature.
One thing I did learn was the roasted beans need to “rest” for a few days after roasting. It seems they outgass CO2 after roasting and do not develop full flavor until all of the CO2 is gone. Fresh ground is more important than fresh roast.
I used to roast at home maybe a decade ago. While I enjoyed it and loved the selection of beans I could get from Sweet Maria’s, I found the equipment to be super frustrating. There was too great a gap from from the affordable machines (which were either too small, too finicky or too unreliable) and the good, full-featured units that cost a fortune.
I think that’s changed somewhat, but to my mind, the key is that the machine has to be able to roast a half-pound to a pound, besides having a useful feature set and better reliability.
I do recall that I got some of the flexible metal dryer hose and rigged it up as a chimney. A near-pound batch roasted dark could completely overwhelmed the hood over the stove.
I had a lot of luck with single varieties and some of my own blends, but for espresso, I never got anything nearly as good as the Dolce blend from Cafe Vivace in Seattle. They sell that blend as green beans as well, so it’s nice to be able to start from a known-good spot as you refine the other variables.
Jumping in with my two cents at the OP’s request. I started with a cheap popcorn popper too. It was a disappointing experience and I didn’t roast very often. Next I upgraded to the FreshRoast SR500. I can’t say much more about it than has already been said, but it’s been a reliable roaster these last two years. Yes, I can only roast 4oz. at a time, so that means I’m either serial-roasting all day or roasting every three days. The SR500 does a nice job overall, but the roast can be a little uneven. There are workarounds, like stopping the roast after a few minutes and (carefully!) shaking the beans to evenly distribute them, but that’s a lot of work when you do it all the time.
My next roaster will be the Gene Cafe, a unit which I’m told produces a very nice and even roast, a pound at a time. I’ll report back once I actually have it and have used it.
For beans, yes Sweet Maria’s was my introduction, but I prefer the selection, service and prices at Burman Coffee Traders. The owners are responsive to emails and very helpful. I recommend their cheapest shipping; they package and ship quickly and you’ll save money.
Checking back in on thoughts between the Gene Cafe and Behmor? I think I want one of these two but not sure which. I haven’t been able to find 2016 reviews of both by someone that knows what they are talking about.
I want to make darker roasts and a keeper “espresso” for my wife’s latte’s and my caps or Americano. That’s my starter project to get to something better than Lavazza Crema e Aroma
I also want to figure out a good Sulawesi like Pete’s.
Be advised that the Behmor has problems with truly dark roasts. It’s fine for me and my “Full City” roasts, but darker than that I have to cheat the roaster.
**Jon at Burman’s shared:**Largest difference in your case will be – the Gene is very easy to use. The Behmor has a steep learning curve.
The Behmor will be a slightly more versatile machine with its larger batch size and diverse setting range but will throw some challenges while one learns the roasting process and toys with the settings – pretty easy to over roast or under roast and one has to watch it closely until they can predict results and find signs of roast points.
Gene is slightly easier to repair down the road – both should go 2-3 years without problems... but they do come with a 1-year warranty – we do see a percentage of warranty claims across the board – pretty even across the units. Both are nice in the fact that they are repairable (for the most part).
**Sweet Maria’s gave this feedback: **I will do my best to help with suggestions as you pick a roaster. I know you mentioned only one company that “burns their beans” but the other two you mentioned can or come pretty close and all of the roasts you mentioned involve second crack. The Behmor can’t roast past the very first snap of the first bean or two to start second crack. So I don’t think you should buy the Behmor. Roasting as dark as your preference shows will void the warranty and could cause a fire. The good news is the Gene Cafe can do a dark roast without these or any issues. The gene is simple to use and though like all roasters you have to watch it the whole time, you don’t have to do anything to complex to get the roast you want.
**Net-net, **I pinged Jon back to hear about the darker roasts between the two machines to see if he agrees with Maria’s.
I had written both that I think Starbucks burns their beans, but I did like Peet’s Sulawesi-Kalosi a lot. However, my go to daily is an espresso shot that works well in my wife’s latte and my cap and/or Americano.
I’m definitely now leaning toward the red Gene Cafe. And it’s probably going to be my families father’s day present to me.
And it’s probably going to be my families father’s day present to me.