Fresher is always better when it comes to coffee. One of the best ways to guarantee freshness is to roast your own coffee beans at home using a special coffee roaster.
Many coffee fanatics are now following this method to gain more control over the roast and flavor of their coffee beans. Furthermore, some people no longer buy roasted beans and prefer to roast their beans at home regularly.
This article is for you if you’re considering joining the fun and getting a home coffee roaster. Before rushing to a decision and randomly getting any home coffee roaster that may disappoint you, it’s better to read our unbiased review of the top 5 home coffee roasters you can get in 2022. So, without further ado, let’s dive right into it!
Are Home Coffee Roasters Worth it?
Roasting your own green coffee at home is worth it. Doing so allows you to control the flavor, origin, and roast of your beans. This allows you to make the cup of coffee of your dreams since you’re the only one in control here! Moreover, you can control the amount of caffeine in your cup of coffee by roasting the beans yourself—light roast coffee beans provide a little more caffeine than dark roast coffee beans.
However, roasting your coffee beans at home using a coffee roaster is not as easy as it might seem—it’s tricky to do it correctly and requires hard-to-master skills to produce perfect roasted beans. As a result, it may take time to figure out how to roast your coffee beans perfectly.
Don’t give up, though; remember that coffee experts spend years honing their technique, so have patience and don’t be hard on yourself! Trial and error is the key here—once you learn how to roast your coffee beans correctly, you get your reward in the form of an unforgettable cup of coffee.
In a nutshell, buying a home coffee roaster is considered a good investment only if you value flavor and freshness above all else. And only if you’re eager to learn about the correct method to roast the beans and are ready to get some imperfectly roasted beans in the beginning.
Top 5 Home Coffee Roasters in The Market
Not all home coffee roasters are created equal, and not all give you the same results when roasting coffee beans. Home coffee roasters vary in type, weight, dimensions, capacity, and price. As a result, you need to be extra careful when choosing a home coffee roaster, as not all of them can meet your expectations.
We recommend that you pick the home roaster, depending on what you are looking for. You should weigh each home roaster’s pros and cons before making a rushed decision.
While we can’t tell you exactly the perfect type of coffee roaster for you, we can recommend the best home coffee roasters in the market. Then, you can choose the one that suits your needs as a coffee drinker. Now, let’s have a look at our top 7 picks!
1. Kaldi Motorized Home Coffee Roaster
Kaldi offers one of the best home coffee roasters in the market, the closest one to a coffeehouse machine. This coffee roaster does a great job of extracting the maximum flavor from your beans, giving you the most aromatic experience.
It’s also great if you’re in a hurry and want a quick cup of coffee, as the roasting process does not take more than 15 minutes. Then, you can go ahead and enjoy the freshest coffee ever.
Other useful features make it a more appealing option for coffee lovers, such as a probe rod, chaff holder, and thermometer. The recommended amount of beans is 200g per batch, so you don’t want to get too excited and fill the entire coffee roaster with beans if you want to maintain it, even though it can accommodate 250g.
While Kaldi’s roaster is expensive and requires a long-term commitment, it doesn’t fail to do its intended job. Also, remember that this coffee roaster is professional and not the most beginner-friendly one you can find, as setup can be a little bit challenging.
This shouldn’t be a big deal once you learn how to use it. This coffee roaster from Kaldi is also great for roasting your coffee beans.
If this roaster—which weighs 9.26 lbs and has dimensions of 14.1 x 8 x 22.1″—is too big for your liking, you can get a smaller roaster from the same brand, which is also less expensive than this one.
2. Fresh Roast SR540 Coffee Roaster:
Another reliable coffee roaster you can get is this one from Fresh Roast SR540. To begin with, the roaster has a sleek, straightforward design that makes it easy for anyone with no experience in coffee roasting to use it. You only need to select 1 of the 9 heat levels and press the start button to operate this machine.
But looks can be deceiving—although the coffee roaster is simple-to-operate, it has a few sophisticated features that make it worth investing in, including the ability to cool off your coffee beans after being roasted and a real-time temperature reader.
You’d also be happy to hear that your coffee beans will be ready in less than 10 minutes, which is a big plus for those who don’t want to stand up for too long just to have their daily dosage of caffeine. And the best part is that this roaster is super affordable compared to other expensive ones in the market that don’t necessarily offer the same great features as this one.
For all these reasons, we think this particular product is a good value for money, especially for beginners who are still learning how to roast coffee beans at home.
On the downside, some people may find that this machine does not hold a big amount of coffee beans—you can only roast 120g of beans in this one, which may be annoying for coffee addicts who consume more than a cup per day.
To be fair, this amount is more than enough for individual consumption, but it might be insufficient if you wish to roast larger amounts of coffee beans and store them for later use.
3. Sandbox Smart R1 Home Coffee Roaster
If you’ve got the cash and want to splurge on a fancy home coffee roaster, this smart one from Sandbox is the way to go. Sandbox’s home roaster boasts a clean, fancy design that gives the whole machine this desirable, expensive look. You can easily control the roaster via a user-friendly app and Bluetooth, a unique feature that no home coffee roaster has.
Once you download the app on your tablet or mobile phone, you can choose from three coffee roast levels: dark roast, medium roast, or light roast. While your coffee beans are being roasted, you can make some adjustments that make you feel fancy, such as adjusting drum speed, fan speed, and temperature. After your coffee beans are ready, Sandbox’s app saves everything you did and allows you to track your roast history.
However, there are some annoying problems with this roaster. One of the main disadvantages of this advanced machine is that it’s too expensive for some people, which is not a surprise, given the high-tech features you receive in return.
You’d also expect such a pricey machine to hold many coffee beans. Sadly, you can only roast 100g of coffee beans in this one. This is a relatively small capacity compared to cheaper roasters with larger capacities.
4. Nuvo Eco Ceramic Handy Coffee Bean Roaster
One of the main reasons that prevent coffee lovers from getting a home coffee roaster is its high price. Luckily, some budget-friendly options can still help you make good-quality roasted beans and won’t break the bank.
One of the best, cheapest options is the eco ceramic handy coffee bean roaster from Nuvo. This roaster enables you to roast coffee using the traditional fire-roasting method.
Unlike other sophisticated home coffee roasters, Novu’s does not take a genius to use it—simply place the ceramic roaster over any source of heat (such as a gas stove, electric cooktop, or campfire) and wait until your coffee beans are ready.
On average, the beans take 15 minutes to be ready, but the time may be longer or shorter, depending on the level of heat. It’s worth noting that you can’t place this manual roaster on an induction cooktop since it’s not compatible with it.
Despite the grip’s ability to protect your hands, it’s a good idea to wear gloves when you use this roaster —no one wants to get burnt while roasting beans to make your favorite caffeinated drink! Also, be careful not to immerse the roaster in water or place it on a cold surface while it’s hot.
Although this relatively small, portable roaster can only hold 70g of coffee beans—which is a small amount compared to other automated roasters—this amount is pretty sufficient if you’re not a heavy coffee drinker.
The recommended amount, however, is only 30g of coffee beans. But overall, this manual roaster from Novu’s is a very practical tool that can give you freshly roasted coffee beans in almost 15 minutes. It’s also reasonably priced!
5. Mixfin Home Coffee Roaster Machine
This one is for true coffee fanatics who can’t stop sipping on coffee all day. If the capacity of the other home coffee roasters on our list is just not enough for you, we highly recommend that you get the huge coffee roaster from Mixfin that can hold up to 750g of coffee. With its 110V high-power agitator, this machine can roast your favorite type of coffee beans in only 25 minutes,
Even better, this big coffee roaster is unexpectedly affordable. You’d think that a large capacity machine would be pricey, but this is not the case with Mixfin’s. This is one of the most appealing aspects of this product, making it a good, long-term investment if you regularly consume a lot of coffee beans.
According to customer ratings, this machine is durable and has good value for money, so you may safely get yours and start roasting unlimited amounts of green coffee beans!
And in case you were wondering, this big roaster is also easy-to-use, having multiple user-friendly features that further increase its appeal. For example, it features a dial that goes from 0°-240°C, which makes adjusting the temperature of the rooster a breeze.
Additionally, it’s super easy to clean it thanks to its high-quality, non-stick pan. Another great advantage of Mixfin’s coffee roaster is that you can roast various delicious nuts, such as peanuts.
On the negative side, the machine does not feature a chaff collector, and you must manually stir your coffee beans in the pot.
The Bottom Line
Have we convinced you to get your own home roaster and start roasting green coffee beans yourself? Fantastic! It’s going to be a long journey full of failure and success, but it’s also going to be full of fun and pleasure that you’ll get from the whole coffee roasting experience.
So, get one of the high-quality home roasters we recommended to you, learn how to roast coffee beans at home, hone your skill, and enjoy the freshest, most aromatic cup of coffee you’ve ever had!
