1.0 out of 5 stars poor-poor-poor quality

2026-01-18    -Smokey-_da_aussie

stopped working down after 5-6 times. temperatire dial indicator is not even close to what the real temp is inside the roaster.

3.0 out of 5 stars Sketchy instructions make this hard to use

2026-01-18    -Joanna D.

The media could not be loaded. There are a number of roasters on the market that looks similar. This unit however comes with minimal instructions that are insufficient to learn how to roast coffee. So you are going to have to go look at other units that looks something like this one to figure out what to do.Seems this unit would hold about 250 g maximum of coffee and I would start with 100 or a quarter pound. Typical roasting temperature for coffee is 240° f and then you would take it to 350 which is first crack which is it's called and a little bit beyond to get a medium roast. Apparently getting it up to 450 will get you an espresso roast. This machines instructions tell you nothing. You do get is a lid with a knob that you yourself have to screw on a base with a temperature control and a built-in stirring mechanism to move the beans as they roast. Being roasted on a slant or vertically would ensure the beans would roast more evenly but this is flat. There's a spot to stick in a thermometer which you're going to want to do to tell that you've reached the proper roasting temperature. My feeling is you're probably better off with a unit that gives you a lot more operating instructions.I tried roasting twice the first time I made a light roast where I didn't go much past what they call the first crack. Was very light, the way some Turkish coffee can be, a light rose brown. I did some more reading and the espresso coffee I want to make goes a little bit past what they call the second crack which is a louder popping of the beans and happens about 10 minutes into the roast maybe a little later. You're warned not to go much past the second crack lest you end up with charred beans rather than roasted beans. I used a bag of green Brazilian beans and the roast was very uneven even though I shook the machine as well as let it turn to make sure that all the beans were touching the roaster. I believe this is the disadvantage of a flat roaster rather than a drum. Other interesting thing is that many of the drum roasters you see have open holes and I think this is to float off the chaff and boy there is chaff. I dumped my roasted beans about a minute after they hit the second crack, tossing them with a large spoon to make sure that the heat was distributed and that the roasting could continue with the heat of the beans which did indeed happen, they got darker. But some beans are much lighter than others. And the colander that I poured them into let the chaff through to the big bowl that I had placed underneath so when you dump out your coffee make sure you put it in a colander over a big bowl because you are going to get some really messy flakes. The smell of roasting coffee is not same as a freshly brewed coffee or freshly ground. Quite a strong burning vegetal smell and you'll read about people who want to do their roasting in the garage or outdoors and believe me you'll understand this because the house will be redolent of this smell for hours due to the oily nature of the vapors. It's a very penetrating odor. If you have a pregnant lady in the house I would not recommend roasting in the house because anyone who's sensitive to sense and sensory issues is going to find this smell very distracting.Brewed my espresso in a mokka pot, which is not true espresso but a good brew. It actually was very nice. The choice of Brazilian beans is fairly traditional, they are lower and acid than Colombian or Central American and they toast up very nicely for espresso.Summary: I think there must be better roasters on the market that do an even job on the beans but this does allow you to roast beans up to about a third of a pound of raw beans. Anything more than that the machine is just uneven and unable to do a good even roast. Should read up on the process because no instructions of any worth come with the unit. I will say, it works.

Dark roast around 28 minutes…

2026-01-27    -Amazon Customer

The media could not be loaded. Surprisingly easy to use producing results that are better than store-roasted beans.

5.0 out of 5 stars great product, great way to learn roasting coffee beans

2025-12-21    -Necie

I bought this for my adult son for Christmas. He loves it. I owned a coffee shop when he was younger and he fell in love with coffee and wanted to own his own coffee roastery and shop one day. He is using it to test different coffee beans and flavor profiles before he pulls the trigger.

Thermal Runaway?

2026-01-01    -eva kelemen

I used this roaster only twice, each time the temperature was set at 200 C and the roasting duration was 30 minutes. After the second roasting session I noticed that the (aluminum?) pot started to melt away on both sides near the top.According to AI: "the most probable cause is thermal runaway. An electrical component, such as a control board, relay, or thermal fuse, may have malfunctioned and become stuck in a "closed" or "on" state, causing the heating element to continuously heat the pot without temperature regulation.So I will have to take my losses and stop using thi machine. Cannot recommend it ...

5.0 out of 5 stars I now buy green coffee beans

2026-03-06    -Davey417

I've had this coffee roaster for a couple of months now, and it works flawlessly and it's very easy to use. Just pour in some green coffee beans, set the temperature, and I set my google home speaker to alert me when I think (from experience) the beans are almost roasted. And, because I'm able to see the bean's coloration and hear the beans pop I eyeball it from there. I enjoy freshly roasted coffee while saving on the cost of buying prepackaged roasted beans. The only thing they could add to this product would be its own built-in timer. :)

5.0 out of 5 stars great product, great way to learn roasting coffee beans

2026-01-05    -Necie

I bought this for my adult son for Christmas. He loves it. I owned a coffee shop when he was younger and he fell in love with coffee and wanted to own his own coffee roastery and shop one day. He is using it to test different coffee beans and flavor profiles before he pulls the trigger.

5.0 out of 5 stars I now buy green coffee beans

2025-12-24    -Davey417

I've had this coffee roaster for a couple of months now, and it works flawlessly and it's very easy to use. Just pour in some green coffee beans, set the temperature, and I set my google home speaker to alert me when I think (from experience) the beans are almost roasted. And, because I'm able to see the bean's coloration and hear the beans pop I eyeball it from there. I enjoy freshly roasted coffee while saving on the cost of buying prepackaged roasted beans. The only thing they could add to this product would be its own built-in timer. :)

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for home use

2026-01-22    -Paula Satterthwaite

Very easy to use and clean. We grow our own coffee and this is perfect for small batch roasting!

4.0 out of 5 stars Operating manual doesn't explain a lot

2026-02-06    -Sue Hoban

After losing my Nesco roaster (which I lost to a recall) I resorted to this roaster. The reviews looked pretty good and the price point was similar to the Nesco. I like that I can roast four times more coffee at once vs. the Nesco which was limited to 1/2 cup beans at a time. This is a slow roast machine, well beyond the 7-10 minutes it typically takes on the stovetop or with a professional machine, but the risk of burning seems low if you're paying attention. You need to set a separate timer so you don't forget about it, as this is best used outdoors. Could be a disaster! This doesn't come with a manual regarding the varying temperatures, what they are recommended for, whether or not the element turns off automatically after a certain time, for safety and I don't want to experiment to find out! There is an indicator light that is present at the 200 degree mark, so I assume that's the recommended roasting temperature. The rotating arm keeps turning for as short time after the heat is turned off, but it would be better if it kept turning for the cool-down process. Good FYI, the rotating arm turns in a random pattern. Short turns forward and reverse, some long full rotations, 5 and 15 second pauses. It took me a while to figure it wasn't malfunctioning. Again, I wish there was a better manual. Can't even find one online. Overall, I think I like it just fine and look forward to using it regularly. I bought the extended warranty, just in case.