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Coffee roaster reviews

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Last updated: 22 June 2018
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Roasting your own coffee is an art form that takes trial and error but it'll give you two major advantages over plain pre-roasted beans: better coffee, and cheaper coffee. We lab test and review three models to help you find the best coffee roaster for you. Our coffee roaster buying guide will help you decide which coffee roaster you need, and how we test explains our testing rigour.

You can spend well over $1000 on a coffee roaster, but there are cheaper alternatives. Our expert testers give every coffee roaster a thorough workout to help find the models that:

  • perform the best
  • are easiest to use
  • are the noisiest
  • come with useful roasting features.

We also give you good and bad points for each model, as well as the dimensions, so you'll know how much space they'll take up. Our Recommended rating will help you see quickly which models come out on top.

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Brand

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List of brands we tested in this review.

Price

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This is the manufacturer's recommended retail price. Prices are generally flexible, so shop around both online and in bricks and mortar shops for options.

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Roasting capacity (g)

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The maximum quantity of green beans the machine can roast at the one time, measured in grams.

Included in this review

Members-only access
  • Overall score
  • CHOICE Buy
  • Performance score (%)
  • Ease of use score (%)
  • Visibility of beans while roasting
  • Noise comments
  • Good points
  • Bad points
  • Cooling cycle
  • Coffee quality comments
  • Brand
  • Model
  • Price
  • Roasting capacity (g)
  • Temperature control (°C)
  • Roasting wait time (min:sec)
  • Pre-programmed settings
  • Programmable settings
  • Preheat cycle
  • Unattended safety switch system
  • Time setting
  • Manual roasting stop
  • Emergency stop
  • Items supplied
  • Weight (kg)
  • Dimensions (cm, HxWxD)
  • Time control
  • Origin
  • Contact

Results

Displaying all 3 products

Sorted by Brand (A-Z)
  • Recommended
  • CHOICE Expert Rating
  • Performance score
  • Ease of use score
  • Noise comments
  • Visibility of beans while roasting

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Behmor 1600 Plus TO9500T

Behmor 1600 Plus TO9500T
$495
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This is the manufacturer's recommended retail price. Prices are generally flexible, so shop around both online and in bricks and mortar shops for options.

CHOICE Expert Rating
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This overall score is made up of performance (70%) and ease of use (30%). 


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Ease of use score
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We assess how easy it is to adjust the time and temperature, program a cycle, use the roasting chamber, fill and empty the chamber and clean and store. We also assess how clear the instructions are.

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Performance score
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We measure out the maximum quantity of green beans as recommended by the manufacturer, and adjust the time and temperature accordingly or use a pre-programmed setting if available. We roast the beans to the first crack, aiming to get beans from each roaster to the same or similar colour for assessment. After cooling, we weigh the roasted beans before grinding them and making a shot of coffee to comment on flavour and crema quality.

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Gene Coffee Bean Roaster CBR-101

Gene Coffee Bean Roaster CBR-101
$850
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This is the manufacturer's recommended retail price. Prices are generally flexible, so shop around both online and in bricks and mortar shops for options.

CHOICE Expert Rating
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This overall score is made up of performance (70%) and ease of use (30%). 


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Ease of use score
Expand to view more details.
We assess how easy it is to adjust the time and temperature, program a cycle, use the roasting chamber, fill and empty the chamber and clean and store. We also assess how clear the instructions are.

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Performance score
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We measure out the maximum quantity of green beans as recommended by the manufacturer, and adjust the time and temperature accordingly or use a pre-programmed setting if available. We roast the beans to the first crack, aiming to get beans from each roaster to the same or similar colour for assessment. After cooling, we weigh the roasted beans before grinding them and making a shot of coffee to comment on flavour and crema quality.

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Hottop Coffee Roaster KN-8828B-2K

Hottop Coffee Roaster KN-8828B-2K
$1700
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This is the manufacturer's recommended retail price. Prices are generally flexible, so shop around both online and in bricks and mortar shops for options.

CHOICE Expert Rating
Expand to view more details.

This overall score is made up of performance (70%) and ease of use (30%). 


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Ease of use score
Expand to view more details.
We assess how easy it is to adjust the time and temperature, program a cycle, use the roasting chamber, fill and empty the chamber and clean and store. We also assess how clear the instructions are.

Unlock this by becoming a member.

Join now

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Performance score
Expand to view more details.
We measure out the maximum quantity of green beans as recommended by the manufacturer, and adjust the time and temperature accordingly or use a pre-programmed setting if available. We roast the beans to the first crack, aiming to get beans from each roaster to the same or similar colour for assessment. After cooling, we weigh the roasted beans before grinding them and making a shot of coffee to comment on flavour and crema quality.

Unlock this by becoming a member.

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