Best Home Coffee Roaster Reviews of 2020 | Comparison Chart

Being a coffee lover you must love brewing your own coffee. Because you want your coffee to be the best, right? But does brewing the coffee alone make you the coffee lover that you say you are? Well, in my opinion, you need to upgrade your game. As it’s time to roast your own coffee by bringing home your own coffee roaster!

The best thing about brewing a coffee is the fresh balanced taste it brings to your taste buds. Unlike those automatic coffee machines, you are able to control the water ratio and temperature which results in a perfect brewed coffee.

It is not only cheaper but also looks and tastes great which is why coffee lovers like to brew their own coffee.

Surely, brewing coffee has its own fun but is it the best you can get yourself? Cafe giants like Starbucks like to roast coffee beans on their own.

And why so?

Well, freshly roasted coffee beans are one of the biggest reason behind the great flavor of the coffee at these popular cafes. That is also a reason why you fail to make a coffee with the same amazing taste and aroma as those cafes.

Thus, my friend, it might be the time for you to bring home your own coffee roaster and start brewing the amazingly delicious and aromatic coffee like never before!

Best Home Coffee Roaster Reviews of 2020

Here are the comprehensive reviews of the best home roasters for coffee that we encountered in the market.

Top-Rated Coffee Roaster – At a Glance

Let us take a bird’s eye view at our top picks categorized by its price range.

What is a Coffee Roaster?

A coffee roaster roasts the green coffee beans into roasted coffee beans which you later use to brew your coffee.

How Does it Work?

Green coffee beans contain acids, sugar, caffeine and protein level mostly same as the roasted coffee beans. Though they lack the aromatic taste because it’s the chemical processes during roasting that give the coffee beans its distinctive flavor.

Thus by roasting coffee beans the physical and chemical properties of green coffee beans transforms which is responsible for the original taste of coffee.

Basically, there are 4 types of coffee roasts:

1. Light Roast – Also known as cinnamon or first crack roast. Here, the beans look pale and dry. This results in a coffee with less body and taste with high acidity.
2. Medium Roast – Also known as American, breakfast or full city roast. The beans are dry and sweeter with lower acidity and compressed flavor.
3. Dark Roast – Also known as French roast, Viennese or Continental roast. Here, the beans crack further the first crack resulting in an oily look. Such coffee beans have great thicker and mouthful flavor.
4. Double Dark Roast – Here the beans are roasted until they start to smoke. Thus such roast brings out somewhat smoky and bitter taste.

Types of Coffee Roaster

In the past days, people used to roast their own coffee at home. They used a thin pan like structure and later ovens to roast the coffee. The industry roasted coffee beans were not that popular.

However, the times have changed. And most people nowadays either buy roasted coffee beans or instant coffee packets.

There are mainly two types of coffee roaster: Air Roaster and Drum Roaster. These are large machines that take batches of load or operate in a continuous manner.

1. Air Roaster

Air roasters consist of a plate with series of holes. Coffee beans are kept on this plate while compressed air is passed from the underneath. The compressed hot air lifts coffee beans from the plate and roasts the coffee beans evenly.

2. Drum Roaster

A drum roaster consists of a drum kept in horizontal position with green coffee beans inside. The drum is rotated constantly while giving heat using various heat sources like LPG, natural gas, wood etc. Such way the coffee beans get roasted evenly and effectively.

#1. FreshRoast SR500 Automatic Coffee Bean Roaster

While there are many coffee roasters out there in the market that make a lot of noise, the FreshRoast SR500 does its work in complete silence like a pro.

FreshRoast SR500 is an air coffee roaster. Its small and compact size makes it ideal for home use. Moreover, it is great for the beginners who have never roasted their own coffee but are willing to do so.

The coffee roaster is really easy to use for anyone as it comes with simple controls. It has three temperature controls in order to roast light, medium or dark roasts. It also has a fan adjustment dial to set it as per your need. And lastly, the buttons to adjust the roast time for your green coffee beans.

It features a transparent glass which allows you to see the brewing process. This helps in determining the first and second crack as well.

Also, the FreshRoast SR500 is quite cheap compared to the other air roasters available in the market which make it convenient for the home users.

This coffee roaster is specially designed for home users only. Thus the roasting chamber of the machine is quite small. It allows you to roast 90 grams of coffee in a single batch. This is enough if you are a single user and do not mind roasting few days a week.

The roasting time is about 6 to 10 minutes which can be considered quick enough. This helps if you need to roast a larger amount of coffee batch by batch.

The coffee roaster also contains a fan speed controller. You can adjust the speed accordingly to keep the coffee beans spinning in the roaster. This also keeps the coffee beans from breaking off.

Overall Product Summary

The FreshRoast SR500 is a quiet little coffee roaster for the home users. With its simple controls and compact size, it is great for beginners as well. It works in silence so that you can hear that first and second crack of the coffee beans allowing you to roast the coffee at its perfection. Though this roaster is not great for people who need to process a lot of coffee beans at once.

#2. Nuvo Eco Ceramic Handy Home Coffee Roaster

For the lovers of the old school cooking methods, Nuvo Eco has come up with this amazing ceramic coffee roaster. Ceramic is known for its thermal withstanding properties which makes it good for roasting coffee beans.

The Nuvo Eco Ceramic Handy Coffee Bean Roaster is a coffee roaster with a-pan-like handle. The handle is made from cowhide material. Such leather material is known for its durability properties. It is also soft and feels great in the hands.

The entire body of the product is made from ceramic. It comes with a waffle-like design. Such design allows you to roast the coffee beans evenly.

It also features a hole near the handle. The sound of coffee beans cracking passes through the hole. And due to the amplification, you can hear the cracking of the beans clearly. Meanwhile, everyone knows how essential it is to determine the coffee beans cracking in order to roast the coffee beans just the way we want.

During roasting of the coffee beans, the roaster gets quite hot. Thus, we will recommend you to wear a glove everytime you roast your coffee using this ceramic roaster.

The Nuvo Eco Ceramic Handy Coffee Bean Roaster can roast near 30-70 grams of coffee beans in a single run. Thus it might be great for single users. But we doubt its productivity for a large family.

Lastly, it’s amazingly beautiful design! This ceramic handy coffee roaster is made with superior craftsmanship. It looks great while in the use giving you that old school coffee roasting feeling. And it also looks great if you just hang it on the wall! For the suckers for good quality cooking equipment, this handy roaster might be your choice.

Overall Product Summary

The Nuvo Eco Ceramic Handy Coffee Bean Roaster is a beautiful work of art made with superior craftsmanship. It gives you the feeling of roasting coffee like the old school way. The ceramic waffle-like body roasts the green coffee beans evenly without failure. And the cowhide leather wrapped hollow handle let you know the stage of coffee roasting. In my opinion, this roaster is a great buy as its the perfect blend of beauty and performance!

#3. Gene Cafe CBR-101 Home Coffee Roaster

Gene Cafe CBR-101 Home Coffee Roaster is basically a drum roaster. It features an off-axis roasting system. Such system ensures even and perfect roasting of your green coffee beans.

They have uniquely designed this roaster to have both functionalities of a drum roaster and an air roaster. Such unique combination allows the roaster to have conduction properties of a drum roaster along with the brightness of an air roaster.

This big coffee roaster can roast a large number of coffee beans in a single run. You can roast up to 8 ounces of coffee beans with this coffee roaster. It takes almost 15

minutes to complete the roasting process. You can easily notice the stage of roasting because of the transparent glass.

Whether you want a light, medium, dark or double dark roast, Gene Cafe CBR-101 Home Coffee Roaster makes it all with complete ease. Although it lacks a smoke reduction system. Therefore you must use it where the smoke can get exhausted easily.

The product is quite expensive compared to other products in the market. Though it does comes with a 1-year warranty from the manufacturer.

Overall Product Summary

The Gene Cafe CBR-101 Home Coffee Roaster is one of the best coffee roasters available in the market. With its unique off-axis movement, it roasts your coffee with perfection. Whatever type of coffee roast you like, the Gene Cafe will not disappoint you. With large coffee processing capabilities, it can be used for major purposes as well. Lastly, the 1-year warranty backs up your investment to keep you at ease.

#4. Wabash Valley Farms – Stovetop Popcorn Popper

Once some miser man thought of roasting his coffee beans using a popcorn maker. And voila! It wasn’t a failure! Yes, you can use a popcorn maker to roast your coffee beans too. However, it is a little tricky but we guess you will manage it somehow being a budget-friendly person.

Wabash Valley Farms is a stovetop popcorn popper which means you have to use it directly on a stove. It is entirely made from aluminum. It is a stirring system that will not let your popcorn burn.

This popcorn popper does not come with a temperature control or other fancy controls. But if used wisely it can give you results precisely.

The popcorn popper does not have a smoke reduction system. Thus you will have to use it at a place where you can exhaust the smoke easily. The popcorn popper gets heated from beneath using a stove which means you will constantly have to stir the coffee beans.

Also, as it does not have a transparent chamber, you will have to closely listen to any cracking sounds. Even with such complexities, many users have reported of roasting the coffee beans perfectly.

With this popcorn popper, you will be able to roast about 1 cup of green coffee beans. And of course, with this machine, you can always make delicious popcorns whenever you want to!

Overall Product Summary

Despite being a popcorn popper, Wabash Valley Farms does a great job in roasting green coffee beans. If you do it precisely, it promises you to perfectly roast the beans. It is an easy, efficient and cheaper way to roast your beans. However, there are no fancy features like smoke or temperature control and cooling fan etc. Yet, for a popcorn popper, it does a great job.

#5. Behmor 5400 Customizable Drum Coffee Roaster

Behmore 5400 is one of the most popular coffee roasters in the market. Being a drum coffee roaster it roasts the green coffee beans evenly.

It comes with an under a pending patent smoke reduction system. Due to this smoke reduction system, the coffee roaster suppresses a lot of smoke that other products do not. Though the fact that this smoke is not much noticeable,  you must keep this product near an exhaust or a window.

The Behmor 5400 Customizable Drum Coffee Roaster does not make much noise while roasting the coffee beans which is why it is great for home use.

There is not visible chamber to see how much the beans have roasted. But because of its no noise feature, you can easily notice the first or second crack of the coffee beans which results in perfectly roasted coffee beans.

This coffee roaster can allow you to roast coffee in various profiles from light to dark roasts. Though it is not feasible to double dark roast the green coffee beans.

The size of this coffee roaster is quite large. It takes up quite a place in your kitchen. Though with such large size, it also allows you to roast up to one pound of green coffee beans at a time which can be great!

Once, you determine how to make your favorite roast, you can set it as a favorite! For the people who do not like to do mechanical processing over and over, this might be a boon. You can store up to 5 of your favorite coffee roasting profiles. Once you are all set, you can roast your favorite profiles with a click of a button without any hassle.

However, the price of the product is not quite nominal but it is still quite low compared to products with the same kind of features.

Overall Product Summary

The Behmor 5400 Customizable Drum Coffee Roaster is one of the best drum coffee roasters in the market. The fact that it is customizable means that you can add your favorite coffee roasting profiles for faster and hassle-free selection every time. It suppresses noise and reduces the amount of smoke which makes it ideal for home or professional use. With such features, we’ll say that the price of the roaster is quite justified.

#6. Nuvo Classic Eco-Friendly Handy Home Coffee Roaster

 

As we have already reviewed Nuvo Eco Ceramic Handy Home Coffee Roaster in the above segment, we already know how much proficient coffee roasting this brand offers.

Arrived from Korea, this handy home coffee roaster has won many awards for its amazing and precise design. In addition, it has received a positive response from the buyers as well.

The product is made from aluminum with a ceramic coating which quite lightweight. The brand has also crafted the handle very beautifully by using a Beechtree and genuine leather finish.

The Nuvo Classic Eco-Friendly Handy Home Coffee Roaster features a lid on top which can be used to put the coffee beans inside the roaster. Once inside the roaster you can roast the coffee beans with open lid and close lid as well. If the lid is closed, then the air inside will not be able to move out and will be circulated inside the roaster for perfect roasting. You can open the lid to check whether the beans have roasted the way you want or not.

Though this product is not quite as stylish as the Nuvo Eco Ceramic, it is still quite attractive in its own way. It also gives the same old school roasting feeling as the former.

Overall Product Summary

This award-winning and best-selling coffee roaster from Korea comes with a unique and precise design. Due to its open lead design, the coffee beans can be roasted without further hassle. It is a simple way to roast coffee at home without having to invest in those large coffee roasters. If done carefully, the Nuvo Classic Eco-Friendly Handy Home Coffee Roaster can provide you with perfectly roasted coffee beans!

Buyer’s Guide

Before choosing the coffee maker, you must know what characteristics to keep an eye on while purchasing one. Our comprehensive guide will ensure to keep you up with all the information you need.

Let us jump right to the Buyer’s Guide without further delay!

How to choose a Home Coffee Roaster?

Below are the features of a coffee roaster that distinguish one from the other. Finding the appropriate conditions will help you to make the right decision regarding this investment.

i. Capacity

The capacity plays a crucial role in determining the right coffee roaster for you. The capacity refers to the volume of green coffee beans a machine can roast at a time. The choice depends upon your daily or weekly needs.

Usually, drum coffee roaster has larger roasting capacity compared to the air roaster.

Thus if you are okay with roasting your coffee every day, then go for an air roaster. Else if you like to roast once and be done for a few days, choose a drum roaster.

ii. Noise

Coffee roasters can be noisy. Especially the air roasters. On the other hand, the drum roasters are somewhat less noisy.

For the amateur, the coffee roaster must be less noisy not just for the sake of your eats but also to be able to hear the cracking noise of the beans.

In order to roast the coffee bean up to certain qualities, you must be able to hear the first crack and second crack of the coffee beans. These cracks are responsible for coffee beans to have light, medium or dark roast.

Thus, we will suggest you purchase a less noisy coffee roaster.

iii. Ease of Use

Some roasters allow you to just press a few buttons and get away. While some roasters require you to be there for the entire process. It depends upon you what kind of arrangement you like.

There are advanced coffee roasters also available in the market with a programmable interface. It allows you to store various coffee roasting profiles in order to enhance the accessibility.

However, for a beginner, more the controls, more the confusion in operating the roaster. Thus we will suggest you look for a coffee roaster that you can operate easily regardless of the number of controls.

iv. Quick Cooldown

When a coffee roaster works, the temperature inside the machine gets pretty high in order to roast to green coffee beans. Thus even when you stop the roasting process the coffee beans still contain a lot of heat inside.

It is essential to bring down this temperature else the coffee beans will further keep on roasting and will lose the taste that you desired. Therefore do buy a machine that cools down quickly in order to save the beans from over roasting.

v. Cleaning & Maintenance

Roasting coffee beans can be messy. It produces a lot of smoke. However, some coffee roasters do come with a cleaning chaff system to remove the smoke from the machine. As brewing dark roasts can produce a lot of smoke.

On the other hand, there are also roasters with the ability to reduce the amount of smoke.

vi. Price

Coffee roasters come from a nominal price tag for home roasters to a gigantic price tag for industrial roasters. It depends on you to choose the right product according to your needs. If you need a coffee roaster for home use then we will suggest that you go for a not much expensive roaster with easy controls.

Conclusion

Buying a coffee roaster is a big and long-time investment. Thus it can be puzzling. But we hope that with our detailed review and guide you will be able to choose the one that you need.

If you’ve got any queries in your head, simply let us know. At coffeemakered, we will be joyed to guide you through.

Till then enjoy your roasted to perfection, fresh home-made coffee!