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Automated Roasters 

There are basically two types of automated home roasters around: air roasters and drum roasters. If you want to generalize about flavor, air roasters tend to develop the brightness of a coffee, while drum roasters tend to develop the body. Some brewing methods, such as espresso, might be better suited to coffees with more body than brightness, but feel free to throw the rules out the window and play around. The roaster you choose will depend very much on your budget, space and what’s available where you are

Air 

Air roasters, such as Nesco and FreshRoast machines, work much like popcorn makers (see page 98 on how to repurpose an actual popcorn maker for coffee roasting), blowing hot air onto the beans to cook them. They’re generally quite small, can finish a roast in around ten minutes and are relatively cheap, with low-end models retailing for around $100 to $200. Air roasters tend to be more “set and forget,” so if you want to experiment with temperature adjustments these may not be your best option. Also, keep in mind that an air roaster can be affected by line voltage—if it’s sharing an electrical outlet with other appliances, it may lose power and slow down your roast. They might also roast slower, or faster, depending on the ambient temperature

Drum 

Drum roasters tend to be bigger, can roast larger batches of coffee, and allow for a lot more control than air roasters. Behmor, Hottop and Gene Café are some examples of home drum roasters, but there are a lot out there. They’re generally slower than air roasters, taking around fourteen to twenty minutes, which is a bit closer to the commercial beasts you’ll see at cafés and artisan roasters. This means you have more chances to adjust the temperature and roasting profile. Machines start at around a few hundred dollars and go right up to the thousands. Generally, the higher the price, the more control you’ll have. Drum roasters are also known to be more durable than air roasters

Manual (and DIY) roasting 

There are plenty of good home roasters around, but you don’t want to invest in a top-of-the-line roaster only to find out that you find roasting dull and frustrating. Luckily, hobby roasters have established all sorts of creative ways to roast their coffee without resorting to bulky or pricey roasting machines. You might want to try these methods out first to see if roasting does it for you. Manual roasting can take anywhere between ten and twenty minutes, and tends to result in a more full-bodied flavor, though you’re more likely to be left with an uneven roast, where some beans are darker than others

Oven 

This is perhaps the most accessible of all roasting methods: all you need is a flat, perforated pan—the kind you might use to bake pizza or bread—and a conventional oven with reasonably reliable temperatures. If you don’t have a perforated pan you can always just punch some small holes in a regular baking tray. It’s then just a matter of spreading the beans evenly on the tray and popping them in the oven to go through their six roasting stages.

Pan Roast 

This is old-school roasting. The beans are put into a light skillet, which is covered with a lid or some aluminum foil. Then the work starts: you have to shake the pan constantly without taking it off the heat, tossing the beans and listening out for the first and second cracks. Another option is to use a wok (or even a heavy cast-iron pot) and stir the beans constantly with a wooden spoon. You should use an oven thermometer to keep track of the temperature. These methods are harder than the oven method, but if you can master them you’ll most likely get better results. It’s also a good skill to have in case you’re ever stranded in the forest with just a fire, a skillet and some green coffee beans (with your only alternative an ancient can of instant)

Stovetop Coffee 

Roaster or Popcorn Maker You can get your hands on either of these for as little as $30 or less, and it makes for a much more even roast than the oven or skillet method. Just throw in the beans, put it on the stove and turn the handle as the beans roast. This is much like the wok or skillet method, except that the crank makes for an easier and more thorough stirring of the beans. If you use a thermometer to keep an eye on the heat (just drill a small hole in the top where you can place the thermometer) then you should be able to get a good result. These pots often have flip-up lids so you can peek in and judge the color of your beans. Plus, if you don’t like it as a coffee roaster, it still makes darn good popcorn

Hot-Air Popcorn Maker 

The old popcorn maker strikes again, this time in electric form: it’s basically an imitation air roaster. It takes the same amount of coffee beans as it would popcorn kernels, so you’re looking at very small batches. You should only use models where the hot air goes into the chamber through diagonal slots in the chamber wall. If the hot air comes from the bottom of the chamber then it’s a no-go. As with the stovetop version, if you’re a bit handy you can install a thermometer in your popcorn maker by drilling a hole in the top. The hot air even gets rid of a lot of the chaff, which should come floating out of the chute—though you will still need a colander for cooling. 

Heat Gun 

Also known as the “dog bowl” method, this involves aiming a heat gun at a metal bowl of coffee beans while stirring them with a wooden or metal spoon. A heat gun is essentially a hard-core hairdryer (but don’t use it on your hair, trust us), and is available for less than $100 at a hardware store. This process imitates a drum roast, and the heat of the gun can be adjusted at any time, giving you more control over the temperature. If you want to take this method a step further, you can actually use an old bread maker instead of a metal bowl, which spins the beans around for you: there are lots of online guides on how to do this, but be aware that this kind of repurposing can be a hazardous game, so always put safety first.