Your Guide to Coffee Makers, Accessories, and Gourmet Coffee.

Coffee Roasters: A Comparison

Roasting your coffee at home can be a delightful experience, it's worth it for the aroma alone for many, but there are a wide variety of roasters to choose from, ones for the novice as well as for the more experienced user. Before shopping, you may want to have a look at a few of the top brands:

Frenchroast Plus 8 - A good beginning

With a small chamber, meaning quicker roasting than most, and a nice ticket price of 70 bucks, this would be a nice choice for the novice. The chamber hols 3.5 ounces of beans, enough for a 10-cup pot of coffee, and roasting time is about ten minutes.

The Caffe Rosto Home Roaster - For the beginner willing to pay a little more

At $120, this is a roaster for the beginner who's willing to pay extra for a larger chamber. It holds six ounces of coffee beans and has a glass lid so you can watch the beans roast.

Zach & Dani's - For the adventurous

Also $120, this roaster has a special feature, it's a catalytic system that eliminates much of the smoke. This is for the person who might be a novice, but willing to experiment a little with different settings. Chamber roasts four ounces.

Hearthware I-Roast - Taking it more seriously?

Would you like to experiment with different settings and beans? This is good for the experimental novice and the experienced as well. At $150, the chamber holds 5.3 ounces, has a glass pot for viewing, and automatic roasting curves. Roasting time: 15 minutes.

Alpenrost - Want to roast more than a little??

At $250 and with a 1/2 pound chamber capacity, this roaster is for those more serious about their coffee. This large chamber means more smoke, and you also cannot watch it roast, but it's good for those who want to roast larger amounts at a time.

HotTop Drum Roaster - Serious roasters only please

The price alone indicates that this is for the serious roaster, at $580 you get a viewing window, 9 ounce capacity chamber, seven settings, and the roasting time is about 20 minutes.

If you have the time, you can avoid the high cost of ground coffee by purchasing a coffee roaster and unroasted coffee beans in bulk then roasting your own beans.

Doing your own roasting is great way to get coffee exactly like you like it. If the roast is too dark, just make some lighter and have your own blend.

Entertain with fresh roasted coffee

Some people start roasting beans as a hobby, but it quickly becomes a lifestyle. They invite their friends over to share their special blends and even trade beans. Still some enjoy it so much they offer to roast coffee for their friends, as long as their friends bring the beans.

Roasting coffee is enjoyable, economical, and it brings friends together. You could even join a club and learn the secrets of others who have been doing it a long time. Maybe even pass off a few of your own.

For more on coffee related products, choose from one of the following:

Coffee Makers | Espresso Makers | One Cup Coffee Makers

Creme de la Creme

Looking for the very best when it comes to espresso machines? Then check out the Capresso C1500 in our coffee maker reviews & ratings site!

Capresso C1500
This espresso machine/coffee center is lauded by most users and reviewers alike - and I should hope so with a price tag that usually runs around $600. If you have a passion for coffee, though, this might be just the machine you need, and would probably even work well in a small coffee house.