I acquired my first coffee roaster, the Quest M3, just over a decade ago. It's shown above. Small, electric, with architecture very similar to a classic European drum roaster, and made in Taiwan. It was the perfect starting roaster. I could roast up to 200 grams of green beans and was able to modify the roaster to provide excellent temperature readings via sensitive thermocouples for both air temperature and bean temperature. The roaster was able to fit under the kitchen range hood. Later I pulled the roaster apart and painted the stainless steel drum black to increase its heat absorption and this resulted in the roaster being able to handle up to 300 grams of green beans at any one time. I learnt 90% of what I know about roasting on that little roaster. It was a heap of fun to use!
Next came a South Korean gas powered roaster...
The Proaster was a serious upgrade from the Quest M3. Able to roast up to 2 kg of beans with a heap more power and super sturdy, weighing in at 100 kg of machinery. My good friend Alex Pringle put together a purpose built trolley for it to stand on and this roaster allowed me to do a lot of roasting over the course of seven years.
If you're a regular reader of this blog then you'll know that last year I upgraded to this...
This monster weighs in at 380 kg, has a wonderful set of flues which control ventilation perfectly, and is great from a workflow perspective. Life is a lot easier when the roaster can dump beans into a bucket after they've been cooled while I'm attending to the next roast. The roaster can handle 5 kg of green beans and tipped Garage Roasters into proper commercial (if at artisanal levels) production territory.
I'm hoping that at some stage I'll be able to update this blog with an ever more impressive piece of kit!