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FreshRoast Plus 8 Home Coffee Roaster with 1 lb. Sumatra Takengon Organic Green Coffee

Customer Rating:

Total Reviews: 5

Out Of Stock

Feedback | Description/Reviews

Simple, easy, and it works

I've only been using mine for a few days now, but it's every bit as easy as I've read elsewhere, and mine hasn't even produced hardly any smoke. I haven't gone as far as a super-oily roast yet, so I'm sure that's why. But I've got several small jars of varyingly dark beans and they all smell great.

This thing really does not roast much in one session. Depending on how you make coffee you're looking at 1-3 pots at most from a single roast (I get two pots and have a tiny bit of leftover beans). But it's so easy to use this thing, even despite the recommended cooldown period between roasts, that I've been using it every day, so I've got no shortage of roasted beans to try.

Biggest disadvantage I've found so far is the urge to spend lots of money on green coffee bean samplers.

2006-11-17

Best I've found so far... as long as you have ventilation!

I bought my husband one of these for a present in Christmas 2004. He is a total coffee addict and had been making all kinds of sounds like he needed a roaster. O got him this one because it seemed the cheapest and easiest to figure out. He figured out how it worked pretty easily and it didn't take long before he had figured out all the different "cracks" and which beans needed to go how dark. He has used this thing daily, sometimes even 2-3 times every single day, to make his own coffee in the morning, at night, he brings his own to make it at work, for friends, you name it. We went on vacation (road trip vacation) and it came with us. Twice. It hasn't burned out yet but the plastic top thing has come apart and it's kind of hobbling its way through. If there was a nontoxic epoxy that would stand the heat that I trusted, we would use it and carry on, but I think it's about time for a new one.

Pros - you can see the beans, it's very reliable, ours like I said has not burned out yet even after all the use its gotten. It makes really good coffee (I don't roast it but I do drink it).

Cons - it doesn't make enough, at least not enough for us. Now hubby wants to roast half a pound or more at once. Also, it gets very smoky. I love the smell of the coffee, but even with two commercial range hoods going in the kitchen (no exaggeration, one 36" 1200 CFM and one 60" 1800 CFM), the smoke detector on the first floor goes off. Before we had vent hoods we had to open up all the doors and windows and stand in front of the alarm waving a towel like some demented toreador. Drove the pooch nuts. But still - I'm going to buy this same one again because we like it, how it works and the coffee it makes.

2006-03-21

Great when it works

I purchased this roaster, the FreshRoast Plus, a little over a year ago. In that year I used it roughly every two days and after a bit of a rough start had no problem getting just the roast I wanted. Thats not to say that you can just turn the dial and get the same roast each time. Slightly different amounts of beans or different types could require 2 to 3 minutes less to roast often because the first crack was so exothermic that it caused a very rapid second crack. Still, with some experience and good timing the variables were easy to adjust for.
Unfortunately, just days after the 1 year warranty expired, the fan on the roaster started making strange noises and a couple roasts later a small flame shot through the center of the roaster. Only being able to get a year's worth of roasting and risking a major fire in the process more than outweigh the initial savings. I have since bought an I-Roast as a replacement. It roasts more at one shot but is much louder and smokier.

2006-02-17

great product. the smell will make your neighbors cry

The first one I got burned out in about 5 days, but I got it replaced and this one is now a year old and works great. Roasting coffee will set off all your smoke alarms so be prepared to go outside or roast by an open window. I think the smell is great, but it is powerful.

At first I only made fresh beans on sundays, but gradually I have become addicted to the just roasted flavor and do every pot I make fresh.

Pros :
unroasted beans keep for a very long time so you can have many varieties on hand without worrying about them going bad.

you can get much better coffee and much better prices online than from most brick and mortar coffee stores (read the online reviews of the beans).

you can control the roast the way you like it. I prefer a lighter roast most days than I can get at Starbucks or Peets.

Great tasting coffee.

Easy to use, easy to clean.

Cons

You get cold feet in the winter on the balcony in your PJs

You drink more coffee than might be good for you

2005-12-07

It fascinates the cats

I have the feeling that roasting is out of vogue as I could not find a local outlet to sell this critter. However I did not let that stop me.

A lot of the fun was unpacking the roaster and the accompanying bag of beans. I just scanned through the manual and any warnings. I later read it several times from cover to cover; however I was in a hurry to plug it in. Each piece fit together and was to speculate as to what its function was. The roster also came with a scoop and I had to laugh at the instructions; they said to fill the scoop up twice and then empty it into the roaster.

Because I read previous reviews I planed on the roaster producing smoke and I have alarms all over the house including those that are monitors. So I took it into the garage. There I found a safe place with nothing flammable around it. There the cats and I proceeded to follow the directions.

First try at 6 minutes plus cool down produced dark oily coated beans. And I noticed that there was a section in the top of the roaster to collect the chaff. The cats were fascinated with the beans fluffing up and moving around. And sure enough there was smoke.

Second try at three minutes produced almost even roasting with a few green tasting beans. So third time was the charm at three and a half minutes. Also not a lot of smoke was produced this time. Now I have some beans from a different location and will see if the same timing applies. The cats are sitting by waiting.

2005-05-24

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