Gene CafeCoffee Roaster CBR-101 - Black

I just got it and it's simple to use, for someone without experience like me it's great and makes nice, even beans. I advise buying a ducking pipe to make the hot air get out to a window

Had now for 12-15 batches. Works well, but take time to get to high heat, so longer roasting then booklet says. Tried a chimney out an open window, but found just moving it outside for the roast is the best way to handle the strong coffee scent.

Only used it once but it worked brilliant, coffee tasted fantastic

Great product and seller

I have the red version of this, otherwise it's identical. I'm a serious coffee roaster, but lack space and need something where I can route the steam out the window. I bought a 100-80mm duct converter, some ducting tube and large cable ties. Problem solved. I would have preferred a machine with a second thermometer testing the temperature of the beans, but needs must.There are 3 main stages to roasting: taking the beans from green to yellow, which removes most of the water content (water prevents the beans from heating up); caramelisation where the important Maillard reactions take place, creating the amino acids with all the lovely flavours, and ends at first crack; the development stage where the flavours get enhanced. In terms of time the stages should be 50%, 30%, 20%. Getting this right with a Gene Cafe is difficult and takes some experimentation. If you just stick the machine on at 250C and pull the beans out when they look the right colour, you'll lose all the flavours the beans have to offer.That said, no crop of beans is the same, no machine is the same, no locations are the same and weather changes, so no matter what machine you have you'll have to experiment to get the best out of it. With the Gene Cafe, roasting smaller quantities than it can handle gives you more control over the process. I've roasted about 50 loads so far, and my coffee never tasted so good.

Excellent