Fresh Roast SR80

The SR-800 replaces our old roaster, which was a smaller, programmable roaster from the same company. The newer version has two distinct benefits in my opinion. First, the new roaster has twice the capacity (180 grams of green beans vs. 90 grams). This means I’m brewing only two batches a week instead of 3-4. That’s a huge time saver. Second, the SR-800 is operated manually, which means you stand by the roaster and adjust the fan and temperature as required during the roast. This may not sound like an advantage, but our previous roaster (now discontinued) was a pain to program and only stored one roasting profile at a time. Not good if you like to try coffee from around the world, because one roasting profile does not suit all coffees. With a manual roaster, you just put in 180 grams of beans and start the machine. What I discovered with the SR-800 is that there are only a few basic principles to follow for a consistently good roast. Hot air is blown into the glass roasting chamber, which pushes the beans in the center up and the beans on the outside down, and so the first principle is to keep the beans moving this way to ensure they are evenly roasted and none are scorched. You start with a high fan speed to circulate the heavy beans and a medium temp to remove moisture, and then gradually increase to maximum temp during the first two minutes. The second principle is to reduce the fan speed step by step as the beans lose their moisture and become lighter. You only need enough fan speed to push the beans in the center to the top so that the outside beans will sink to the bottom. The beans don’t need to be flying around the chamber. As you lower the fan speed, the temp becomes substantially hotter. My roasts generally peak at 450+ degrees Fahrenheit. The third principle is to finish heating the beans within about 8 minutes. I like the beans to start popping at around 6 minutes, and then become evenly dark and plump in the next two minutes. You finish with the cool setting at the highest fan speed and lowest temp for a total time in the roaster of about 10 minutes. If you roast the beans too long, the flavor will become muted and bland. The above is my recipe for a medium dark roast just short of any oil coming out of the beans. I don’t like oily beans because they are messy and the oils starts to go rancid in a few days. I also don’t care for the acidic taste of very light roasts, but to each his own. You can adjust the time and temp as you please to achieve your ideal roast. It takes a few batches to get the hang of it, but it’s not all that hard if you pay attention to what the beans are doing in the roaster for about 8 minutes. Personally, I like watching the beans roast and tweaking the fan and temp. It’s fun and I love the results. The SR-800 seems to be the ideal starter roaster for 2-3 coffee drinkers in one household. Better machines start at double the price and not everyone can taste the difference.