Kaffeemacher|05. Mai
ROEST Roaster Experience — Sample Roasts for Roastery & Competition
Overview
This video showcases the ROEST L100, a small drum roaster from Norway designed for sample roasting and competition-grade coffee. Michael, a German coffee champion and head of roasting courses, demonstrates its features and operation.
What is a Sample Roaster?- Sample roasts: Small batches (50-200 g) for quality control—taste, defects, suitability for espresso or filter.
- Competition coffee: Expensive, exclusive beans are roasted for championships like the Brewers Cup.
- Advantage: A large 30-kg machine cannot efficiently or precisely roast small quantities (50-100 g).
- Four temperature sensors:
- Air temperature (top of drum)
- Bean temperature (bottom, near beans)
- Inlet temperature (hot air entering the roaster; often over 300 °C)
- Drum temperature (energy storage; ideal at 145-150 °C)
- Hot-air drum principle: The drum is fixed; paddles move the beans. Heat transfer is primarily by convection (hot air), less by conduction (drum contact)—similar to an air roaster.
- First Crack detection: A microphone acoustically detects bean cracking (steam pressure). Adjustable threshold for starting development time.
- Reproducibility: Automatic profiles (e.g., "Samples Michael") control inlet temperature; development time is a percentage of total roast time (here 12%).
- Preheat protocol: Warm-up without beans to target drum temperature (145-150 °C).
- Between-batch protocol: Maintains constant temperature during idle phases.
- Weighing: 50 g of green coffee (ideal for samples).
- Roast start: Beans enter the drum; automatic profile runs with optional manual adjustments (energy changes).
- First Crack: At around 175 °C, beans crack audibly; development time starts after the 4th crack.
- Automatic drop: After 12% development time (here: 6 minutes 28 seconds), beans fall into the cooling tray.
- Cooling: Cold air drawn through beans for 2 minutes. Then let the drum cool slowly (5-10 minutes) before shutting off.
- Roast loss: Final weight 43.4 g → 13.2% roast loss.
- Freshly roasted coffee: High CO₂, more mineral and acidic; needs degassing for a few days to reach full potential.
- Regular cupping (e.g., Wednesdays) helps distinguish roast profile from bean quality over time.
- New price: About €7,500.
- Used options: Cheaper (e.g., from Janine Delat).
- Other sample roasters: Link, Ikawa (both air roasters) and Alioli Bullet (1-kg drum).
The ROEST is ideal for precise sample and competition roasting—multiple sensors, high reproducibility, and manual override. Flavor-wise, it is versatile and not inherently superior to pure air roasters.
