Gene Cafe Drum Roaster Black

I've had my Gene Cafe for going on 5 years now and it is a work horse, for sure. Looking back on receipts, it appears I have a coffee habit (!) as I've roasted and consumed with some help, about 200lbs per year since I got the roaster. I will note as others have that you need to keep an eye on the rubber bumper inside the roasting chamber, as it will get brittle over time and break off into one of the batches. The reason I only gave 4 stars is that the Gene Cafe is a bit noisy and difficult to hear the "cracks". I run a dryer exhaust tube from the roaster in the garage outside the back door and you can hear the cracks by putting your ear near the end, away from the chamber. However, the Gene Cafe has taught me over the years to visually recognize when the second crack is occurring. Great machine!

This is my 4th Gene Cafe roaster. I’ve had 2 black ones and 3 red ones. I like these roasters because they deliver a very consistent roast. I can pick them up and move them and store them wherever I want. I don’t mind the new alarm. I think it’s a good idea. I wasn’t affected by the alteration in construction, it still delivers a great roast. There is only one thing I miss when compared to my other roasters I’ve had through the years; this roaster is noisy and you can hear 1st and 2nd crack so you have to watch the color of the beans and the times.

love it. Easy to set up and use. Perfect roast.

This is my 3rd upgrade from starting to roast my beans on the side burner of my BBQ in a popcorn popper. Love the ease of use. Only used it once so far. Need to time/temp settings for my perfect roast but that is to be expected.

To be honest, even after looking at other reviews of each different type of roaster that i I could find in my budget. I really thought in my head that this was the one I wanted and I’m so glad I followed through with it because it works amazing, I have tested many samples of beans and have had a great experience from start to finish! If you are having trouble deciding on what roaster to get, don’t struggle like I did. This is the one to start with in my opinion.

I have been home roasting about 20 years. I first purchased the Fresh Roast and thought it was adequate for the task. And I was. After 2 years it failed. I bought another one and right at year three if failed also. Then I bought the Gene Roaster. I was concerned that it too would fail after 2 or 3 years but bought one anyway. It has performed superbly now for almost 7 years. This machine is the perfect price / quality point and has not disappointed me in any way. One Thing that you must do is empty the chaff catcher every 8 or 10 cycles. Also, and this has only occurred two times in 7 years - if your roaster is outside and the temperature is below about 40 degrees, it will error out and not start the cycle. If this is an issue…just bring it indoors for an hour or so to allow the circuit to warm slightly.

We’ve been using the Gene Cafe now for a couple of months, and done a couple dozen batches of coffee. Our family members are coffee drinking fools, and we all drink several cups a day. It took us a long time to get around to ordering this because we subscribed to a service that shipped us single origin coffee every month and we enjoyed their offerings very much. So, the bottom line is we should have done this sooner. The gene cafe seems to be very well made. It remains to be seen how the computer that does the time and temp holds up over time roasting beans out on the back porch, but from other reviews I’m not too worried. The roasted beans we’re producing with one exception is every bit as good as any we ever got from the subscription, and the one we didn’t like simply means we won’t order that particular bean again. Oh well. Using the roaster is very easy. I’ve read reviews online that make a big production out of using it, but in all honesty, I’m pretty particular about my coffee, and following the instructions provided produces a very nice roast of my particular preference. CBC did a great job getting it to me, and called me before they shipped it to activate the warranty. It’s really easy to clean, a breeze to use, and seems well built. What’s not to like?

First attempt went pretty well. It seemed like it was roasting the beans pretty aggressively fairly early on in the roast but I am not sure. Early to tell.

Without being over the top this roaster is robust and thoughtfully designed with many nice features that make roasting fun and the results predictable and repeatable even for the novice. At this price point it is challenging to find a better combination of quality and capability for the small batch roaster.

I'm new to roasting and ordered the red Gene Cafe from Coffee Bean Corral (CBC) after doing my research and reading many reviews on roasters. A rep from CBC called me after I placed the order to explain the safety features on the roaster and to confirm my order. Their customer service, personal outreach and varieties of coffee beans are amazing. After completing 10 roasts so far, here are the PROS of the Gene Cafe Roaster: controls are simple and easy to use, very even roasts with the off-center roasting chamber, easy to see roast development through glass roasting chamber, solid and compact unit. CONS: hard to hear first and second crack due to motor noise (not a big deal) and need to watch/check the little rubber chaff bumpers. Also, I don't use the auto cooling mode since it cools too slowly so I dump the beans into an external bean cooler to cool them more quickly. All in all, I really like this roaster and the price is right for a newbie like me.

Love this coffee roaster. Does a fantastic job. Also a great company to do business with.

Great roaster, consistent results. One thing to know though, it needs an uncluttered electric circuit to work well. I roast in my garage and the circuit is part of some wacky circuit that is in my basement, garage, and some outdoors outlets, with a GFI outlet in my master bath. The electricians must have been high that day when they built this place. Anyway, without a clean circuit it will take twice as long to roast a batch. I currently just run an extension cord into a clean outlet in another room and it works great, but I will eventually run a dedicated outlet for it.

I've only roasted a couple of batches since getting the Gene Cafe, but so far I really like it. It's a big step up from the smaller roaster that I've been "making do" with for years. With Gene Cafe, you can roast a large enough batch to allow for not running out of coffee too quickly and not having to roast every few days. Very convenient. The coffee has been great, although I'm still "tweaking" my roast profiles. There are roasters out there that provide more precise controls of the roast process--hence only the 4 star recommendation--but they come at a MUCH higher price point. The Gene Cafe provides the fresh roasted coffee I love at a price that won't break the bank. I highly recommend this product from my favorite supplier--Coffee Bean Corral! Jon from Valrico FL

I love my Gene Cafe roaster. I had one years ago and really missed my roasted coffee. I ordered the red one, which looks sharp. CBC answered my questions and shipped the roaster quickly, along with my free samples and more coffee that I ordered. I’ve been trying the samples and haven’t had a bad one yet! Thank you CBC!

Excellent product and incredibly good customer service from CBC. My old Gene Cafe is about 10 or so years old and still working. I decided to use it as a back up and get a new one. I had other coffee roasters when I started roasting years ago. They would all fail too soon and the worst of the lot used an auger type devise and had a brand name that was an “N” word reminiscent of a pretty good chocolate mix. My only gripe with the Gene Cafe is the new beep beep, bye bye system. I have never had a coffee roaster fire. However, I get it. We live in a litigious would be fool proof nanny state complete with safe spaces and pinless diapers. And that's just for us adults. Now for the customer service. This was my first time using a gift certificate. It didn't take so I emailed CBC and got a really fast response phone call from a manager, MICHELLE. I had entered the code in the wrong spot. She fixed it for me and even did a follow up call to see how I was doing with the new roaster and reminded me they were there to help if I needed it. These days, how often do you get customer service like that? Have you ever had a half hour wait listening to repeated recorded messages about how very important your call is to them followed by a click? It was really good to get the excellent service from CBC.

I bought my first Gene Cafe Roaster in 2007. I still have it and it still works very well. I upgraded it with a new control board, map sensor and temp sensors several years ago although there wasn't anything wrong with them. The only parts I have had to replace in all these years are 2 heaters and a blower. I like the roaster so much I bought a second one for our place in Arizona so I didn't have to haul one back and forth. It is very easy to use and does a great job. I like being able to easily see the roast develop and also like being able hear first and second crack. A great choice for a roaster.

I have had this roaster since I think 2014, maybe longer. I have replaced the heating element twice and I just changed the fan, which has returned this machine to like new operations. This is an excellent machine, well engineered, good build quality. What I like most about it is that it is repairable. The repairs I have done to mine were not very complicated almost anyone should be able to do them. There are videos on YouTube to walk you through them. This machine is highly recommended due to how well this machine roasts, but also that it is able to be maintained (fixed) giving it an extremely long operational of life. I expect this machine to last at lest another 8 to 10 years before it needs to be replaced. Maybe longer 👍🏻. I not sure if any of the other machines provides that option. It is a rare small appliance that last more than 10 years now a days, and this one will.

It does a fine job of roasting beans, but it's not really automatic. For some silly reason, the manufacturers (or their lawyers) decided that there is a fire hazard at 392F (200C) temperature. You must stand over the machine, ready to press a button and confirm "no fire" at that exact temperature or the machine will abort into its cool cycle, ruining your roasting plan. Somehow, they see no danger in proceeding from 392 to, say, 440 with no further interruption. Apparently, they only have a problem with fires occurring at precisely 392. I have had several roasts ruined by my missing the warning beeps and failing to confirm the roast, midway through.

The roaster is solid. I thought my whirley pop method was on point, but I can not compete with this machine. The alarm system is a tad annoying, but I get the safety aspect, so I'm not going to ding it. It would be nice to be able to override that and just accept the risk. I'm not dinging the score for that. My only complaint, is the time and heat in the instructions. I like a darker roast, and my first roast was "City Roast". That was just charcoal. I nearly burned down my roaster with the first use with all that smoke billowing out. You'd think they'd have more conservative time and heat estimates. Start with a lighter roast and dial in from there. Lost a half pound of coffee to that, but lessons learned I suppose.