Fresh Roast SR800 Roaster

by Nick G. on June 2, 2020

Just over two weeks in with this one and I'm loving it! I started roasting coffee when I worked at a small local coffee shop that got a 1lb fluid air bed roaster. After I moved on to other jobs with more regular schedules I started using a bread machine/heat gun to roast for a little while but it was hard to achieve consistency and it was annoying having to roast outside, especially during Southern summers! Finally decided to try a Fresh Roast, and settled on the SR800 without much trouble. Ordered it on Monday and Thursday it arrived around 7pm. 7:30pm I was wrapping up my first roast! I'd watched a couple of videos to learn how to use it, but so much of what I learned all those years ago came right back and I've been able to achieve the roast levels I'm looking for every time. Did set off the smoke detectors one time so... If you're going for Full City roasts make sure to keep that stove hood on high or roast someplace more open-air than your kitchen! Also can't complain one bit about the 5 half pound samples of beans and the $15 gift certificate they include with this machine. I mean, that's like getting a $30 discount over the list price of the roaster. Best deal I've seen around! Is the roaster perfect? No, of course not. I'd love if it had a dedicated temperature display so you don't have to swap back and forth between the fan/power setting an the temperature view. Also don't get a whole lot of bean movement with larger roasts if you drop the fan speed down any. There is a third party making aftermarket roast chambers for this which are tall and narrow--allowing for larger batches and reportedly giving better bean movement with the airflow this unit puts out. Do you need it to make some great roasts? Nope. I'm quite happy with what I've achieved so far with this.