A coffee bean roasting machine is simply a piece of equipment that roasts the beans and have been around for a long time. Anyone who has a speck of an idea about coffee would agree upon the beauty of the aroma of roasted coffee beans. If you run a coffee shop or a café it’s a huge investment decision to make.
So, what’s the best commercial coffee roaster? Well, that’s a difficult question for several reasons. Coffee roasters are available in the market with varieties of design, size, form and most importantly different functionalities. The first step is to understand the purpose and then to determine roaster would cater to your needs. The capacity of roaster per batches, whether the roaster is electric or gas, how scalable they are and various other questions need to be answered before making a decision. Below are certain lists of things to think before purchasing a commercial coffee roaster.
Take a look at these roasters!
Things to Think About When Searching for a Commerical Roaster
Cost
It’s really a no brainer that you would need a good amount of upfront investment for a roaster. The cost of coffee roasters is mainly determined by the volume of beans to be processed per batch per run. If you have a clear idea of the sort of the business that you intend to do, whether it’s a private cafe or for retailing the beans to distributors and retailers, a clear plan should be cited and budgeted for that most suited roaster. The additional cost to be considered is the initial installation, permits, rents, licenses, insurance, running and maintenance, packaging, marketing. The cost per batch to run the roaster at a time and the number of roasting required in a span of time are crucial as it saves a lot of time and most importantly it is a way of cost-effectiveness.
Plus, having a good commercial roaster that doesn’t waste beans is very good for your overall financials. Coffee beans can get really expensive, check it out here.
Size
Coffee roasters are available in different sizes and shapes, the size of your coffee roaster is directly related to the core of your business. For a small cafe, you might be able to get going with a 3-10 kg coffee roaster which would cost between ($15,000-$25,000) and if you are a start-up with a roaster of 3-5 kg capacity, majority of the time would be utilized for roasting rather than focusing on the operations. Whereas, if you wish to scale up to supply additional coffee for the suppliers and retailers, restaurants and stores you would likely need a 24-kilo bean roaster that can do to the least 30 pounds per hour roasting 70-80% of capacity per hour. Investing smartly on roasters that suit your business with the right size and functions is yet another factor to consider.
Consistency
Being unique and spot-on in the coffee world is not a child’s play. As you know there should be a trademark taste for your own coffee to stand out from your competitors. Maintaining the flavors and proportions is important in the industry.
Features & Functions
Roasting of that green beans to the beautiful aromatic flavor of dense, oily and intense coffee is not a magical feat. So the right roaster is the key to a classic blend. Roasters are available with wide variations in shapes, sizes, and functions.
Understand your purpose and choose whether your roaster should be gas or electronic, the roaster should be a drum bed or fluid bed, be direct flame or infrared, stainless steel or cast iron, automatic or manually controlled. So there are many areas to choose between.
The unprocessed raw coffee beans are stale, solid & hard and there’s surely nothing that you can do with the green bean, the real deal is in roasting. Doing a little math is not a bad idea of you are stepping on coffee retailing, and think no lesser than a 10-kilo machine. You wouldn’t want to replace your ‘not so old’ bean roaster in the near future, doubling your costs and leaving you with duo roasters on the scene.
Important tip: Cleaning coffee roasting machines should be a daily routine in order to keep up with the labor it is required to keep the machine running smoothly. Find out how to properly clean your coffee roasting machines here.
Now that we know a bit about what goes into finding the best roast for the right price. Let’s dive deeper into the top 5 commercial coffee roasters we found for you down below.
1. Proaster: 10 kg roaster
An ideal roaster with a reasonable size featuring traditional conduction roasting using a drum structure, with an adiabatic caring to increase heat efficiency and the outcome is splendid. It keeps the consistency and uniformity for every roast. They are really versatile in adapting to any roasting style, speed, texture, and evenness. The safety system is yet another feature that makes Proaster coffee roaster a hit among the commercial coffee customers with integrated safety systems preventing machined from reaching dangerous temperatures. The capacity of roasting per batch at a time can be adjusted from 2 -9 kilo in about 10-20 minutes and is available in 2 colors (red and black).
2. Toper Roaster
They have been manufacturing coffee beans roasting machines since 1954. They make roasters of sizes ranging from 1-15 kilo capacity, catering to different needs and is a popular choice for micro-roasters to roast coffee.
Toper Roasters features simple control options to operate its drum bed and the cooling trays. The models, function sizes and formats of the Toper Roasters are still evolving with the current technology including touchscreen, profiling system to cope with the demanding trends of the coffee industry today.
3. Probat coffee roasters
Trusted by coffee roasters in the industry, the Probat bean roaster is the best rated among the top coffee gourmets and brewers. They design and manufacture coffee roasting machines with the utmost care and precision, allowing efficiency, ease of use and total control over the beans roasting, helping you stand ahead of the demand with roasters that have wide ranges of models, and comes in a variety of sizes, shapes, and functions. Their customer service is prompt and the customers a priority. The Probat is a high-end roaster for specialty coffee and they are a purchase away.
4. Genio intelligent roasters
This high performing roaster is excellent for artisanal coffee. The indigenous technology of Genio gives total precision over its control systems and regulated the required gas pressure, airflow and drum speed. The machines are hand-crafted for the professional roaster’s out there who foresee quality on a cup of coffee. The commercial artisanal toastmaster’s best friend could be this majestic roaster.
The customer relations is spot-on as the demand of the industry changes and require assistance at different phases of the machine cycle.
5. Mill City Roaster
Mill City Roaster provides handcrafted commercial coffee roaster machines to artisan roasters who wish to stride on coffee retailing businesses they build with powerful and flexible bean roasting system and the machinery is designed for reliability, ease of use and ease of maintenance. Mill City offers different roasters ranging from 1 kilo to industrial sizes. They have been entrepreneurs’ ideal roasting partner providing excellent training on the usage of its machinery, giving tutorials to what type of roasters would suit a business need. They are using most of the technology to assist its customers in providing workshops, free roasting education online, tours on coffee business, students’ resources making them a focal point on the coffee business.
Drum or hot air bed, electric or gas fuelled be it any available types of roasters, a business house should readily invest in bean roasters being mindful of their needs and purposes. Buying a roaster fulfilling the short term and long term goals are quite challenging if you are an amateur in the industry. No matter what roaster you end up within your cafe or grounded coffee store, the boom of your business is directly connected with the quality of the products you offer. Choosing fine and first quality beans roasted to rich, oily, flavored coffee priced fairly with pleasant and prompt customer service can be a piece of cake. But you have to put in a lot of effort, detailed analysis on your target market, and invest effectively so that you don’t get burned on roasters.
What Commerical Coffee Roaster Will You Buy?
That about sums up the best commercial coffee roasters in our list. What do you think? Which one will you go searching to buy? Also, what is the biggest reason for buying one coffee roaster over the other? Is it because of the consistency it can produce or more about the price and budget you have in your cafe? Let us know what you think!
If you want to read more about equipment and what you need to think about before opening your own cafe or coffee shop, be sure to read our in-depth article here. Here’s a bonus article too, the best espresso machine for your cafe.
Be sure to also check these options for your roaster!
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