- Clear Pyrex roasting chamber for easy monitoring of the roasting process
- Produces up to a half-pound of roasted beans ranging from light American style to Espresso roast
- Convection roasting eliminates hot spots that can cause an unevenly roasted batch
- Analog dials control time, temperature and system status and permit on-the fly adjustments
- Includes 5 Lbs. of certified organic Fair Trade green coffee
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Product Details
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Product Description
The Gene Cafe home coffee roaster offers a large capacity, intuitive, easy to use controls, and quiet operation. With complete control over both time and temperature that will please the most advanced home coffee roasting hobbiests, the controls and instructions are so easy that beginners can produce professional results the very first day. The clear roast chamber makes it very easy to view the roasting process, a must have feature that eliminates burnt or under roasted coffee.
The Gene Cafe can hold up to 10 oz. of unroasted green coffee which will yield up to an 8 oz. batch of fully roasted coffee. The thoughtfully integrated safety features (that are lacking in most home roasters) include auto shutoff, overheat sensors, and a clear safety cover to prevent burnt fingers.
This roaster delivers what you would expect of a higher priced coffee roaster: excellent roast quality, a durable machine built to last, a good warranty with US based support, and easy to use controls. As with most large capacity home roasting machines, a lot of smoke is produced during the roast. Perfect for a large household of thirsty coffee drinkers!
Customer Reviews
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gene Cafe Coffee Roaster,
By
This review is from: Gene Cafe Drum Coffee Roaster brand new!
This is my first coffee roaster, but the Gene Cafe Coffee Roaster is an excellent air roaster that has given me consistent results. It is so easy to use. I spent about 3 months doing all kinds of research on coffee roasters. For someone who never roasted before, this is the easiest roaster on the market. I saw a video on Google Video at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-21754440054705737 and I thought it was really neat at how easy it worked. One neat thing about it is the roasting viewing chamber, you are able to see the bean color and roast level through the entire roast without problems. The Gene Cafe is different in that the amount of air pushing through the roast chamber is only for heat; not to actually agitate the beans like so many of the other hot air roasters I did my research on. The Gene Cafe has a cool auger and flap system. This makes sure that the beans are always in motion, which will prevent scorching. You will find the Gene Roaster is very quiet. You can be standing next to it and carry on a conversation and not have to yell. So it is very easy to here the 1st and 2nd crack of the beans as they roast. This is very important if you are new to roasting. There is one thing to be aware of and that is you may get the roast darker than you want if you do not anticipate the shade of the bean you want by pressing the cooling button a little before you get the roast color you are looking for because it continues to cook for a minute or two after you push the cooling button. A great thing about the Gene Cafe is the control system; you can change the roast temperature in real time with just the turn of a knob. Any time during the roast you can also easily put the Gene Cafe into its cooling cycle. You will find that the majority of air and smoke exits from the left end of the roaster. Gene Cafe now offers a smoke redirection device that you can add on the end for only a $50 upcharge. The chaff collector is also much larger then the first one. So is there a down side of this roaster? Yes. One thing I didn't like about the Gene Cafe was the chaff collection. When the chaff is blown off of the beans, it needs to go through a stainless grate in the roasting chamber. A small flap knocks the chaff loose (that way it can pass through the grate easer) with each turn of the roasting chamber. If the coffee you are roasting makes a lot of chaff the grate can get to full. This is really not that big of a deal because the air will just redirect through the roast chamber lid. (The only time that this has happened to me is when I do a back to back roast and forget to clean out the chaff tray). If you do not get the new smoke redirection device you can hook up some sort of a smoke redirection device yourself, it will help. (That's what I did and I direct it outside out my window. I use a dryer vent hose). I really wish that the cooling cycle was better, especially when you are roasting on the hottest setting, but it will do the job. Or you can do what I did. I went and got a fan and a metal colander. I set the fan on top and turn it on high for about 15 minutes. All in all, the Gene Cafe is a great roaster. I have now been roasting for a year and I love it. I have never had a better tasting cup of coffee in my life. I bring it to work everyday and everyone loves it. It is so easy to operate and well built. If this is your first roaster as it was for me. Go for it and spend the extra money. It will be worth it. Just think about it, you will be doing this for the rest of your life. Never will you go back to the old stale Folders coffees of the world!!! Thanks, Dan Lewis <><
25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gene Coffee Roaster,
By
This review is from: Gene Cafe Drum Coffee Roaster brand new!
Several months ago I ordered and received the Gene Coffee Roaster. I have had three roasters before this and each one was short lived and had problems while I had it. This Gene Roaster is the a winner. I am really impressed by how clean it stays roast after roast. It is straight forward, easy to operate and well built. I do have to watch it closely during the final couple of minutes. It is easy to get the roast too dark if you do not anticipate the shade of the bean by pressing the cooling button a little before you reach the roast you are looking for because it continues to cook for a minute or two after you push the cooling button. I gladly recommend this roaster, it's great!
21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
life, limited,
By Skippy (Utah) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Gene Cafe Drum Coffee Roaster brand new!
For a start, I should mention that I am a female user of the device, if this was a washing machine that failed as often as this has, all the male users who fiddle and faff and adjust their incoming electrical current and talk about firmware and replace the heating elements etc would have had heart failure due to apoplexy had this been a washing machine that failed.
I have a roaster from 2007, I think it is stamped Feb, that has had 3 replacement heating elements that have never lasted a whole yr. The chappy in park city has sent us the replacement bits at no financial cost, luckily my DH is a handy dandy engineer who can swap the new one in with no dramas, yet even now, the third heating element is failing and my highest roast temp is 375 on a good day with the wind in the right direction, other coffee sites have these failing after a year and customers seem to think this is acceptable? I do not get it, this is a 500 buck item, when my $150 roaster died after 2 yrs, well, c'est la vie, this is a unit that has not lasted a functional year. No, I do not bang out 20 roasts a day, yes, I do keep it clean, my electricity coming into my home is no doubt the same electricity as the unit should be designed to use and probably not that different the Mr chappy in Park City which is up the proverbial road from me. When the unit runs, it is a fabulous thing, but realistically, if you look out on the web you can find plenty of people who are having the same issues as me, but seem to be far more tolerant of failure than I am. My expectation of a 500 dollar appliance is that it would last for at least 3 years without the hassles we have had.
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