How to Choose a Commercial Coffee Roaster

Most first-time buyers start with the budget and end up with a machine that is one size too big. It runs half-full batches, the temperature curve drifts, and the coffee is worse than it would be on a smaller drum. Here is the order we recommend instead.

1. Start from weekly sales, not daily ambition

Write down the kilos of roasted coffee you can actually sell in a week — signed contracts, standing orders, a café you already supply. Not the number you hope for.

Divide by five working days. Then divide by 0.85, because green beans lose about 15% of their weight in the drum. What is left is your daily green requirement.

Example: 150 kg roasted a week → 30 kg a day roasted → 35 kg of green beans a day.

2. Turn that into batches per day

Divide the daily green requirement by the mid-point of a model's batch range.

Eight or nine batches a day on a 6 kg means the operator is tied to the machine from opening to closing. Three and a half on a 12 kg leaves room for cupping, packing and selling. That gap — not the price difference — is what you are buying.

3. Check the site before you fall in love with a model

Three things kill more orders than budget:

• Gas. A drum roaster needs a commercial gas supply and a flue to outside. Homes, offices and shopping centres almost never qualify.
• Power. The gas models draw very little — the 6 kg totals about 1.5 kW of motors and can run on 220 V. From 20 kg up it is 380 V three-phase. Electric heating on the 6, 12 and 15 kg needs 15.8, 33 and 36 kW, 380 V three-phase.
• Floor and clearance. You need space to load, discharge, clean and get round the cooling tray. Plan for more than the footprint on the drawing.

4. Decide the heat source honestly

Gas gives you faster recovery between batches and cheaper running costs in most markets. Electric is easier to site — no flue gas, no gas inspection — but the element load is heavy and only makes sense up to 15 kg. Above that we build gas only.

5. Buy one size down if you are between two

A drum that is 70–80% full roasts better than one at 40%. If your number sits between two models, take the smaller one and add a second machine when the orders are steady. Two small roasters also schedule better than one big one when you are roasting several origins a week.

The mistake we see most

Buying for the volume you expect in year three, then roasting 20 kg a week in year one. The machine is not the problem — the batch size is. Send us your weekly sales and we will do the arithmetic with you before you commit.