Gas vs Electric Coffee Roaster: Which Should You Buy?

Every week somebody asks whether they should take the electric version. The answer depends on three facts about your building, your electricity bill and how many batches a day you run.

What each one actually changes

Gas fires a burner tube inside the drum. Heat arrives partly by radiation from the tube, partly as hot air through the bean mass. Recovery between batches is fast, because you can push the burner hard for two or three minutes and pull it back.

Electric replaces the burner with resistance elements. There is no flue gas, no gas inspection, no annual burner service. Heat-up is slower and, critically, the recovery between batches is slower — the elements have thermal mass and cannot be pushed past their rating.

The numbers on our range

All electric versions need 380 V three-phase. A 36 kW element load is not something you plug into a wall socket — check the building's capacity with an electrician before you order.

When electric wins

• You cannot get a gas connection, or the landlord will not allow a flue.
• Electricity is cheap where you are and gas is not.
• You roast one or two batches a day, so recovery time does not matter.
• You are in a building where a gas inspection would take months.

When gas wins

• More than three or four batches a day — the recovery gap compounds.
• Gas is significantly cheaper per kWh than electricity in your market.
• You want the flexibility to move to a larger machine later; above 15 kg there is no electric option.
• You are roasting for profit and the running cost matters more than the installation cost.

The question people forget

Ask what happens on the day the element fails. A burner can usually be serviced on site; an element bank is a replacement part. Either way you want the spare available, but the lead time is different. Ask both suppliers before you decide.

Our honest position

For a first machine up to 15 kg, in a building without gas, electric is a genuinely good answer. For anything running more than four batches a day, or above 15 kg, gas is the right tool and we will say so even though the electric version is the easier sale.