JAVASTARR Electric Coffee Roaster Machine for Home Use 1200W,Coffee Bean Roaster Machine for Home Use with Two Optional Baking Modes (Med & Dark),Coffee Roaster Stovetop,110v~120V

Y’all, when other reviews say “it’s a glorified popcorn popper”, that’s not a negative. Both are fluid beds and do similar tasks. I have been roasting in old poppers since 1998, and when my latest one gave out from being asked to do something it wasn’t designed to do, I thought I would try a purpose built fluid bed roaster.This roaster has a beefy blower and an amped up (sorry!) heating element that can withstand the extended roasting cycles. The chaff arrestor is very nice to have. The design allows some air to escape catching chaff and removing smoke while redirecting the rest back into the chamber to keep a nice even heat.You don’t get a lot of customization. There is a dark and medium roast cycle. The viewing glass on top of the chaff arrestor is tinted, so you can’t really get an accurate look at what is going on color-wise. That’s an issue as your skills grow and you want to tweak your roast for particular varietals.Each cycle ends in a 5 minute cool down which is awesome as I am used to quickly dumping them into a stainless bowl and tossing them to stop the roast. No need for that now! There is also an independent Cool Down button. Once you start tinkering with roast times and want something between medium and dark or want to take your beans to the edge of the abyss and need to go farther than the dark cycle, you can then manually start the cooldown to stop your roast without scorching the beans touching the metal.Look, is this a professional or even pro-sumer level roaster? No. It is an entry level, 70g max roaster, and in that category is is a solid choice. It’s also perfect for my fellow popcorn roasters who are looking to have the power without knowing our hobby will kill those poor popcorn makers in no time.

It worked 4 or 5 times. I went to roast more coffee one day, still following the instructions given in the package. I got through one batch just fine, just like I had before. I let it rest for over an hour before I went to make another batch. I got part of the way through the next batch and it fried itself and shut off mid-roast, never to turn on again.I called Amazon and they exchanged it. I had a new roaster the next day. A few days after receiving the new roaster, I roasted a batch just fine. Again, I followed instructions: use in well ventilated area, only use 2 scoops of green coffee beans (scoop they provided), and press the button. No problem. I waited well over an hour and did some other stuff around the house and came back to make a second batch. Again, it fried itself or something half way through.I’ll try a different roaster. Super bummed about this one. I really wanted it to work.

Most important bean roasting fact, it stinks. However, the end product is well worth it. Make no mistake, even the most expensive unit made of unicorn hearts will stink up the joint. Use your stove's vent (that is vented outdoors) to remove 95% of the odor. I bought my first roaster 18 years ago, it had failed so hear we are. This Java Starr is all that I need to craft a better cup of coffee. Top marks for separating the bean's husk. Considerably better than my last roaster. At the moment, I have used it everyday for one week. Simple, functional and unassuming. I'd even recommend it to my in-laws, I'm that sure of it. As a rule, I painstakingly research every purchase over $100. I almost spent $200, yet I dished out only $80. In brevity, the Java Starr is a good value! Another important fact: If you're new to this, you need at buy a burr grinder. Now Seize the Day and create something!

Like most people looking into roasting coffee at home you saw the prices of home roasters and saw the price of this and went "Yeah I guess this is my only choice!" At a sub $100 coffee roaster, it is in every regard, an air popper but with a small volume and the ability to collect chafe.I sound negative, but the truth is, it over performs at this price range. It can roast 4oz of beans safely and evenly at either Medium and Dark. Medium is more a Full City Roast, while Dark falls between a Vienna and Espresso Roast. Roasts are even every time and at 4 months of use now as I write this, it has not failed. Roasts and cooling takes anywhere between 10-15 minutes. The cool function works, invest in a bean cooler. You will have smoke, there is no smoke control, open a window.The unit is small and doesn't take up much space. It has the shape of a hourglass but with a handle. I wish the unit had a way to house the power cord in the unit.Chafe collection is fine, but with dark roasts at 4oz, beans can and will get blown up into the chafe collection chamber. A suggestion would be to add a metal bar structure around the interior edge to let chafe blow in and keep beans out. The container is plastic and while it hasn't failed, it feels flimsy. The mesh net around the housing is thin and doesn't fully keep chafe from escaping. It also doesn't lock onto the unit. The basket sits on two nubs that you sit on the unit and the door slips into a lock, that is a chore to get to work.Again at sub $100 this is the vast majority of people's only option for a real dedicated machine made for roasting coffee. This is more of an indictment on the rest of the sector that treats roasting coffee at home a luxury, when it's anything but. A whirly pop is the cheapest option and you have total control on the roast level, but it's always going to end up being uneven and probably a bit burnt.The Javastar does a vastly better job but only in small batches. If this lasts a year or more it's a steal at this price, otherwise if it fails it's just another expendable piece of tech meant to fail before its usefulness. I'd like to see a future unit that handles 8oz, have at least (3) roasting options and a better chafe collector (and less plastic). It's worth spending the money.

Definitely works for small amounts of coffee roasting, but it stopped working right around 1 year of use (about 10 pounds of beans roasted over that year). Not ideal at all!