We tested and reviewed the best coffee roasters available for home roasting in 2023. Here’s what we found.

All of the coffee roasters we tested were surprisingly quiet, allowing us to easily hear both the first and second crack during the roasting process. We were pleasantly surprised to see that all roasters had large viewing windows to visually track the progression of the roasting process as well. Beyond these commonalities, we found quite some surprises that we want to share with you. 

Roaster & Price	Pros	Cons
FreshRoast SR540 ($209)	-Cheap -Cooling feature	-Small capacity (.25 lbs) -NO smoke suppression
FreshRoast SR800 ($289)	-0.5 lbs capacity -Cheap -Cooling feature	-NO smoke suppression
Behmor 2000AB Plus ($479)	-Large Capacity (1lb) -Easy use -Powerful smoke suppression	-Limited controls -Not capable of dark roasts
GeneCafe CBR-101 ($650)	-0.5 lbs capacity -Unlimited control -Extremely durable -Cheap replacement parts	-NO smoke suppression
Sandbox R1 Smart Roaster ($850)	-Full smart control capability -Highly aesthetic -Easy to operate	-Small capacity (0.33 lbs) -Hard/impossible to repair -Pay to add smoke suppression/cooling tray
Sandbox R2 Smart Roaster ($2500)	-full smart control capability -VERY large capacity (1.2 lbs) -highly aesthetic -Easy to operate	-VERY expensive -Hard/impossible to repair -Pay to add smoke suppression/cooling tray -Minimum capacity 200g
Hot top KN-8828B-2K+ ($1800)	-Infinite control -Professional results -Computer connectivity	-Expensive -Largest of all roasters in size

Best Budget Roaster For Home Coffee Roasting

Fresh Roast SR540 and SR800

With an incredibly low price tag of $209, the FreshRoast SR540 is the best budget coffee roaster on our list. It is an easy to use air roaster that has virtually no learning curve and gives you a generous amount of control over your roast. No roast profiles, no computer, no frills. Just a simple display and great control over the temperature (9 steps of heat), fan speed, and roasting duration, all controlled with one simple knob. In addition, this roaster has an automatic cooling mode built in and a real-time temperature display for you to roast great beans, effortlessly. 

 

The build quality of this roaster is impressive and feels extremely sturdy. Long-term users have been extremely satisfied, saying the roaster is reliable and consistent for many years. If you do have an issue, the company has great customer support that is both knowledgeable and quick. 

The downside to this roaster is its limited capacity of only 120g or 0.25 lbs. To remedy this, we recommend upgrading to the SR540’s bigger sibling, the SR800, priced at $289, which doubles the roasting capacity to 250 g or ~0.5 lbs. Beyond the capacity, both units are identical. For double the roasting capacity, we think an additional $80 is a no-brainer.

Best All-Around Roaster For Home Coffee Roasting

Behmor 2000AB Plus

The coffee roaster that checks all the boxes for us is the Behmor 2000AB Plus. Coming in at $479, it is far more expensive than the FreshRoast coffee roasters but also brings far more features that we love. 

The first standout feature for this amazing drum roaster is that out of all the roasters on this list, the Behmor has the largest capacity for the price, offering a whopping, 1-pound capacity. 

The Behmor looks and feels like a toaster oven and with its powerful, built-in smoke suppression system, it works great on your counter with no need to vent it to the outdoors so you can roast all year long. 

It comes with pre-set menu options for you to choose from to make the roasting process simple, accurate, and most importantly, repeatable. If you want infinite control over your roast, this might not be the top choice for you, but if you seek convenience and efficiency when it comes to roasting phenomenal coffee at home, this one’s for you!

Of course the Behmor also has a generous viewing window and lighting in the roasting chamber so you can monitor your progress, and because it is such a quiet roaster, you can also easily hear both cracking stages. Since this roaster is designed for optimal convenience, it has an effective, built-in cooling feature as well. 

The largest drawback on this roaster is that it is absolutely not recommended for dark roasting. Behmor classifies this as exceeding 10 seconds past the second crack or beyond full city/ light vienna roasts. 

 

Best Full-Control, Value Roaster for Home Coffee Roasting

GeneCafe CBR-101

The GeneCafe CBR-101 is a fantastic drum coffee roaster for home use if you are looking for infinite control over the roast but don’t need computer connectivity and tracking software. Coming in at $650, the GeneCafe is capable of roasting up to a half pound of coffee (250g) just like the larger FreshRoast roaster and gives you full control over temperature, duration, and fan speed, down to the single degree, with real-time temperature insight.

The GeneCafe roaster is fully automatic after you set your preferences and has a built-in cooling function. Through the glass chamber you can easily watch your roast progress and since it is also a quiet roaster, you can easily hear the cracking stages. 

This roaster has proven its durability for years, with many users saying that they have been using it for over a decade without issues. They rave about the customer support and the quality construction, built in Massachusetts. If you ever have any component break down on you, their website makes it easy to get affordable replacement parts. With so much control and such a small learning curve, this roaster is great to experiment with and is therefore perfect for the true hobbyist. 

The only drawback we have found is that this roaster has no smoke suppression system.

TIP: We found that this roaster gets going fast! Start at a lower temperature until the beans turn a nice yellow before bringing your roaster up to the temperature setting you want. 

Best Smart Roaster for Home Coffee Roasting

Sandbox smart Roaster R2

For the tech geeks and smarthome lovers, there’s a coffee roaster out there for you. The Sandbox Smart Roaster R2 comes in at a whopping $2500 but brings fully automatic, app-powered coffee roasting to your countertop. At the size of an airfryer with the aesthetic of a tesla-style bread oven, this coffee roaster is the most unique roaster we have ever used. 

The roaster comes pre-installed with roasting  profiles for convenience but also gives you full reign with manual settings if you prefer. It has a very large capacity of 550g, or 1.2 pounds. 

While this may be the easiest coffee you’ll ever roast, all while keeping it fancy in your kitchen, you’ll have a hard time fixing this roaster if it were to break down.
A smoke suppression system and cooling tray is not included with this roaster; something we think should be a basic component at this price point. However, at least they are available for an additional fee and we recommend getting them. 

If $2500 is a little outside of your price range, the company makes a smaller roaster with a 150g capacity (far smaller, we know) for $850 called the R1 smart roaster. It offers the same features aside from the capacity and therefore also has a smaller footprint on your counter. 

Best Premium/ Professional Roaster For Home Coffee Roasting

Hot top KN-8828B-2K+

If you find yourself to be a mini-scientist or just want to get serious about roasting coffee at home, the Hot top KN-8828B-2K+ drum roaster  is the right roaster for you. It packs all the bells and whistles of a commercial roaster at a size that will still fit on a workbench in your garage. 

The KN-8828B-2K+ is the advanced version of the KN-8828B-2K base model (sans + symbol) and features computer connectivity and graphing/ tracking software used by professional roasters. The non-computer version comes in at $1300 while the fully connected model comes in at $1800. We think that if you’re spending this kind of money and taking coffee roasting seriously, there is no reason you shouldn’t splurge and opt for the advanced model which also offers slightly more capacity.

 

Out of all the roasters on our list, this one gives you the most control and freedom over your roast, on par with commercial roasters used by some of the best industry coffee roasting companies. Despite its capability and professional performance, it is extremely quiet and efficient. It has an advanced built-in smoke suppression system and offers instant temperature readings and adjustments. Of course, this roaster has built in cooling capabilities. 

In case of emergencies, the roaster has an emergency bean ejection feature. While this roaster only has a 250-300g capacity, we find it to be ideal for the research and hobby purposes this roaster is intended for.

We find all of these roasters to be the best option in their own class. Whether you are looking to get into coffee roasting for the first time and don’t want a big financial commitment (FreshRoast), or you want to turn your shed or garage into a roasting facility where you can make this a daily hobby or potential career (Hot Top), there is a roaster for your desired goal. 

FAQ:

What is the difference between air and drum roasting?

Coffee roasters come in two styles. Air roasters roast coffee beans using hot air in an upward direction. Once the beans lose enough water weight during roasting, the hot air is powerful enough to lift and tumble the coffee beans, roasting them evenly. In drum roasting, the beans sit in a horizontal metal drum that is heated and turns, tumbling and roasting the beans in the process. 

Air roasting is also known as fluid bed roasting in commercial use, because the upward force of the hot air at large volumes almost creates the illusion that the beans are hovering on a bed of air, a fluid. Air roasting is considered the more efficient and effective method of roasting but can also be more expensive. Because the beans are heated evenly by the air passing the bean on all sides, the roasting process is highly consistent and the roasting temperature can be adjusted far more rapidly than in drum roasting, giving the roaster far more control.

In turn, drum roasting is more effective at roasting large batches at once because the roasting process doesn’t rely on air lifting and tumbling all the beans. This is why it is common to see air, or fluid bed, roasting used by specialty coffee roasters that focus on small batch, premium roast coffee, and drum roasting in large volume productions.