# Roaster Advice



## coffeegroupie (Mar 6, 2017)

Morning everyone,

I'm new to the home roasting game but have worked in a roastery for the last year so have some idea of the roasting process etc. I'm ready to make the leap into the 1kg market and have been looking at the following roasters:

Toper Cafemino

Dalian Amazon

Golden GR1

North TJ-067 (From Mill City Roasters in the States)

Now I did also have a good look into the Aillio Bullet but there's still not much information out there even though it has been on the market for a little while. There is currently no distributer here in UK and I'm worried about cost of parts/if it ever needed repairs etc. The tech seems pretty advanced but I can't help but think that this means more could go wrong and be harder to fix. I've also read that it has no tryer and had been designed with a monthly roast limit of 100kg which has put me off.

We had a 30kg Toper where I previously worked and although this is obviously 30 times bigger, as a manufacturer I found the build quality/reliability was good. It didn't break down the whole time I was part of the company and I can't remember a bad batch coming out of the drum. However, the price of the Cafemino is twice that of the Dalian. Would I just paying the additional cost for the name alone?

The TJ-067 seems quite similar to the Dalian in build quality/features but I couldn't find a distributer in the UK. Does anybody know if there is one? The reviews on the Mill City site look great and it is affordable. Just a shame about that little stretch of water that is known as the Atlantic Ocean!

The GR1 is a bit of a mystery. The only info I can find is on a distributers website and have been unable to uncover any reviews. I've submitted a price enquiry so maybe I'll get a little more information from them. Would be great to get my hands on feedback from the public though.

My main aim is to find a machine that I can learn on. Roll my sleeves up and get hands on with the process. So if it doesn't come with software etc I'm not too bothered. Probably out of my price range anyway. I want to be able to produce consistent, high quality roasts with the ability to batch roast if I decide I want to sell coffee in future. Lastly, I'm looking for a tried and tested machine that is safe, solid and parts are easy/cheap to come by.

Would be fantastic to get some insight from anyone who has owned one of the above or used one. It would be a great help.

Many thanks,

James


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

I had a Toper Cafemino and tested/did the redesign of the Dalian prior to it being introduced to the UK market....The Dalian is way superior to the toper roaster, especially in roast quality.


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## coffeegroupie (Mar 6, 2017)

Thanks for the info Dave. It sounds like you're the right person to talk to when it comes to the Dalian. Superior in roast quality and half the price - sounds like a no brainer! How is it in terms of reliability? Have you had any problems with it breaking down/needing repairs? Have you had to source parts and if so was it easy to do so? I was looking on the Bella Barista website and it looks like the next units aren't shipping until June though...

Does anybody know of any good websites or resources that deal in second hand roasters? Does such a site exist? All my searches (and I've searched a lot) have come back with very little. Seems like its the sort of thing where you need to be in the right place at the right time.

The guy from coffeeomega just got back to me and the GR1 is in the same price range as the Toper so I may be priced out of that one. Plus, if it's so hard to find feedback on then this could suggest it might not be particularly popular within the community.


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## johnealey (May 19, 2014)

Search further down the home roasters section for the "Its that time of year again.." thread where many of your questions may well be answered









p.s. well over 100 kilos in and not a sneeze or cough from my BB version Dalian Amazon (redesigned by the same DaveC above) if anything I need to tame the power on mine as we have high voltage here.

Regularly back to back roast 7-8 kilo's at a time with no issues, follow the instructions supplied and you cannot go wrong, very little maintenanceother than checking all tight and vaccing out chaff.

You will most likely struggle to find 1 kilo roasters for sale second hand on a specialist re sale site, I've not seen any as most tend to hang on to them if they get a bigger roaster as a back up or small batch roaster. Not yet seen a dalian for sale on here but a Gene 1200 was sold on here a few months back ( you might also want to look at this one)

Hope of help and best of luck

John


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