# Ikawa Home Roaster



## aaronb (Nov 16, 2012)

New roaster home aimed at coffee geeks on the way, all seems a bit gimmicky to me:

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/may/11/ikawa-coffee-roasting-machines-create-stir


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## The Systemic Kid (Nov 23, 2012)

Here's the link to the actual product

http://www.ikawacoffee.com/professional

If this costs £2k for a 60grm roaster, don't think they're going to shift very many. There are other roasters - Quest being one - which can link up to roasting software such as Artisan or Roastlogger. Quest can roast up to 200-240grms depending and costs a lot less. Quests aren't sold in UK due to fact they don't have EU CE certification but are sold with UK spec heater elements via a US supplier.


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## froggystyle (Oct 30, 2013)

Looks like a Bodum grinder!

Cant see it being very big, more niche market for people who want to impress friends at dinner!


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## aaronb (Nov 16, 2012)

Yeah exactly, and there already are a few home roasters with good reputations AND cheaper.

Wonder who the commercial roasters who bought one as a sample roaster are?

The fact they want people to buy greens from them as well just makes me thing it's more a kind of package a bit like Nespresso rather than coffee geek offering.


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## ronsil (Mar 8, 2012)

Hottops can be completely computer controlled. Mine have been such for nearly a year now producing 220 grams of roasted beans.

Cost of Hottop circa £850 + computerization for a further £200. Using cheaper thermal couples the whole thing can come in at under £1000

At 50 grams produced this Ikawa is absurd for the money it costs. Pure gimmick!


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## The Systemic Kid (Nov 23, 2012)

Can't argue with that, Ron.


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## DavidBondy (Aug 17, 2010)

I couldn't even consider buying a roaster which has such a tiny payload! It reminds me of the first electric roaster that I bought years ago which only took about 100g of beans. It was before the iRoast came out and was called (if I recall correctly) FreshRoast. When the glass of the cup got un-glued from its mesh base I changed it for the iRoast. This looks to be a non-starter to me!


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## Phil104 (Apr 15, 2014)

All very good points above. I wasn't at the London Coffee Festival - presumably it wasn't demonstrated there? The article is an interesting read, though. Apart from the plan to have a £350 version (presumably on sale in Lakeland Plastics!) surely the idea is welcome of generally improving public understanding about what constitutes great coffee, how it gets from bush to cup, and creating a stronger link between farmer and consumer if it means a fairer deal for farmers. I don't think I'm being too idealistic and although it's only going from the Guardian article, it doesn't sound as if Andrew Stordy is either. As a relatively small volume drinker and fledgling geek, it's the kind of thing, though, that would encourage me to think about home roasting - which so far I haven't even considered.


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## froggystyle (Oct 30, 2013)

But for £350 you can have a Gene, its a no brainer.


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## Phil104 (Apr 15, 2014)

Presumably, though, what the Ikawa is trying to do is to remove margins of error - presumably with the Gene there's a fair bit of learning required although the couple of reviews suggest it's straight forward. This a world that I wasn't contemplating until I read the Guardian article... I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. Is there much of a home roasting community?


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## ronsil (Mar 8, 2012)

Judging by the speed Bella Barista sell out their bulk buy green beans, it may be larger than we think


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## sjenner (Nov 8, 2012)

That is a tiny payload 60g! three cups of coffee... Imagine all the bags of de-gassing Ikawa roasts lined up in your coffee store...

Personally, I have a Roastilino, which is another roaster that is a bit overpriced in my view... I bought it second hand. It has 4 preset buttons, but they are hopeless so I will be Pidding and Artisanning it, after I complete my pending house move.

It is interesting that there are hardly any roasters that will give you a 250g bag of roasted beans, and very few air roasters at all.

The new Gene Cafe at 4k is very good looking and it does a kilo, but that seems to be about all there is.

If nothing shows up in the near future, I am considering a DIY jobby, but my engineering is not exactly legendary.


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## froggystyle (Oct 30, 2013)

sjenner said:


> It is interesting that there are hardly any roasters that will give you a 250g bag of roasted beans


I thought most did 250g ?


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## sjenner (Nov 8, 2012)

froggystyle said:


> I thought most did 250g ?


Yes I could have expressed that better...

However, the topic is about roasting, so I meant "roasting machines", not coffee roaster companies.

...and there are none of them.

My roaster, takes 230g of green and yields about 195g of roasted beans.


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## froggystyle (Oct 30, 2013)

ahh sorry, i get you now.

Gene is about the closest then...


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

I honestly thought the Ikawa roaster was some sort of jolly jape, like my own fake products....but it's not is it...it's real!


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## froggystyle (Oct 30, 2013)

DavecUK said:


> I honestly thought the Ikawa roaster was some sort of jolly jape, like my own fake products....but it's not is it...it's real!


So your not funding the project then....


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## 4085 (Nov 23, 2012)

Kickstarter is responsible for some really stupid ideas! Having said that, I saw something on tv today about a kid with a really good idea......having a box arrive on a saturday morning with things like a comic, bag of sweets, game etc etc. In my day, that was called receiving your pocket money and going down the shops to spend it.......apparently he is up to either 10,000 or 100,000 boxes a weekend now!


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

dfk41 said:


> Kickstarter is responsible for some really stupid ideas! Having said that, I saw something on tv today about a kid with a really good idea......having a box arrive on a saturday morning with things like a comic, bag of sweets, game etc etc. In my day, that was called receiving your pocket money and going down the shops to spend it.......apparently he is up to either 10,000 or 100,000 boxes a weekend now!


Goddamit....those bloody smart kids, what a good idea!!


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## Glenn (Jun 14, 2008)

I have seen the Ikawa roaster (the more expensive version) but not tasted the roast produced from it.

Will be interesting to see how quickly this takes off.

The home roaster community is growing.


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

Glenn said:


> I have seen the Ikawa roaster (the more expensive version) but not tasted the roast produced from it..


I get a bit jaded now when new home roasters come to market.. I've had quite a few through my hands for testing via BB who would have loved to find some alternative home roasters at good prices. Some of the things I got were laughable, some bloody dangerous and some made me laugh so much I couldn't catch my breath long enough to agree to look at them. I think the latest effort from an ex Genecafe employee went to a forum member to have a go with. I wasn't hugely interested at all in testing it, well I was totally unconvinced. I mumbled some excuse about having the big CBR1200 to test. However, I think the test of this roaster from a company who shall remain nameless, didn't go too well

However 50g of roasted....pah...many people will use that dialling in the grinder....if it's a sample roaster....I can think of easier and cheaper ways...because my god it's expensive! for the amount roasted.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/may/11/ikawa-coffee-roasting-machines-create-stir


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## 4085 (Nov 23, 2012)

I was that person. The paddle in the oven did not work and the beans caught fire twice! So , it was boxed up and sent back with photos!


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## evoman (May 13, 2014)

I saw this on their website a few days ago and thought it looked interesting - didn't notice the tiny capacity. With such a small capacity I don't see how it will be an attractive or even viable option. I was hoping that this might fill a nice niche in the market, but I think it looks like a failure.


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## aaronb (Nov 16, 2012)

evoman said:


> I saw this on their website a few days ago and thought it looked interesting - didn't notice the tiny capacity. With such a small capacity I don't see how it will be an attractive or even viable option. I was hoping that this might fill a nice niche in the market, but I think it looks like a failure.


What niche? there isn't one, there are tons of home roatsers out there, and a few with a proven record.


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## ZachChipp (Apr 10, 2014)

Morning!

So does anyone else have one of these?

I have one here at the roastery and its fantastic for sample roasting, however itd be great to discuss some profiles and such with somebody else too.


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## froggystyle (Oct 30, 2013)

Did you get the pro version?


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## ZachChipp (Apr 10, 2014)

froggystyle said:


> Did you get the pro version?


Yes got the Pro, but honestly cant really see much difference between the pro and home version!


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

i'd love to see a few home roasters get their hands on these and report back...it's not for me, but I'd be interested to know how they get on.


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## froggystyle (Oct 30, 2013)

ZachChipp said:


> Yes got the Pro, but honestly cant really see much difference between the pro and home version!


Was told by the fella showing them at cup north it that the differences are placement of fan and bluetooth?


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## ZachChipp (Apr 10, 2014)

Yeah definitely.

They are great little machines, and there is a lot of experimentation to be done with them.

From a professional point of veiw its fantastic as a sample roaster as i can roast a sample not only to SCAA cupping standard but also to emulate the profiles i would get from my other roasters.


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## NickR (Jul 1, 2011)

Did he really say " a pretty short roast, just under 3 minutes"?


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## Rhys (Dec 21, 2014)

froggystyle said:


> Was told by the fella showing them at cup north it that the differences are placement of fan and bluetooth?


I was told that as well, then handed the roast beans from one to take home









Looked great at the show, and expect it's really useful for testing beans on site - but pretty useless as a home roaster for the meagre amount it does at a time.


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## Ramrod (Feb 9, 2016)

Rhys said:


> pretty useless as a home roaster for the meagre amount it does at a time.


I don't mind that as I'm only roasting the equivalent of about 40g/day anyway. The IKAWA will just make that quicker and easier for me.

I'm really looking forward to getting one


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## Dallah (Jan 31, 2015)

The aesthetics would allow me to get it pass SWMBO and into the kitchen. I don't see any others doing that. If only they could increase the output as that amount is near to useless to me.


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## Ramrod (Feb 9, 2016)

ridland said:


> The aesthetics would allow me to get it pass SWMBO and into the kitchen.


Indeed. In fact it would match our cabinets perfectly. Another big plus is that my wife hates the smell that roasting beans make using my little Nuvo roaster so the IKAWA would gain favour on that front as well. The only sticking point is the price, she's going to go nuts when she finds out what I've spent as I took the plunge today and pre-ordered one. I'm going to justify it with a three pronged attack:

1) I'm selling my Omega Speedmaster Schumacher (I don't use it anymore anyway).

2) The IKAWA will cost less to run per roast compared to my current NUVO/gas ring arrangement.

3) No/reduced smell

If I can get those points accross to her then I will be allowed to continue breathing in and out


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

Ramrod said:


> I don't mind that as I'm only roasting the equivalent of about 40g/day anyway. The IKAWA will just make that quicker and easier for me.
> 
> I'm really looking forward to getting one


If you roast every day a total of about 15kg roasted per year, cost of greens £15 cost of a Kilo of roasted £20, or similar ratio.... it would take about 10 years ROI and of course the £600 plus investment initially. If you change beans, your first 20g of a roast might well be dialling in your grinder, the second 20g if your lucky produces a good shot/brew. Why wouldn't you just order great coffee from online roasters or take out a subscription. and have a fresh bag of coffee weekly?

The roast coffee would be better, there's no upfront investment, you can have different coffees any week and no wasted roasts.....perhaps I don't understand at all, but it really doesn't seem logical?


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## Ramrod (Feb 9, 2016)

There isn't anything logical about home roasting as far as I can tell! I've got the bug. I just like doing it and I love drinking freshly roasted coffee which I know is seen as heresy but the fresher the better by my reckoning!









I'm using an aeropress which is a very forgiving way of brewing coffee and my feld/hausgrinds don't seem to need adjusting between beans and have almost no wastage.


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

Ramrod said:


> There isn't anything logical about home roasting as far as I can tell! I've got the bug. I just like doing it and I love drinking freshly roasted coffee which I know is seen as heresy but the fresher the better by my reckoning!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Then after 10 years you will reach break even point vs buying your roasted coffee/subscription. If the Ikawa is still working (after 3560 roasts) with no faults, you will start to power ahead at about £60 per annum. Surely the Aillio Bulllet, Gene cafe, Quest M3 or whatever makes more sense?

As for fresher the better...no not really.


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## Ramrod (Feb 9, 2016)

DavecUK said:


> Then after 10 years you will reach break even point vs buying your roasted coffee/subscription. If the Ikawa is still working (after 3560 roasts) with no faults, you will start to power ahead at about £60 per annum. Surely the Aillio Bulllet, Gene cafe, Quest M3 or whatever makes more sense?


 It would for you as you want to roast larger batches at a time. I don't.



> As for fresher the better...no not really.


Each to their own


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## Ramrod (Feb 9, 2016)

Just noticed that the Ikawa home roaster release date has been put back to December


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## Scotford (Apr 24, 2014)

I can see it being a good tool for direct trade roasters to use as a very portable way of accurately emulating the profiles they use in their respective premises in remote locations. 50g a pop is okay for a few cupping bowls and maybe a brew too so it definitely has its uses.

Aiming at a home market could be a bit ambitious but I'd not mind spending 15 minutes roasting to a saved profile when I wanted a brew. If I had the time.


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## Step21 (Oct 2, 2014)

Ramrod said:


> Just noticed that the Ikawa home roaster release date has been put back to December


Very disapointing to say the least. Their website seems to be up the creek at the moment as well...

Must be something major if it's been put back over 6 months. Any info on why?

Just when i was hoping to retire the heat gun!


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## Ramrod (Feb 9, 2016)

Have a look at this page: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andrewstordy/ikawa-home-coffee-roaster/posts/1560355

It looks like they were let down by a supplier and have some reliability issues that need ironing out. I'm not happy about the delay either as it means that I'm going to have to keep roasting with my little ceramic roaster & gas hob (good results but labour intensive) but at least they seem to care about their end product.


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## Step21 (Oct 2, 2014)

Ramrod said:


> Have a look at this page: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andrewstordy/ikawa-home-coffee-roaster/posts/1560355
> 
> It looks like they were let down by a supplier and have some reliability issues that need ironing out. I'm not happy about the delay either as it means that I'm going to have to keep roasting with my little ceramic roaster & gas hob (good results but labour intensive) but at least they seem to care about their end product.


Thanks for that. You'd have thought that they could have emailed their backers & preorders directly to keep them up to date.

So they have now added £150 to the cost of the roaster and expect availability in December. Hopefully as it is now being assembled in the UK we can get free delivery and returns/maintenance issues will be easier to resolve.

I suppose it's good that they have found problems in testing and hopefully will deliver a better product together with a good supply of quality beans. Fingers crossed for December...


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## Ramrod (Feb 9, 2016)

Like you say, good and bad there.

I don't think that we're paying more for ours though. It's just that the price will increase once it goes on general sale.


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

Ramrod said:


> Like you say, good and bad there.
> 
> I don't think that we're paying more for ours though. It's just that the price will increase once it goes on general sale.


One of the good points is that you can get a refund (of what you paid for your reward e.g. a roaster), if you apply before 13 May 2016....sounds very good news to me.


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## Step21 (Oct 2, 2014)

Ramrod said:


> Like you say, good and bad there.
> 
> I don't think that we're paying more for ours though. It's just that the price will increase once it goes on general sale.


I got confirmation that they will honour the pre-order price at the time we ordered. No payment taken until machine ready for dispatch.

I think their plans for supplying selected greens and roast recipes look good.


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