# The limits of my roasting ambitions



## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

A tweet of a quote from Hoffmann's talk at the NBC today rang a bell with me. He said "we can't all be roasters".

I'm really enjoying home roasting and the learning process involved. I had thought that perhaps one day we might roast our own beans in the cafe... or at least FOR the cafe, with the roaster being in a shed at home. But as I learn more about roasting I'm realising that whilst it isn't difficult to produce a reasonable roast... an ok roast... one that is probably better than most commercial beans... it is also a mammoth task to be able to roast exceptionally well, and to do so consistently, and to keep up with seasonal changes in beans and how new beans from different regions and with different agronomical characteristics, need to be roasted completely differently. Exceptional roasting demands a huge database of information and experience! There's no way to develop that other than through years of roasting and logging, during which many roasts will be mediocre or worse.

So unless I do a complete U-turn (which has been known







) I'm just going to stick to a bit of home roasting and take it no further. Long live dedicated roasting professionals!!


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## lookseehear (Jul 16, 2010)

I'm in the same boat Mike. I think the main reason I would roast now is to learn about the process and what's involved and how it affects the cup.

I've been sceptical for a little while when I hear that home roasters are getting results to match the best specialty roasters. There is an undeniable convenience in being able to manage when your beans are roasted and how long you want them to rest for though.

I might buy a Gene Cafe at some point, but I doubt I would ever switch purely to home roasting.


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