I have been using a Pop corn popper for around two years and have done
several hundred roasts, but I only do around 75 to 80gms with each
roast. Its a basic as one can get, but a superb way to develop
knowledge and skills about roasting. The coffee i make is pretty damn
good and well worth pouring through my Rancilio Rocky grinder en route
to my trusty Rancilio Silvia. (Both of these are superb machines)
I bought an iRoast in Sept 05, but the heating element or what ever
controls the heating element failed after about 15 roasts. Pity, coz it
worked very well until then, but when I returned it to the supplier for
repair or replacement under the guarantee, I saw a stack of iRoasts
awaiting repair. That convinced me to take up the option of a full
refund! This experience has made me a little wary of spending big bucks
on another machine which could let me down. So I bought another Pop
Corn Popper. Old faithful is back! It only cost me $32 NZ dollars.
(about $22US). They are dirt cheap and produce a good roast. Less than
15% the price of an iRoast, and the result is probably 85% as good. But
at 80gms per roast lots of roasts are needed to keep me well supplied
for my 4 or 5 cups a day. I keep meticulous records for each roast,
noting the ambient temperature, weight of green beans, roasting time,
origin of the beans etc, and usually stop the roast at about 10 seconds
into the 2nd crack. I now consider myself an expert coffee roaster
using a popper!
However I have a deep seated urged to progress to a new plateau and
I've read so much about the Hottop that I'm now looking at one of
these. This is not a small step up in price, but one hell of a leap.
The other option I've consdered is the Alpen Roast.
My question? Is the Hottop (or the Alpenroast) worth the high price.
New Zealand operates on a 230volt power supply, and I've heard that the
Hottop is sensitive to voltage variation. Any experiences or comments
would be appreciated.
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