This is our coffee roaster we had built with two considerations in mind: Firstly the cost (this roaster can do about 8kg of coffee so an equivalent traditional drum roaster would have been at least twice the price) Secondly the quality of the roast (with the source of heat coming from wood, the coffee has-for espresso at least-a superior edge.) But there were other benefits that emerged after playing with it for a while, such as low maintenance (if any), low cost of fuel, simple construction (built domestically) and versatility (it can be used to slow cook a casserole for example after the day’s roasting is done). Of course there are obvious drawbacks like sampling coffee during roasting and the dumping of coffee is not so convenient, not to mention the smoke that spills out. Still, with practice (and a fume mask) these can be overcome.