The Caffé Rosto Pro 1500 is a 1-3.3 Lb. small batch roaster for coffee shops, restaurants etc. With a list price of $5995 it is quite a bit out of reach of the home user! But the technology is inspiring: smart automated controls with full manual overrides, built-in afterburner for smoke control (for lighter roasts this machine needs no venting!), halogen bulb heat source running off household 110v power, basic roast profile control, and man ... is this thing quiet! The machine checks voltage for you, has very accurate thermo-probes (probing directly into the coffee), and automatically adjusts the roast to whatever quantity of coffee you chose to use -on top you can see the built in scale that registers the batch charge with the roaster's CPU.

In the picture below you can see the water-quench tank if you choose to water cool the roast - I have avoided this so far because I am not sure how fine it mists the roast. There needs to be no actual contact between water and coffee in order to quench properly.

So far the roasts have been incredibly even, with great body. It makes sense since these are very slow roasts (20-25 minutes) The French roasts have emitted smoke, especially when we did the full 1400 gram roast batch. But the smaller batches of 1-2 Lbs. green roasted to City have been basically smoke free. That really amazes me since a 1/2 Lb. Alpenrost here at the shop can really chug out the effluence...

This machine is a bit outside our range, since it qualifies as a home roaster only for the Bill Gates' of the world... but I have enjoyed roasting with it quite a bit! I wish that these features, especially the sophisticated controls and quiet operation, could be incorporated into a lower cost machine. -Tom 10/23/02