Luc Eckstut remembers full well the ordeal of settling on an espresso machine. Having decided to open a café, he test drove countless models— Astorias, Nuova Simonellis, La Marzoccos, Rancilios, and others—before deciding on the delightful little three-group that still buzzes away happily three years later, on the counter of Bean Crazy, Eckstut’s 700-square-foot shop in upstate New York.

“I thought it would be fairly simple—pick out a pretty machine, set it up in my pretty café, serve pretty coffee,” says Eckstut. “There were plenty of other misconceptions I had going into this business, but that’s still the most embarrassing one.”

His equipment dealer was gentle with Eckstut but firm. “He told me that if I wanted to succeed, I needed to learn the machine inside out, and that if I wasn’t prepared or interested in doing that, I should either hire someone who was or get out now.”

So Eckstut hung in there, took his machine apart (and twice had to call someone in to reassemble it for him), read books, talked to other baristas, and generally committed himself to a serious relationship with his espresso machine.

Then why now, three years later when Eckstut finally has a good thing going, is he itching to test his mettle with coffee roasting equipment? “You can’t get to know an espresso machine without developing a fine appreciation for coffee. I dig coffee so much now that I really want to try roasting. I’ve saved some cash, set aside the time to learn—I’m ready to take the plunge and get the hell away from my popcorn popper.”

Finding the roasting machine that is best suited to one’s specific needs, however, can be just as complicated as selecting an espresso machine, if not more so. Any type of roaster can make coffee turn brown; what a quality roaster can accomplish, however, is much more than that. So first-time roaster buyers—not to mention professional roasters re-evaluating their existing equipment—have a lot of homework in store for them before they write any checks.

First off, my years of experience have given me this tip to offer: don’t forget to take notes throughout the process. If you’re doing your research the right way, you’ll want to refer back to your notes and logs as you prepare to buy your equipment.

All budding roasters ought to ask themselves the following questions and be able to answer them in detail before making any purchasing decisions:

• What quality of coffee do I wish to produce?

• What production quantity is expected?

• How constant must my roasting results be?

• How long do I hope to utilize my roaster?

• Which clientele is to be served?

• Which legal and/or technical facts have to be considered at the installation site?

A Little Help From Your Friends

I recommend visiting as many roasting companies as possible, anywhere from 30 to 40 different companies, and purchasing a pound of coffee from each of them. Take the coffees home and taste them; which ones do you like best? Remember, take notes! After you’ve cupped and evaluated each coffee and assigned each one a score, go ahead and rank them from best to worst. Then you should be able to eliminate the bottom half of them. As for the coffees that made the first cut, revisit the coffee companies and purchase another pound. Repeat the initial process until you have narrowed the field to about five companies whose coffees you really like. By following this methodology, you’ll be able to determine which machine is producing the taste you like the best.

Now, return to the roasting companies you’ve determined produce the results you’ve scored highest and start asking questions. Ask about the make and model of their roaster, what positive qualities the roastmasters find in it and what they find it lacks. With these notes in hand, go ahead and contact the equipment distributors who sell the machines producing the coffees you like best, and ask whether they offer classes in the operation of the roasters. By taking the classes, you’ll be able to better determine what features you prefer in one or the other, and you’ll also be able to assess the skill and knowledge of the distributors and manufacturers. Remember: they should be able to answer your questions thoughtfully, easily and helpfully.

You may want to consider any awards won by a particular coffee you like. If you like coffee A and coffee B equally, but coffee A was used to win a barista or cupping competition, that may be the deciding factor on which roasting equipment you prefer, i.e. which machine produced the winning coffee.

Keep in mind, though, that different coffee roasters strive for different things. There’s nothing wrong with deciding to roast good coffee and aiming to be a strong local roaster. But you may have aspirations of becoming one of the top roasters in the country or even the world. Most people can roast coffee, but roasting great coffee is something else entirely. And to be a great roaster means being able to create that great coffee time and time again.

Therefore, keep track of how flexible the machines you’re interested in are. Will you be able to adjust the controls as the crops change? Further, this is a perfect time to start asking yourself the hard questions like are you willing to stand next to a roaster day in, day out, in a room that heats to around 100–160°F after just a few batches? Do you have the time to roast at least four or five times a week? That’s the minimal time commitment if you’re serious about getting good at the craft. Sure, you can use the automated controls, but that’s not true artisan roasting.

Are you prepared to cup every roast? Are you committed to keeping a roaster’s log, revisiting it and constantly tweaking the roast? One recipe won’t cut it—remember, this is an agricultural product and therefore changes with the climate, processing method, shipping conditions, and countless other variables, must be considered and adjusted for in the roasting process.

While monitoring the machine, a roaster watches the clock to track roast time, and carefully observes bean temperature, exhaust temperature, the color of the coffee, and the smell of the coffee. A great roaster’s most important attributes are his or her ability to smell, taste and stay focused.

To read the rest of this article order this back issue of Barista Magazine!