answers to some of your questions

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We think the best way to answer this vital question is to have a dedicated home roaster to give us an opinion, and we did just that:

“Why do I roast my own coffee?  Simply because the coffee I roast tastes better than any roasted coffee I can buy.  Period. I can buy green beans from individual farms in individual regions. Hand-picked and sun-dried for about US$5/lb. I enjoy the roasting process, the sounds, and the smells.  Controlling the process like a science experiment, I slowly bring the temperatures up to the first crack.  And timing the follow-through depending on the bean variety and the roasting level I desire to the second crack.  I put the roasted beans in a specialized stainless steel coffee canister and let them rest for several days.  I can do pour-overs, Aeropress, French press, and Moka Pot brews.” (Lauren B. from Wisconsin, U.S.A.)

As you can imagine, in today’s globalized and digital world, there is a wide range of sources online in any language to instruct you about roasting coffee beans at home. YouTube is an excellent source, of course, because you can see the visual process while you are learning about the technical aspects. The home and craft roasting culture goes back half a millennia, so there is always another interesting source or approach to consider, given the vast number of cultures that roast coffee (well, every nation on earth!). Our founder, Tom Ruddy, was just in Ethiopia, where coffee was “invented” (in the 5th or 6th century, a goat herder took coffee cherries and made the first caffeine-stimulating drink!). Today every household still roasts its own coffee beans.

Regarding how you roast on the Mr. Bean coffee machine, our design team has researched this issue to ensure a seamless process. This means they have decided to have the process entirely app-based from your phone or tablet. The app has not yet been developed, but there are already a large number of freeware apps on your preferred app store, but the Mr. Bean app will be more robust in that we are taking an IoT approach and integrating it into certain other independent software platforms being negotiated for our backers at this time. We will take a more “social” approach, meaning that there will be a dedicated online platform for our users to collaborate, order beans, learn about roasting techniques and cultures, and provide a more engaging social experience. So our app will offer a range of task management tools, information sources, and a social connectivity strategy that should be a first of its kind.

The Mr. Bean machine software roaster controls will provide both 1) automatic and 2) manual modes. The automatic mode will offer 8-10 roast types (from dark espresso to light roast options), and the manual mode will be designed for the “pro” user who wants to control each aspect of the roast curve and process it manually. So you can start as a newbie and transition to an expert roaster at your own pace and leisure!

Contrary to what many beginners might think, roasting coffee beans takes just 8-12 minutes, followed by about two minutes of cooling. It all depends on a range of variables, such as the roaster type, the bean density, bean moisture content, and the type of roast you are trying to achieve. So you can perform multiple roasts in one hour, for example, and roast enough beans for your week ahead. While it’s not always necessary, some people (and some beans) prefer to let the batch “rest” or degas for a day or two after roasting. During that optional phase, they emit minuscule amounts of CO2, usually resulting in a preferable taste profile (this is another one of those big variables!).

Every continent has many green coffee bean importers, agents, and distributors. Their resources have become more available to individual craft coffee buyers thanks to very significant investments in digital platforms around the world. So you can find sources yourself or purchase one of Mr. Bean’s green coffee bean subscriptions to make your delivery seamless and your pricing predictable with prepaid delivery to your home. This subscription service allows you to explore the world of coffee in small batches, which are not readily available from importers and distributors who supply the hotel, restaurant, and café (HoReCa) trade. Mr. Bean works with key suppliers to provide small-batch specialty coffee delivery services. You don’t have to do all the research and ordering logistics unless you prefer doing that yourself.

Our Mr. Bean roaster has an input green bean capacity of 125 grams of green beans for roasting. This equates to a maximum recommended 12 cups of coffee. It depends on how you like your coffee and the coffee brewing device you choose, but that’s a good rule of thumb for this capacity.

While we don’t have the exact weight yet since it has yet to be developed, the design phase is complete, and the dimensions are 180-millimeter diameter and 200-millimeter height before packaging.