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This Kickstarter Hit Finds a Way to Unlock a Whole New Coffee Market
I wouldn't have the guts to copy an existing design and pass it off on Kickstarter as new. I bought a ten-year-old one of these at Value Village for $15.
The older one I have is closer in design to the "new" Kickstarter ripoff.
Facts to keep in mind here: There's a roughly 20% weight loss in the coffee roasting process from its green state. Roasted coffee is best when let rest for 24-48 hours after roasting. From there, if sealed, that can last for maybe 2 weeks without grinding. Final roast temperatures range from 410-455F, which highlights the fire risk of any device. The process produces a significant amount of smoke and aroma throughout its temperature rise, from sticky sweet grassy, to peanuts, to a final coffee finish. Doing this un-vented and indoors is probably not ideal. Lastly, control of the heat vs air varies widely across the roast time spectrum, and differs by bean. Using one push button roast recipe, and then controlling the duration is just not going to work for a range of beans. Their profile aims for 400f, which is not ideal.
From their Kickstarter site:
"How does Kelvin deal with the smoke generated during the roasting process?"
"We kept the batch at a smaller size (100 to 120 g of green beans) and our prototypes have proven we can minimize exhaust. Kelvin is similar to other products that toast or cook things in your kitchen—you will be able to smell the beans roasting, a preview of that perfect cup of coffee."
Disclaimer: I still think this is some hipster bs and that while roasting your own coffee sounds like fun, for the majority of us that drink coffee regularly, this is just going to be a lot of extra components and processes to bother with and eventually abandon and forget about. The minor flavor difference seems to me like it won't be worth the time and effort.
However, its nice to see that they actually seem to have prototyped the hell out of this thing and accounted for the issues before pushing their kickstarter.
Totally agree. I had a friend who roasted coffee with a popcorn popper, it worked really well but smelled awful. I was hoping the innovation was they found some way around the smell, like an activated carbon filter or something.
I have been roasting coffee at home for years and this product looks great! I have thought for a long time that there were no well-designed roasters and that something like this could be a really successful product. As for the smell, some people like it and some people don't. As for the smell, if you don't like the aroma of fresh roasted coffee, then maybe roasting coffee isn't for you. ;D