SUMMARY: Kaldi Home Coffee Roaster
- Large-capacity drum roaster
- Perfect for beginners and experts alike
- Unique air roasting technology
Drum roasters tend to develop the body of a coffee while maintaining the brightness. – Sweet Maria’s
For gourmet coffee lovers, roasting beans at home is an ideal hobby. It’s fun to master, saves money, and produces fresher better-tasting coffee. You can even tailor the roast to your exact preferences. All that with a high-end home roaster like the Kaldi. Read on for our Kaldi coffee roaster review to see if it’s the one for you.
A quick review of the Kaldi coffee roaster
The Kaldi is an advanced home coffee bean roaster. Mostly, it’s a scaled-down model of a commercial drum roaster (1). Still, its user-friendly features make it approachable for anyone. For example, it features accessories like a wide bean hopper, chaff collector, and a probe rod. Innovative air roasting technology and a copper-coated roasting drum ensure even heat distribution for high-quality roasting (2). Anyone can roast the best coffee beans with this well-built machine.
Pros:
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Advanced technology for even roasting
- High capacity
- Many user-friendly accessories included
- Chaff collector for easy cleaning
Cons:
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More expensive than entry-level coffee roasters
- Gas burner sold separately
- No smoke suppression
A full review of the Kaldi home coffee roaster
Whether you’re new to the roasting process or an experienced roaster looking for an upgrade, the Kaldi is one of the best coffee roasters for your home. Let’s consider some vital home roaster criteria and see how the Kaldi measures up.
User-friendliness – 4/5
While the Kaldi is not quite plug-and-play, it is straightforward to use. The factors you need to master are the same ones that allow you more control over your roast. You can adjust the drum temperature, drum speed, and roast time. The Kaldi also comes with some user-friendly accessories. Such include a wide bean hopper to add the green coffee beans, a thermometer to monitor internal temperature, and a chaffing tray for easy cleanup.
A downside to the Kaldi is that it requires a gas burner, which you should buy separately. Luckily, single heaters are relatively cheap to purchase.
Roasting capacity – 5/5
Compared with air roasters, drum coffee roasters generally have larger capacities. Kaldi is no exception to this. It can roast about 7 ounces of green beans, which equates to around 30 cups from your coffee maker. This amount should be plenty to satisfy the average coffee drinker.
Especially when freshness is the main reason to roast at home. Yet, if you are looking for something a bit bigger, the Kaldi Wide has an 11-ounce capacity (3).
Keep in mind that most roasters roast with no more than 75–80% of the manufacturer’s listed maximum batch size. As the beans expand during the roast, airflow can become restricted and cause problems.
Zach Latimore, Perfect Daily Grind
Roasting time – 3.5/5
Due to its large capacity, Kaldi Wide is not the fastest roasting machine on the market. However, it is still swift. It only takes about 10 minutes to achieve a light roast and 15 mins for a dark roast.
Cleaning – 4/5
The durable, stainless steel Kaldi roaster is straightforward to clean. You can wipe down the exterior with a wet cloth. Plus, when it comes to managing those pesky flakes of chaff, a built-in chaff collection tray does the work for you. However, Kaldi lacks a smoke suppression system. Therefore, make sure you’re roasting coffee in a well-ventilated area to avoid smoke stains.
Is this really for you?
Any home roasting enthusiast will be well-served by the Kaldi home roaster. If you’re ready to upgrade from a popcorn maker or cast iron pan, this is a great choice. Not to mention, it would make an excellent gift for a coffee lover in your life. Better than taking them to a coffee shop, right?
Don’t buy this IF
If you’re on a strict budget, the Kaldi is not the lowest priced option on the market. Also, it requires the purchase of an additional gas burner. To save money, the electric Fresh Roast SR540 is less expensive and even easier to use. Albeit with a smaller capacity.
The Kaldi is also quite large. If you have limited space or are looking for a machine that can travel, the unique Nuvo Eco Ceramic Handy coffee roaster is small enough to tuck in your pocket.
The bottom line
We love the Kaldi coffee roaster. With its combination of user-friendly features, innovative airflow technology, and high-quality results, it comes as no surprise that it’s one of the most sought-after coffee roasters on the market. Whether you want to try coffee roasting for the first time or you want to upgrade to a more advanced roaster, you will not be disappointed with this machine. Enjoy your roasted beans!
- Drum Roasters. (n.d.) Retrieved from https://www.sweetmarias.com/roasting/drum-roasters.html
- Molina, A. (2019, February 28). Coffee Roasting Guide: What is Airflow & How Can You Control It? Retrieved from https://www.perfectdailygrind.com/2019/02/coffee-roasting-guide-what-is-airflow-how-can-you-control-it/
- Latimore, Z. (2019, October 4). A Guide to Different Heat Types in Roasting Equipment. Retrieved from https://www.perfectdailygrind.com/2019/10/a-guide-to-different-heat-types-in-roasting-equipment/
Husband, father and former journalist, I’ve combined my love of writing with my love of coffee to create this site. I love high end products, but write all my content with budget conscious coffee enthusiasts in mind. I prefer light roasts, and my normal brew is some sort of pour over, although my guilty pleasure is the occasional flat white.