How to choose a roaster – most important piece of advice

So, you are thinking about starting a coffee roastery! Congratulations!

I’ve been there.  You discuss the machines, which one you like the most, you collect the data and the feedback from the fellow roasters – what are the possible problems, how the coffee turns out. You think about the volume you are planning to roast. You think about the design  – which color to choose, how it will look inside the shop. You are probably even thinking about the length of the chimney and the number of bends it makes –  and you really should.

All of it is important, and definitely should be considered and thought through. 

But only after you find out the most important piece of information. 

And it is – which one of the brands has the best technical support in your location. And I cannot stress it enough. 

Who does respond 24/7 and will not let you down? 

Who will be there in a day, to fix the problem you cannot fix yourself? 

Once again, I cannot stress enough how important it is, if you are in a roasting business and everything depends on you fulfilling your obligations to your clients and delivering in time, with no delays.

Design and brand is important, convection, conduction, radiation, etc – but it is not the thing that will decide if you are able to roast today, or you will be waiting for the support to respond for days!

Choose the ones that will not let you down. 

This piece of advice applies to everyone, except for those ones, of course, you are 100% certain that they can resolve any problem emerging with the machine in 24 hours, and make sure it works perfectly again. So, it is valid for 99,9% of the buyers. 

There is no feeling worse than roasting on a machine that you know can give you troubles at any moment. If you are a roaster, I can assure you, it is one of the worst experiences you will ever have at work. Not being sure about the whole process. Always extra attentive to the numbers, sounds and smells. Extra alert. For the whole shift. It is exhausting, and really affects your nerves, and you cannot last like that for a long time. 

So, again – the best thing you can do when buying a roaster is using the criteria of them having a solid technical support in your region.