Overview
of our Home Coffee Roasting Appliances (also
look at our Quick Roaster
Comparison Chart)
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Hearthware i-Roast2 Coffee Roaster
The Hearthware iRoast2 is here. I stick by my assessment written below years ago ... that this is more like v1.01 that v 2.0 ... in other words, it has improved and de-bugged the iRoast v 1.0, but does not have any radical new features. That said, with more uses I am impressed that you can save 10 roast curves and they remain even if you unplug the machine. That is a feature that always should have been there, and its addition is welcome. It removes a "disincentive" to use the custom program feature from the iRoast v1.0 . The roast chamber and chaff collector improvements are not radical, but seem to work fine. Problems with with earlier versions of the chaff collector were mostly remedied with minor tweaks (posted on our FAQ) - still it is good they fixed this. -Tom There is a lot of information about both the i-Roast 1 and i-Roast 2 on our On-line Tip Sheet - where you can find a lot of answers to various questions/problems. And here is the iRoast2 .pdf Tip Sheet for information specific to the iRoast 2
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We
offer the Hearthware i-Roast 2 with
or without our Coffee Samplers - the 4 Pound Sampler for just $10 more (it costs $17 a la carte) or $20 for the 8 Pound Sampler ($32 ala carte). This includes 4 or 8 types of green coffees,
1 pound of each, and your choice of a Brewed Coffee Sampler, Espresso
Sampler, Half Decaf-Half Regular, or All Decaf selection. There is a slight surcharge for all Decaf samplers - since these coffees are a bit more expensive . I encourage
you to get the roaster with a sampler, since it will allow
you to enjoy a range of the best quality coffees (Central American,
South American, African, Indonesian, wet-processed, dry-processed,
etc). Hearthware
*i-Roast 2* Home Coffee Roaster with the
4 Pound Green Coffee Sampler Hearthware *i-Roast
2* Home Coffee Roaster without coffee We no longer stock any parts for the i-Roast - Hearthware wants you to get those directly from them. Their web site is www.hearthware.com or www.i-Roast.com
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Hearthware liststhe iRoast2 as having these improvements: 1. Chaff Collector Assembly
2. Roasting Pot
3. Power Base
Okay, before
you get too excited, let me interject. I have tested a production
unit of the iRoast 2 and, while the changes are not frivelous,
they amount to a minor upgrade rather than a major overhaul. In
software terms, most changes are "bug fixes" and the
programming change (5 roast stages) is not a critical feature
of the machine. ** Hearthware has a note in the manual about using this pre-set- use essentially half a batch. |
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 Changes uptairs include tiny redesign features, such as this locking clip in the foreground. |
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The changes to the chaff collection and the roast chamber are things you would expect to make the roaster more durable and function better. The manufacturer should make such changes without fanfare or asking for customers to pay more for them. The new top end takes a little more elbow grease to snap into place, but appears to leak less air and vibrate less than the problem units of the previous model.
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It's difficult to even photograph changes on the new model because they are largely unseen. They basically make the top fit snug and firm on the base. | |
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Changes include 5 roast stages, but the roast stage indicator (red arrow points to Stage 1) has only 3 stages indicated. They have a way to indicate stage 4 and 5 though. Also, you don't have to program all 5 stages if you don't want to use them all. I think it is unecessary to use 5 roast stages - 3 is fine to create a heat "ramp" roast profile. Of course, you can still use Preset 1 and Preset 2 to roast. Now you can save and recall 10 roast programs of your own (using Cool/Time button, now also the Record button -green arrow), and they are saved even if the machine is unplugged. That's an improvement. |
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The i Roast 2 involves
small, thoughtful fixes and improvements, but is what we would call
in the software world iRoast 1.01 ... not a whole new, advanced redesign
of the machine. You can see that the program was improved a bit, but
not the user interface. I would be impressed if the controls were angled
upward toward the user, and if there were appropriate buttons for each
function, not reusing buttons or combinations of buttons. Note that
the fixes to the top are in response to vibration problems (chaff collector
vibrating lose) and air leak problems on some units of the iRoast
1). It's not like every iRoast
had these problems. I appreciate Hearthware making these changes,
and they are all good modifications. The last word on the iRoast, the
older models or new one is this: the iRoast
is still the most advanced air roaster on the market now and in any
forseeable future. If I wanted to start roasting, it's the
one I would choose, and whether you want to pay more for the little
improvements of the iRoast-2 or go with the current iRoast, I don't
think you lose out on either route. -Tom 8-26-05 |
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