oh yea I forgot to ask most importantly which produces a superior tasting brew?

Having never used the GeneCafe, I can't really comment on that one...

I've found the Hottop to be great, and repeating a roast is dead easy.  I don't have a shed / garage to roast in either, so I just make sure I roast next to the kitchen window.  There is still a bit of smoke that lingers, but hey, who's complaining about the smell of freshly roasted coffee  
If its still too smokey though, you could try having a fan blowing the smoke out the window, might help a bit more.

The unit itself is fairly big, but again I'm not sure how this compares to the GeneCafe.

As far a build quality goes, I don't think you could go wrong with the Hottop.  Not everything from Taiwan is cheap and nasty!!

The cooling cycle / tray is also great, hard to imagine not having it once you've used it.

I hope this goes someway to aswering your questions MM.
I certainly havn't looked back since getting the Hottop  

2mcm wrote on Feb 27^th, 2007, 2:15pm:


This is what would sway me towards to GeneCafe indeed. Good point 2mcm. The hot top is a pricey beast indeed.

Myrtle wrote on Feb 27^th, 2007, 2:43pm:



You are very right Myrtle

Thanks for your comment.

Serge

Baristacrat wrote on Feb 27^th, 2007, 10:04pm:


As much as I love my roaster, I don't love it that much!  

nunu wrote on Feb 27^th, 2007, 10:59pm:


What do you mean by that Nunu.

I need a picture

Serge

HOOHAH!..... THIS IS THE ONE

Thank you NUNU for that

muppet_man67 wrote on Mar 6^th, 2007, 8:42pm:


Great to hear that all went well mm!

Gene Cafes (and Hottops for that matter) are not created quite equal. There is a little variation in my two roasters as well.

Follow the usual signs as well as your instincts with your roasts. I find I hit the cool button a little earlier into the progression of the roast than I would with a hottop as I ease my beans into second crack...

Enjoy your new roaster! They are a great piece of kit   \

2mcm

Quote:


Yes MZ, Andy had his at last weekend's bean day. Looks impressive but apparrently still suffers when you try back to back...as the old ones do.

Aust price is looking to be circa $1500 but I understand that retail units are still some time away

2mcm

Quote:


Yeppers MZ- or you can convert your digital model for something like US $600  ...

Andy's programmable Hottop is #1 off the line...I'm sure that there will be a review soon. What I'd really like to see though is something like a 1kg version of the Hottop or the Gene- and I want it for under $2k....Easy to please aren't I?  

this is what the cafe industry needs for a real shake up. if they could keep up with 5-10 roasts a day then they would soon pay themselves off and you'd have great coffee.

Will see what I can find out MZ....I wouldn't expect too much (if any) change out of $1.5k if I was you...

Chris

2mcm,

Hottop USA have told me that Shelly (Hottop) has emailed me with the information  that I have requested !, have not received any such email, still waiting, waiting, waiting and waiting. I'm getting a bit sick of this Harry Potter stuff (chamber of secrets) the programmable Hottop must have some serious issues!! Might have to stick with my trusty popper.

MZ  

I have received 5 Gene Cafe from Serge today. 4 remaining.

We will extend complimentary delivery to any CS'er who would like one and purchase before close of trade on Friday 13th. $780 delivered to your door...I have dumped Hottop from Talk Coffee range....Too hard  

Chris

We'd love to sell 'em Baristacrat......if taiwan would supply them  . Last year's batch were a service- i.e. no margin. Serge has secured relaible supply of the Gene from Korea and it works really well. So I guess it is the new black because the old black faded 'til it no nonger existed  

2mcm

2mcm wrote on Apr 12^th, 2007, 9:44pm:


Sorry, I should have made that statement clearer, the no-one wanting to sell them was actually referring to the appauling service from the company, not to the efforts made to get a supply last year, we all felt yr pain on that frustrating passage of customer service 2mcm!! I think perhaps the Gene is the new brown   and perhaps I am the new green - envy style, at not having another roasting toy!!!  

Maybe the demand in their local market has exploded.  Do Taiwanese home roast a lot of coffee?

You'd certainly have all the options covered then Serge...... Will watch with interest,

Mal.

nunu wrote on Apr 12^th, 2007, 11:09pm:

If all the roasters have an attitude like Simon Hsieh it must be crazy in Taiwan!!

Hand-sorting every green coffee bean
http://4-arts-coffee.blogspot.com/
http://www.barismo.com/2007/03/so-thats-what-zero-defect-coffee-tastes.html

Quote:

Glad you've seen the light MZ....I have 4 3 in stock and ready to roll

I'm sure there is a reason for Hottop's service here in Oz........I have also emailed Jack a couple of times and no reply. However replies within minutes from Shelly in TW (as long as you email in work hours between here and TW).

I cannot fault the service from HT albiet direct contact with HT TW.

The upgrade price for the HT D to P model is US$500 plus US$20 delivery fee. I ordered an upgrade on Wednesday and it was delivered here in Oz the following Monday........

Price for NEW HT P model is US$1100 Plus delivery.

Maybe the issues are between English to Chinese translations, although Shelly seams to speak/understand English quite well.

I have had no issues with HT and am enjoying getting used to the new P model.......it is certainly producing a different approach to roasting......;

Not a problem....

I will write somethig up this weekend......Have done the upgrade and it took about an hour and there wasn't anything missing from the instructions.

Have done 4 roasts and still modifying the profiles.

I'll do some more work this weekend and write it up with some pics etc....

HotTop “P” Upgrade
I’ll keep this as WIP document as I’ll add some photos and further notes as I become more familiar with it.

A bit about myself and how it relates to coffee.
I’ve only been roasting for 12 months and have absolutely loved it and the additional benefits if has brought to my coffee enjoyment as well as the fun along the way!!
Prior to that it was purchase some “roasted” beans and then grind those......as you all know it doesn’t really matter how fresh they are (bought ones) they always appear to be lacking that “something” which is always present in “roast your own”.
I currently use the HotTop for roasting, Mazza Mini (Great service from Chris) for the espresso machine, a Isomac Gran Macinino for non espresso grinds, MACAP Automatic tamper (Coffe Parts) and an ISOMAC Millenium Single E61 Group HX System.
I have a couple of mods on the Hottop – I use a variac to regulate and stabilise power and have “butchered” it to have a thermocouple inserted which sits nicely inside the roasting bean mass. I’m going to modify it again to have another probe sitting inside the drum measuring environmental drum temperature as the standard Hottop sensor appears to sit half in and half out of the rotating bean mass i.e it measures neither correctly. The thermocouple(s) are connected to a dual recording OMEGA datalogger.
I pretty much keep a record of every roast I do which allows me to “near” replicate roast to roast if I strike something I particularly like or wish to single roast to make an additive blend, or simply, take it to a certain stage or color.
OK – the Hotop “P” Upgrade
1st - Is it worth the US$500 price......well it depends!! (that great get out of goal phrase – can probably tell from that, that I am a computer consultant!!)
Let’s put the Hottop in perspective. It’s NOT a commercial day in day out roaster of “biggish” roast volumes (250-300gms) nor is it really a machine for someone who may roast once a month, unless it’s for convenience i.e simply turn it on and be done. It’s certainly not in the lower price range of the “do it yourself” roasting with a frypan or popper and it is considerably more expensive than the “gene cafe” But then again commercial 1kg machines start at $6K and the sky is the limit. Not only is the $s of concern with commercial roasters, but so to is space, smoke extraction etc.
So this places the HT at the pointy end of “do it yourself” market followed by the great void between 250g and 1kg machines.

So back to the “it depends” answer..........
Personally I find that the upgrade pricing is at the point where you need to consider it closely. For me it was a simple decision as I love to experiment and the upgrade certainly offers additional scope to experiment and does offer the ability to “create your own” profiles based on temperature and air flow Vs previous fixed time based ones.
What I have noticed on the roasts to date is that the HT is now creating tastes and color that I hadn’t been previously getting either as 1 offs or repeat roast and those tastes have definitely been for the better. Another thing I have noticed is that the “created profile” that I initially entered is creating a very noticeable “after effect”. Well 2 after effects actually. The 1st one is that the post roast de-gassing (resting) period to “quality” cupping is much longer than previously. I’m consistently finding the taste profile possible peaks at a post 1 week rest period. The 2nd effect is that while I haven’t taken any of the roasts to 2nd crack, nor even that close actually, is that the dumped beans show NO sign of oil (they do have a sheen but it’s definitely not oil droplets) immediately following the roast BUT oil becomes quite evident after 24-48 hours resting......quite a bit of oil.
The aroma which continually wafts from my bean resting cupboard contains the most intense aromatics of roasted coffee that I have smelt anywhere.
OK – the Upgrade Kit and Installing it.
The kit comes fully boxed, components bubble wrapped, extra screws, new cables etc and a 1st class “How to do it” color manual. To those that have “no idea” for mechanical/electrical things or don’t like tinkering with 240 volts (and you should take 240 volts very seriously as its abuse could be potentially lethal) then the how to manual is for you.......it is a very comprehensive step by step process with checks in place. The only thing I found missing was the step to remove the earth strap prior to breaking the machine into 2.
Both the new processor board and screen are quality products and if you follow the manual you won’t have any problems in safely installing the upgrade.
It takes less than an hour, but as I had the system in pieces I did some poking around to satisfy my curiosity. Found the reason why some earlier posts had water leaking around the rear feet......the initial drying vents the water vapour back through the left hand side of the system which condenses and runs down the side walls and out through the outside of the feet. The residues are not baked on and a damp cloth quickly removes all traces from inside the machine.
My initial impressions are that the upgrade does offer additional flexibility in creating different roast profiles and isn’t simply a gimmic. I personally like what it has added but then anyone considering the upgrade needs to decide for themselves as it isn’t an upgrade that all would want, unless you where in the market for a new roaster.