Gene Cafe CBR-101 Review (was Genesis i Rosto)

[wattgn]

Re: Gene Cafe CBR-101 Review (was Genesis i Rosto)


Gene Cafe CBR-101. Mmmm.

You immediately think of a small 125cc Honda (Gene) Cafe racer that redlines at 20,000rpm.

Other names come to mind that are much better:

Etcha Roaster

The Sketcha Bean

How about the FireBean CBR-101???



Grant

[nunu]

Re: Gene Cafe CBR-101 Review (was Genesis i Rosto)

If you turn it upside down and shake, do the beans disappear?

[wattgn]

Re: Gene Cafe CBR-101 Review (was Genesis i Rosto)

Chris:

Yes, it is an unusual looking machine.

It looks like a cross between a gem tumbler and an etch a sketch... ;D

Not that there is anything wrong with that!

Grant

[stratford]

Re: Gene Cafe CBR-101 Review (was Genesis i Rosto)

Im with you there Grant...I like the retro and functional styling of the HT....The Gene Cafe is a well designed machine all the same..


Now if only there was a home roaster which could take a bigger load...

[wattgn]

Re: Gene Cafe CBR-101 Review (was Genesis i Rosto)

Andy:

First of all it is an excellent review, at least as good as the Hottop review!



It looks like a well and thoughtfully designed machine. I particularly like the chaff collection system.

The only point where the design falls down a little bit is in the cooling department. Mind you all designs which is ALL of them except for the Hottop is that they retain the beans in the heating compartment rather than dumping them into a separate tray.

Subjectively I like the looks of the Hottop better but that is just an opinion.



Now all they have to do is get it to market here at a competitive price.


Grant

[Andy]

Re: Gene Cafe CBR-101 Review (was Genesis i Rosto)

So many people want to know the price!

The good news is that I have just heard back from the factory and it appears that the RRP in the $US has been set at US$500.  

Shipping to Oz is more expensive (and the market is smaller) but we should be able to land them here (your door) for just under AU$800

If anyone is interested in ordering one (and I mean REALLY interested) and is willing to send a non-refundable deposit (when needed) please let me know via email.  If we can get enough numbers then it will happen else you will just have to share mine

( andy@coffe.....com.au  you know the rest, the spammers need not read it here)

[Andy]

Re: Gene Cafe CBR-101 Review (was Genesis i Rosto)

....Seems tough to find faults in the design...

The design IMHO is great. Im sure someone will find something to whine about one day (tis what we do in forums) but all in all its hard to fault.

....it would seems knobs are far sturdier and a preferred option.

In the original thread I was after a "digital" one. More buttons means it MUST be better but as you have observed the knobs work really well! A quick spin of the knob gives quick and accurate settings and I can see no need for the "soft touch" up and down buttons on the "not-yet-existant digital version"

The other nice "feature" of the knob version is that the display is LED and not LCD which makes it easier to read outside and at night.

....Forgot. Excellent review! :

Thanx ;D

[JM]

Re: Gene Cafe CBR-101 Review (was Genesis i Rosto)

Thanks Andy. A very useful review.

I was all set to buy the HT, but now have a whole new option to consider - and it sounds like its a very good option too (depending on how long it takes to get to market of course!)

Thanks for doing the review, I printed it to read on a flight but couldnt wait and read it right away

JM

[nunu]

Re: Gene Cafe CBR-101 Review (was Genesis i Rosto)

Seems tough to find faults in the design. Im also interested in what price theyll be offered here in Australia. If the knobbed version is fine, and the digital one only different in that it has push buttons, it would seems knobs are far sturdier and a preferred option. Push buttons like that always seem to have microswitch issues when pressed multitudes of times. You always seem to press harder to get a result. Its much like the bloke/tap syndrome, where we end up wrenching the tap down just to stop the drips, which ends up doing more harm than good.

Who will be fighting to be a local distributor when this roaster becomes fully available?

Forgot...Excellent review! :

[Andy]

Re: Gene Cafe CBR-101 Review (was Genesis i Rosto)

Hhhmmm...Sounds like a great roaster there Andy!

Yes, it is a great little new gadget.

A couple of questions for ya. [list][*]How easy would it be to remove the roasting chamber and dump the beans into a seperate cooler when the roasting part of the cycle is done?

I found out that instead of waiting for it to cool to 60c you can press the red-knob a second time and it will abort at 100c.  That would let you drop them into an external cooler with little risk of "burnies owww owwww". ***

The other option would be to turn the power-off when the roasting chamber is at the top of its cycle but I assume this would risk burning yourself and would not be recommended by the reviewer in a litigious society  

How much smoke is produced?

Errr.... about 315gms of roasted bean smoke depending on your chosen roasting depth.  

Smoke, yeah, everything produces smoke and the more beans you roast the more smoke it produces.  

What was nice about the Gene Cafe was that the husk & chaff is removed from the roasting chamber and doesnt simmer and burn like it does in some other devices.  

Coffee roasting is still an out-door activity unless you have a really good range-hood in the kitchen.

It will be interesting to see what the final retail price is for this roaster and how quickly it will show up on the worlds markets.

Java "Gotta love a new toy!" phile

I agree!  

...and in your case it will also be interesting to see how much the 110v differs from the 240v in action.


*** ("burnies owww owwww" copyright Fatboy 2004)

[Andy]

Re: Gene Cafe CBR-101 Review (was Genesis i Rosto)

Great review Andy...

Wanna buy a slightly used Hottop?

;D

Thanks Stratford but I think I already own just the same item.

[Javaphile]

Re: Gene Cafe CBR-101 Review (was Genesis i Rosto)

Hhhmmm...Sounds like a great roaster there Andy!

A couple of questions for ya.

• How easy would it be to remove the roasting chamber and dump the beans into a seperate cooler when the roasting part of the cycle is done?
• How much smoke is produced?

It will be interesting to see what the final retail price is for this roaster and how quickly it will show up on the worlds markets.

Java "Gotta love a new toy!" phile

[stratford]

Re: Gene Cafe CBR-101 Review (was Genesis i Rosto)

Great review Andy...

Wanna buy a slightly used Hottop?

[Andy]

Well here is planet earths very first review of the GeneCafe CBR101 roaster.  8-)

This is the roaster that we were bantering about six months ago http://coffeesnobs.com.au/YaBB.pl?num=1117532072 and the company now has a new multi-lingual website http://www.genecafe.com/

Below you will find the first review outside of Korea  

GENE CAFE CBR-101 REVIEW HERE
(PDF format and about 1mb in size.  Right-click and SAVE-AS)

and if you want a copy of the roasting profiles:

• GeneCafe-PeruKontiki-20051008-19-232.xls
• GeneCafe-PeruKontiki-20051008-19-235.xls
• GeneCafe-EthiopianLimmu-20051008-20-235.xls

(above in MS-Excel format, 17kb in size)



Andy.