Best Home Coffee Roaster Under €500? Behmor 2000AB Plus Review

We tested a budget home coffee roaster Behmor 2000AB Plus. This roaster machine sells for under €500, is good enough for light roasted specialty coffee?

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Timestamps:
0:00 Behmor 2000AB Plus Review
0:46 Behmor 2000AB Plus Unboxing
1:30 AD: Artisan Green Beans
2:12 Step 1: Preheating the machine
3:32 Step 2: Roasting coffee (control panel)
6:36 Step 3: Cooling
7:47 Evaluating roasted coffee
8:25 Light roast vs Dark roast
10:58 Brewing & tasting coffee
12:03 Behmor 2000AB Summary

[EuropeanCoffeeTrip]

Tell us, do you actually roast coffee at home? Is it something you plan on doing? Please share your experience below!



TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Behmor 2000AB Plus Review
0:46 Behmor 2000AB Plus Unboxing
1:30 AD: Artisan Green Beans
2:12 Step 1: Preheating the machine
3:32 Step 2: Roasting coffee (control panel)
6:36 Step 3: Cooling
7:47 Evaluating roasted coffee
8:25 Light roast vs Dark roast
10:58 Brewing & tasting coffee
12:03 Behmor 2000AB Summary

[MikeFLHT]

I've been using the Behmor for a couple of years now and get amazing results from it. I have more than 100 roasts on it - a little bit of practice goes a long way. One suggestion, leave the chaff tray in while you're heating it up. That way you don't have to have to reheat so much. You get farther along to the drying phase. Nice review as always. Thanks a bunch.

[elmontelim]

I began roasting coffee at home in 1985, in a little two cup roaster and when it died, nine years ago I replaced it with the first Gene Cafe machine, with which I've been very satisfied.

At the time, it was similarly priced to the then Behmor model.

The Gene has a temperature control and a timer, no frills, no presets, nothing like that so all adjustments are made on the fly, according to what I observe.

For me, it means that I never get the exact same roast twice, but I'm not concerned, I don't mind surprises in this regard.

Results are always satisfactory, occasionally a bit special.

I avoid any cooling cycle, dumping the beans, immediately at the end of the roast, into a large fine wire sieve, cooling the beans and losing any remaining chaff, by pouring the beans into another sieve from a height, then back and so on for a minute or two, allowing the beans to cool in the air, in the sieve after that.

So far, so good.

Works for me.

Now I probably wouldn't do it any other way.

As far as I can see, the Behmor's quieter, but other than that, I still like the Gene better, from what I can see.

The difference between freshly home roasted beans to buying roasted beans elsewhere was obvious, right from the beginning.

[andybudge]

My Roast protocol using the Behmor.
1. I preheat my Machine. I.e. I run it through one cycle on P1. Chaff Tray in.
2. 325gms of Beans in Drum.
3. Preheat Machine with Chaff Tray in to 100C. I position the Machine propped up at front by 50mm to improve element position to Drum. I've found this to be better in terms of consistency of Roast.
4.I quickly put the Drum in.
5. Start Roast with following button press procedure; 400gm, Program #1, start. Change to P5 Manual ( 100%), slow Drum Speed until 5:45. Change to fast Drum Speed.
(N.B. from 4:00 - 6:40, toggle between P4 (75%) and P5(100%) butttons at 10 sec increments to maintain temp between 154 and 157C).
6. @ 5:45 - 6:00, change to fast Drum Speed.
7. First Crack @ 9:45 - 10:00 ( ambient outside Temp @ 16-18C. )
8. Allow First Crack to roll with full Heat for 15 seconds then reduce to P3 ( 50%) and slow Drum Speed for remainder of Development Time. (16-20% depending on Bean Origin. )
9. I quickly remove Drum at 10 secs prior to desired Development Time % and cool Beans externally. I agitate the Beans with a large whisk over a cooling Fan for 2 minutes to cool and remove remaining Chaff from Beans.

[luisg]

As always, Alan's input is brilliant!

[vd]

Amazing review! My take on it from the review, we still aren't there yet to roast coffee at home that easily. But we are slowly getting there.

[dennisbarrymurphy]

This will be my next roaster. I started last July 2021 using a cheap $80 horizontal roaster which died a month ago. I ordered another similar one which just arrived. (They are sort of like a popcorn cooker). But I had my recipe down with 3/4 lb of green beans for 12 minutes.
But once that second cheap roaster dies I will bet the Behmor- the video really sold me. I wish I'd seen it before ordering the second cheapie

[GabrielHakulin]

Thank you for the review!! And congrats on being on Forbes 🔥

[akquicksilver]

I have home roasted for 15 years with a Gene Cafe roaster and I love it. In the first couple years I went through a couple of fans on the unit and then the manufacturer upgraded the fan quality and I haven't had a problem since. It is easy to use and I get excellent results. I use it on top of my kitchen stove and use the overhead exhaust vent to take care of the smoke. It traps the chaffe very well in the exhaust duct which can be dumped after 4 batches. Roasting Ethiopian to a city roast takes about 20 minutes including 10 minutes of drying at 365ºF and then roasting at 471ºF for 6 minutes and then cool down. I buy my beans at Burman Coffee Traders.

[Damsjov]

I preheat for two minutes empty, then insert drum with 200 gr. of beans and chaff collector. Drying phase is always 6 minutes at max. heat. Dependent on the bean (altitude and whether washed or natural) I might turn the heat down to 75%. After another 6 minutes (close to first crack) I turn the heat down to 50% unless it’s a very hard bean – then I keep the heat setting at 75%. At first crack I increase the drum speed. I rarely let it run for more than 60 seconds after FC. Cooling is done externally in a box with a vacuum cleaner attached. I find the roaster very easy to use and very convenient but the cooling is a bit of a let down. Also it annoys me that the heat elements give of so much light that you really can't judge the color of the beans - at least not in the early stages (drying and browning).

[izarscharf]

You can buy green beans from Röstzeit if youre in germany, they have a good selection and the beans are great !

[TalLikesThat]

As always, such a good video! I learned a lot! Dekuji!

[volkan.demircan]

I love Behmor roaster as I had the previous version. However, electricity bill was 10 x more than the regular amount after several roast. Great video!

[Thetache]

I just started roasting with a popcorn machine and I would ask is this or the gene cafe a better option considering future forays into making my own profiles?

[alexlazaridisf.]

I only make espresso. I like light to medium roasts. Will it be successful for light to medium espresso?

[stephendenagy]

I have studied this and IMHO the low price choice would be the Fresh Roast SR 800. Fluid bed style but easy to hear and see. Without a trier good visibility is critical as well as good cool down options. Close to 1/2 price. If I get into it, the M2 would be the sweet spot. But I am seriously considering roasting not because there aren’t great roasts out there, but rather green beans are so stable…and roasts aren’t. I really feel like roast coffee starts to lose the fruit notes after a couple of weeks. Makes ordering in freshly roasted coffee very difficult. This puts the power back in my hands.

[spikerboy]

I use the Sandbox Smart Roaster for home roasting

[serkmutlu]

As someone who roasts on a popcorn machine, I want to up my game with a proper home roaster. Behmor looks good, but not being able to have a lot of manual control over heat and drum speed bugs me. Looking at the reviews, the Fresh Roast SR series is really interesting, but unfortunately, they are not being produced for Europe (only for US power output).

[samirkazah]

This machine has a nice body but can look so much nicer if they removed the white decal on the door. The buttons panel also needs a redesign.

[kianweeking]

This cage looks almost identical to what I use to roast peanuts at home:-?
Just my oven spins slower.