Gene Cafe ULTIMATE Beginner's Guide! | CBR-101 Home Coffee Roasting Tutorial

We hope you enjoy our complete beginner's guide to roasting coffee with the Gene Cafe CBR-101! In this video we break down how the Gene Cafe works, share our favorite tips and tricks and showcase a demo roast. Even if you've been roasting with the Gene Cafe for a while, check this video out, we bet you'll learn something new! Let us know what you think and share your tips and tricks in the comments below.

*UPDATE DECEMBER 2022*: Since the release of this video, the manufacturer has clarified their stance regarding pre-heating the CBR-101: "We do not recommend preheating the roast chamber. This will dry out the blade cushions on the swing arm prematurely." - Gene Cafe USA.

If you're looking to pick up a Gene Cafe, Unroasted coffee or any other home roasting supplies, support our channel by shopping with us!

Can't get enough Gene Cafe? Check out our previous demo courtesy Captain Ben:

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Time Stamps:
00:00 Intro
01:34 Parts, Controls & Features
08:22 Tips & Tricks
15:49 Demo Roast

[akquicksilver]

Great video. I've had my Gene for over 15 years and I love it. Initially I went through a couple heating elements before the manufacturer upgraded the element and the last replacement (upgraded) element I installed is still heating just fine. I roast primarily for my espresso machine and I prefer single origin beans. My favorite is washed Ethiopian Yirgacheffe taken to just before 2nd crack or full city (no black oily Starbuck's for me thank you).
My recipe for the last 3-4 years after a few years experimenting, is: I dump 230g of beans in the chamber I set the temp to 365ºF and dry the beans for 10 minutes until they reach straw color, then I spin up the heat to 471ºF for 6 minutes and let it run through to the auto cooling cycle. I dump the beans into a chaffing dish and let them come to room temp before placing them in a open storage container to let them degass for at least 48 hours before placing them in the freezer. If I plan to use them right away, I will let them degass for at least 5 days. I usually let the Gene cool back down to near room temp before the next batch. I believe the manual that came with my Gene recommended this and I've almost always done it that way. I have stored beans in the freezer for up to 4 months in airtight containers before I notice any loss of flavor or texture. I use a Profitec Pro 600 for brewing. The only hack I have done on my Gene is gluing a piece of fine mesh over the fan air inlet on the bottom of the machine to prevent sucking in dust. The first time I opened it to replace the heating element there was more dust inside than I thought there should be. The mesh works fine.

[TheCaptainsCoffee]

*UPDATE DECEMBER 2022*: Since the release of this video, the manufacturer has clarified their stance regarding pre-heating the CBR-101: "We do not recommend preheating the roast chamber. This will dry out the blade cushions on the swing arm prematurely." - Gene Cafe USA.


If you're looking to pick up a Gene Cafe, Unroasted coffee or any other home roasting supplies, support our channel by shopping with us!

[pierrelajeunesse]

Your recommandation is to use the GeneCafe on a 20 amp breaker. I only have a 15 amp in my garage. What should I do to compensate ? Thanks.

[dazpower]

Hi Dave I’m getting this roaster delivered tmrw how to you change temp to Celsius cheers is the cooling good on it

[phillipmarsh]

Cool Video! Thank you! where did you get that scooper????

[imad]

I bought the machine today. Amazing video.

[austinherdklotz]

Thanks for the video it was really helpful and instructive

[deanbuzzell]

David - wanted to comment that I changed to the CBR-101 from the SR-800 based on your tutorial. Couldn't be happier! I also took the opportunity to visit your store and purchased my first coffees from The Captain's Coffee. I truly appreciated the personal message you wrote on the invoice. That's just...not the experience I've had with other coffee distributors. So thanks for all you do to educate and enable the coffee fanatics across the country.

[Ronin____]

Coffee bro, thanks for making this video. It's the most helpful video on this device that I've found.

[DavidWSchuler]

Wow best video on YouTube. Just purchased this roaster and wished I watched this video before the roast. Thanks

[derekcasanares]

Nice video and I would like to see a dark roast in the future

[Yirgamalabar]

I've been happily using my Gene Cafe for 13 years (superb reliability BTW) and since I like what I get I never really considered adding a preheat stage or doing external cooling. I do point a small fan to the outside of the drum from a close range, and that reduces cooling time by about a minute, getting the roaster from 235c to 150c in about 2 minutes. I assume not much roasting is happening below 150c, so at that point I just clamp the fan and let it blow air from a bit more of a distance. Not sure this really makes much of a difference, but it's a habit that doesn't require much effort and prevents the chance of getting a burn if I'm not careful enough moving the beans to external cooling.

Do you think preheating and external cooling are worth the effort? Have you had a chance to evaluate their impact in a blind triangle test where roasts of different technique (e.g. with internal vs external cooling) are adjusted to achieve the same roast level?

[TheSageSpeaksBU]

Great starter for me, Captain, I just got lucky and was offered a Gene C from a fellow leaving the country and couldn't
take the roaster with him. Now I'll need some beans to start doing my own roasting. Good job, Dave, and see you in
the next video for roasting. Thanks!

[KellyanneGill]

Hi David, have a look at a video I did roasting Brazil Natural, on my Gene Cafe Roaster, hope you enjoy it 🙂

[Anarchsis]

I roast so differently, I’m sure I’ve read not to pre-heat the chamber because the heating element can blow. Anyway, I usually roast to 240-245c, it takes about 13 minutes, I roast for other people and they all like it so I can’t be too wrong. I’ve decided to experiment so I bought some beans for that and I’ll pre-heat the same as you just to see and learn.

[BryanBowers-ynco]

Thank you, the video was very helpful. Much appreciated.

[x]

Without watching your video I roast the same way... I read it in an article of a roaster (professional). And after messing around with profiles came to the same conclusion

[Anarchsis]

I just did this roast with the only exception being I went a little longer-18 seconds past your total time-I like my beans a little darker. So I’ll let them rest for a few days and then I’ll try them. I forgot to mention I used a blend of 5 different Guatemalan beans and Indian Peaberry Robusta, so some of the initial drying phase and browning phase was less consistent and FC didn’t happen til just after 9 mins. I cooled externally with GeneCafes cooling unit.

[yes]

Excellent, I did it well by following what you show, thank you for sharing

[curtcarlson]

I started my roasting journey with a Behmor but went to a Freshroast 500 for its simplicity. That was when I started enjoying roasting! I then got the SR800 with an extension tube. My mind just can't leave the idea of a Gene Cafe alone. I appreciate this video. I had never heard of your website and will for sure consider getting one through you if i decide to pull the trigger!! Are there ever any sales on them? Again...thank you!