1 Kilogram Coffee Roaster, MCR-1

This was my first coffee roaster ever. It has been a wonderful machine to learn on, scale up my coffee roastery and I now use it each week for sample roasting.

If you are thinking about buying a roaster it is in my opinion the best option to get started! Not only is the price very well for what you are getting, the roaster can get you to scale / growth and then still be useful for you as you grow your business.

In my case I was able to spend a year learning coffee roasting, testing, cupping, and just really getting to know the coffee and roasting process (highly recommend the Coffee Roasting 101 class offered by Mill City). I don't think any roastery will ever leave this process as greens change and sample roasting is a huge part of product / coffee offerings. While the roaster is no longer my production roaster as it is too small - it is actively used for samples and continues to be a huge part of our roastery.

Never had any issues as this machine is very well built, but I do highly recommend ordering a few extra parts to have on hand just in case and the roaster is pretty easy to take apart / clean as needed. Mill City has replacement parts and general maintenance products for sale on this website.

One pro tip that took me far too long to figure out. Is if you need to move the roaster within a building or even across state lines. I highly recommend just leaving it on the table and strapping it down. It is much easier to manage as it balances out the weight and makes it easier to lift / carry. The roaster is a bit awkward to try and carry / a bit trick to find hand placement to actually carry it.

Really appreciate Steve, Nick, and the staff at Mill City for all their support!

I had been looking at the 1Kilo Roaster for maybe 4 years, before pulling the trigger. I couldn't be happier. I fired it up on May 28, 2018, and have 247 Roasts to date. It performs flawlessly every time. The Controls are amazing; Air, Heat and Drum Speed, what more could you want? Steve, Nick and Team are ALWAYS on hand to help you with a Question or Issue. They know these machines inside and out. Derek is a wealth of Roasting Knowledge, if you ever have any questions. Their Videos on YouTube are excellent for learning and answering any questions you may have. I started years ago with their very first videos and their progression has been amazing. I HIGHLY suggest taking their In-Person classes, in Minneapolis, too! I took Roasting 101 and 102 and it was extremely helpful. I learned how to use my Machine so much more, than I was at Home. If you're on the Fence on any size Roaster or taking an In-Person Class, here is a helpful push to Yes. Do it. You won't regret it.

We've had this roaster since 2016. Like all good roasters, this was doing its thing in the garage running on LP at first, then converted to NG through the help of MCR's friendly tech's. A few months later we moved it into our coffee shop and it's been seeing frequent duty since. Since we've started tracking more consistently less than a year ago, we've done well over 1,800 batches on this. If that's not enough to constitute commercial-grade, i don't know what does.

This will be my final review for the TJ-067 propane fired roaster. It has been two years and 1000 lbs. plus since I put this roaster in service and it still gets a five star rating. I have not had a single mechanical or electrical failure with this machine. It just keeps going! If you make your notes as you gain experience, this roaster will produce consistent roasts of high quality. My most common roast weights are 1 kg but I frequently roast 1.5 kg which it handles with ease. I also roast the occasional 500 gm load. Early on after noticing some roast inconsistencies, I determined the issue was drum speed when all other settings were the same so I marked the drum speed knob in three places for each different roast weight, i.e., 0.5, 1, and 1.5 kg. The inconsistencies were not roast killers. I just was not satisfied and wanted better. Marking the drum speed knob made the difference and really allowed tighter control. If you are in the market this is a GREAT machine value! The service you with the purchase id five star as well!

I have been roasting on my 1kg (propane) for about 7 months now - I was going to write a review just after my first few roasts RAVING about the machine and my buying experience with Mill City, but I decided to wait until I had some significant roast time so that I could be more helpful to people who, like I was, looking for an excellently built, reasonably priced, well equipped machine to build a small coffee roasting business off of. I feel like now, after pumping several hundred pounds of coffee out of my TJ-067, I am able to give my review.

I started like many - roasting in a popcorn popper, then a Behmor 1600+, all the while gathering some steam with selling to family and friends and finding myself logging extensive hours on a home-roaster, reading blogs on how to trick it out to make the coffee better, and dreaming about what could be. I quickly felt defeated after spending months searching every known corner of the internet attempting to find a small, used roaster to get my start (including consideration of importing something from China) - there was nothing close to my location (Vancouver, BC, Canada) within my price range, and I soon found myself trying to justify to my wife spending $20k to "try" a coffee roasting business.

Enter Mill City Roasters - Steve responded to an add I put on Craigslist searching for a used roaster. We e-mailed back and forth regarding this NEW, 1kg machine, LP or Natural gas, well under $10k (including shipping). After lots of dialogue (including extensive phone calls), as well as me scouring the internet for anything comparable and coming up with nothing, and also searching for some damning review that proved this too good to be true, I decided to pull the trigger. **Particularly notable - Steve talked me OUT of spending more money on a larger roaster initially (I was concerned 1kg was still too small). Steve advised that the roaster had been excellently roasting 3lb charges no problem, and encouraged me not to over-invest in the machine initially, having more money free for greens - (honesty, integrity, professionalism are words that come to mind when thinking about my experience with Steve). He also advised me the whole way along about the best ways to get the roaster shipped and across the border (of which I had NO issues, just had to pay the duty).

After some delays (none of which were the fault of Mill City), I picked up my roaster in the states from the package receiver, drove it back across the border in the back of a pick-up truck (the crate its shipped in fit no problem), and had it set up in my garage within a few hours (its HEAVY, have some buds nearby). The set up instructions are clear and easy to follow. I seasoned the roaster that same night and was ready to get roasting. I did my first few roasts according to the Roasting 101 blog post, and I kid you not - the cupping quality of the these beans FAR surpassed my BEST roasts out of the Behmor (no offence intended, I still love that little guy!). I say this more to highlight the quality of this machine and technology on board - the gas/airflow/drum speed control allows for profiling to match professional quality roasts; the included Phigit allows for visual tracking, profiling, and reproduction; the chaff collection is efficient; the cooling ability it excellent.

I had some issue getting the Phigit working with my PC computer - readings were erratic and unhelpful. ENTER DAVE (I common refer to him as my roasting Jedi). Dave is a wealth of knowledge, and is so quick to respond to my questions I often feel guilty that he's laying in bed at night, he wakes up when his phone beeps with another question from Brandon, and he immediately answers it. But that is just the beginning - Dave and I have had several Skype roasting sessions - me in Vancouver, him in Minneapolis - where he mentored me on technical aspects of Artisan, roast technique/profiling, roast observation and feedback.... Dave has also reviewed Artisan graphs and given me feedback for future roasting. This process has exponentially grown my abilities and skills which has resulted in even better cuppings (although as previously stated, my first few roasts way surpassed my expectations). I would have never imagined that with the purchase of my roaster came quality guidance and education - a testament to the passion this company has, not only for excellent coffee, but also the support and advancement of small businesses. Dave has given me advise on the types of bags to use, for goodness sakes. Thank you, friend.

As stated, the roaster (with additional gas regulator) has no issue with larger, 3lb charges, and I am reaching 1st crack between 8-10 min consistently. Because of the demand and my limited time to roast, I was pounded out 3lb charges while also trying to learn to profile. Jedi Dave wisely advised me to pull back a bit while I mastered profiling with 1kg charges, then grow from there. Dave was right - although the machine is very capabl...