Updates on P3000 - the Production Roaster

We're thrilled to bring you the latest news on the P3000, our next leap in coffee roasting technology.

We know that many of you have been waiting for an update on the development of our P3000, and we appreciate your patience. It’s been a year of constant improvements, and today, we are happy to share our latest update, including an estimated timeline for production start, shipments, and scaling of production.

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About the P3000

The P3000 is a 3kg user-friendly coffee roaster designed for simplicity and precision. It offers full automation, easy maintenance, and consistent results. It’s a robust coffee roaster, making it ideal for demanding production environments — and easy to learn for new coffee roasters.

The P3000 is a reliable tool for coffee roasting, equipped with advanced sensors to ensure predictable roasting results. Its design focuses on even heat distribution for unparalleled consistency between batches. You won’t be able to taste the difference between two batches of the same coffee roasted with the same profile on the P3000. 

Today’s Status

Our team has been constantly working on the P3000 prototype, improving and developing its features. The most significant change since our last update in early 2023 has been the refinement of the P3000’s feature set, as detailed below.  It’s all the small things combined that make a great user experience. 

As you all know, quality is our biggest priority, and we're dedicating as much time as needed to ensure that the P3000 meets our high standards. Please note that this timeline is an estimate, and changes may occur. 

Estimated timeline: 

• Pilot phase from April 2024
  In the pilot phase, a few selected partners will test the P3000 in their own roasteries. 

• Production start September 2024
  We are planning on starting production of the P3000 in the autumn. If everything goes as planned, the first units will be shipped out by late autumn of 2024.
  Depending on certifications, the P3000 will be shipped to some regions at a later date. More information about this will follow.

• Scaling of production during 2025
  All of our roasters are being produced in Oslo, Norway, and we will begin scaling up our production during 2025. 

UPDATED TECHNICAL INFORMATION

Power requirements

We will offer the machine in two versions: 

• single-phase 230v 32A (7.1kW)

• three-phase 400v 16A (9.3kW)

The main difference between them is the heating elements rating and how the machine is wired/configured. It’s possible to re-configure the machine between the two versions.

With the highest-rated version, a full batch size can reach the first crack in 5 minutes.

UPDATES ON THE ADD-ON UNITS

• Electric afterburner 

  We have a functional prototype of the smoke reduction system, and a more refined version is in development. As the capacity of our machine has increased, the power consumption of our afterburner has increased. Our goal is to be able to effectively reduce visible smoke and odor from the roasting process with the power accessible from a single 16A, 230V socket. Easy access for service and maintenance is a high priority as always. 

• Adjustments to the feeding unit

  As promised in our last update on the P3000, there will be a custom feeding unit for the machine that can store up to 100 kg of green coffee and automatically vacuum feed it to the roaster based on your profile weight. The prototype unit is working, and we have a new, improved design ready for pre-production in the coming months. 
  

SENSOR UPDATE 

The P3000 collects a lot of data during roasting, and we are constantly looking for ways to improve. For coffee roasting, temperature is still the most fundamental parameter to have control over. It’s no secret that we have added a lot of sensors to the P3000. 

• Bean temperature

  There are two different types of BT sensors. One is super-fast and accurate. The other is stable over time and super accurate. Combining these two sensors, we get the most accurate BT reading possible.  We are adding one of each sensor to each side of our symmetrical roasting chamber and giving the user the average of all four sensors. 

  To achieve the accuracy we are looking for we are developing a calibration chamber to calibrate each bean temperature sensor in house. 
  

• Drum temperature

  An average of three sensors measures the surface temperature of the roasting chamber drum, located at optimal points along the drum and combining two different types of sensor for the highest accuracy and stability over time.

  We can see that the drum temperature stabilizes after an appropriate heat-up or a few batches of coffee. It then follows the coffee roasting process cycle without overheating throughout the day. 
  

• Inlet temperature

  Having control of the heat going into the roasting chamber is critical for a precision tool like P3000. For an even heat distribution, we are using three heating elements in a row. These are located outside the roasting 

• chamber, with a pre-mixing chamber for the cold incoming air and a pre-mixing chamber for the heated air going into the roasting chamber (through holes in the drum wall). To control the temperature precisely, each heating element has two custom sensors arranged in opposite locations. This grid of six sensors and an optimised PID ensures the inlet temperature follows your profile exactly. 

• First crack 

  First Crack detection in the P3000 proved a challenge as the roasting chamber has a positive pressure inside. We have overcome this problem, and are fine-tuning the algorithm to work across batch sizes and coffees. Development and deployment of more advanced models has been made possible by our integration of OTA (over the air) updates for the first crack module. 

• Camera 

  The P3000 integrates a bean camera which displays real-time images of the beans in the drum, replacing a traditional trier. In order to achieve maximum consistency across batches it is essential to remove the destabilising effect of triers on the roasting system. Camera integration is the basis for a suite of future tools to aid decision making, and eventually influence the control system. Colour tracking, the first feature which will be released, gives an indication of the rate of colour change indicative of the velocity of the roast.

  As we gear up for the pilot phase and begin planning for production, we remain focused on quality and innovation. Stay tuned for more developments, and thank you for joining us on this journey.
  

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Remember to sign up for our waiting list if you are interested in our P3000 roasting machine! 

Spring Cleaning your Roest

If you have room for one more New Year’s resolution, we have a suggestion to add to your list: perhaps it’s time to give your Roest a bit of love. Like any coffee roaster, the Roest needs a bit of maintenance from time to time to keep it in top condition. So, if your Roest has worked hard for you all year, why not give it a spa day in return?

Aryan Aqajani, head of coffee at Zest Coffee in Melbourne, deep cleaning the chaff separator in his Roest. Photo courtesy of @julijanmarkovic_ and @brewmethods

Cleaning and maintenance may not be the most glamorous part of being a coffee roaster, but the good news is that the Roest is engineered to make it as easy as possible. From the ground up, the Roest is designed to give you easy access — both for cleaning and maintenance, so that you can keep up with all the latest upgrades.

Demystifying Roest cleaning

The Roest is a high-tech machine, so the prospect of opening it up for cleaning might seem intimidating. But with a bit of patience and the help of our step-by-step video guide, anyone can tackle it. And if you need any help or encouragement, our support team is always on hand.

Julie Baudet is Quality Control Coordinator at the specialty importer Falcon Coffees Europe, where she relies on the Roest for roasting hundreds of samples every week. After completing 5000 batches last year, she contacted the Roest support team for help with deep cleaning the machine.

At first, she was hesitant to open up her Roest. “I was quite nervous to be getting into the machine to be honest,” Julie admits. “The process took me quite a long time as I was being cautious not to break anything, and I was also discovering the insides of the machine for the first time.”

But with a bit of help from us, she discovered that the process was simpler than she expected. So much so, she even posted a comic about the experience on Instagram!

Mission: possible. Comic by Julie Baudet (@moocreates_)

“I managed to undo each part and rebuild the machine and it still works!” she says proudly. “I realised the machine is quite sturdy so I am about to do another deep clean very soon and I am feeling more confident already and I am pretty sure it will take less time this time around.”

“The YouTube video that Roest sent me to assist in the process was super helpful, and very well detailed,” she adds. “If you are unsure of what to do, the Roest team is always very helpful and prompt to reply to issues. I managed to get someone on a video call once when I had an issue, and we solved it in a few minutes together!”

Not just for Christmas

If you already own a Roest, hopefully you’re already giving it a quick brush-up at least once a week, following the maintenance guide on our website. But how do you know if it’s time for a deep clean?

Our advice is not to wait ‘til the holiday season! The amount of oil that builds up depends on the coffee you roast, and how dark you roast it, but we recommend a deep clean after a maximum of 1000–5000 batches. Of course, the more regularly you do it, the easier the job will be.

In fact, if you’ve never done it before, it is a good idea to go through the process at least once before the machine gets dirty, suggests coffee influencer Luca Costanzo (@lucacoffeenotes). “The nature of these things is that they are three times as long the first time you do them, then when you have learned where all the bits go and they are easy,” he says. “Have a go at the disassembly and reassembly early on when you get the machine, so you can learn how to do it with the fan assembly clear of roasting oils and such, which may make removal more difficult. This will make the subsequent actual cleaning much easier.”

After her experience deep cleaning the Roest last year, Julie suggests that keeping to a regular cleaning schedule is the key to making the process as easy as possible. “When we opened our machine, the impellers were very dirty, there was lots of chaff and coffee oil build up all over the left hand side, and lots of dust on the right side,” she says. “I think doing a deep clean a little bit more often than the recommended milestone [of 5000 batches] is a good idea, just to keep on top of the build up.”

Harvey Scott, General Manager at Sheba Coffee in the UK, recently deep-cleaned his Roest after 2,500 batches. “I wouldn’t want to leave it much longer,” he says. “We had a significant amount of coffee oil build up throughout the machine. For the regularity of deep cleaning, I think [2,500 batches] was about right.”

Good as new: Sheba Coffee’s Roest all cleaned up and ready for reassembly. Photo courtesy of Harvey Scott (@sheba.coffee)

Like Julie, Harvey found the cleaning process easier than he expected. “It was actually quite enjoyable. Although opening the machine for the first time can be daunting, the video guide was easy to follow and I enjoyed gaining a better understanding of how the machine worked,” he says.

“If you’re worried about opening it up, I always find the ROEST support team very helpful for answering any questions,” he adds.

A machine for life

Right from the beginning, Roest’s design philosophy has been that our machines should always be user-repairable and upgradable. This ‘Design to Repair’ approach ensures that your Roest will never become obsolete. Instead of buying the latest model every few years and consigning the old machine to landfill, we believe you should be able to keep using the latest technology, no matter how long ago you bought your machine.

We carefully design new features, such as the inlet temperature sensor and the first crack detection card, so that you can upgrade your machine to the latest specifications yourself. But more than that, we’re always looking for ways to make it even easier to clean and maintain the machine, whether that’s by improving our online guides, or refining the design of the roaster.

The latest example of this is the new charge handle, which has just been redesigned to make everyday cleaning of the machine even easier. The addition of a small moveable catch means that you can now access the exhaust without opening the top plate — a small change designed to make our customers’ lives a little easier. And of course, this feature can be easily installed to all of our existing roasters if you want to upgrade yours.

Incremental gains: the moveable catch on the new charge handle means it can be easily removed for daily cleaning

A helping hand

If you want to try something out, need help with any part of the process, or have suggestions for improvements, we’re always happy to hear from you — we’re just an email away. We’re proud to see our customers taking such great care of their machines, and coming up with ingenious ways to make the process easier.

A neat tip from a customer: José Alejandro (@joalherb), founder of the Surcafest coffee festival in Colombia, pre-loaded his cable ties before cutting the old ones when replacing an LED, to ensure that each one was in its right place.

Of course, if you don’t want to tackle the cleaning yourself, you can always send your machine back to us for a full refurb instead. We can strip it down, clean it up, and even upgrade your Roest to include all the latest features. Just contact support to get a quote for your machine, and soon enough, your machine will be just like new.

Whether you enjoy the satisfaction of cleaning your machine yourself, or you prefer to let us handle it, make time for maintenance sooner rather than later. Only a clean roaster can give you clean coffee — and a regular maintenance schedule makes the process so much easier. As Julie puts it: “Trust yourself, and do it if you feel your machine needs it; it is better to be cleaner than not!”

Software technology professionals changed career and opened Micro-roastery in Bolivia

When it comes to specialty coffee, Elevate Coffee Bolivia stands out as a unique and authentic micro-roastery located in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Founded by Clifford and Veruschka Stevens, Elevate Coffee Bolivia has been on a mission to raise awareness and appreciation for Bolivia's extraordinary specialty coffee and the dedicated farmers who cultivate it. With their commitment to quality, personalized service, and the recent acquisition of the ROEST sample roaster, Elevate Coffee Bolivia is revolutionizing the coffee experience for enthusiasts worldwide.

Staying Small, Focused, and Impactful

Elevate Coffee Bolivia distinguishes itself by intentionally remaining small and focused. The micro-roastery and coffee tasting room offers a cozy atmosphere where customers can savor the true essence of specialty coffee. Their menu may be small, but it has an impressive selection of 10+/- extraordinary, freshly roasted specialty coffee beans. Elevate's commitment to quality extends beyond their products and into how they treat their customers and team members, fostering positive energy, respect, and personalized attention.

Passion Ignites a Coffee Journey

Clifford and Veruschka Stevens, former internet/software technology professionals, and entrepreneurs, followed their passion for specialty coffee and embarked on a new adventure. Leaving behind their previous careers, they set out to create a unique coffee experience in Cochabamba. Their deep connection to Veruschka's hometown and the opportunity to work directly with local producers propelled them to establish Elevate Coffee Bolivia.

Inspired by this story? Read more Customer Success Stories:
Origin Coffee Lab - Coffee producers and exporters from Peru

The ROEST Sample Roaster: Expanding Horizons

Elevate Coffee Bolivia's dedication to enhancing the coffee journey led them to invest in the ROEST sample roaster. This state-of-the-art equipment provides them with infinite roast profiling control, real-time interaction, and ease of use. The ROEST's cloud-based software allows them to store and recall roast profiles, ensuring consistent quality and customization for their customers. With the ROEST, Elevate Coffee Bolivia can quickly sample roast small batches, explore new flavors, and push the boundaries of its coffee's potential.

“ROEST has expanded our coffee potential while making us uniquely useful to others in the local coffee community. With ROEST we now help others explore the potential of their coffees too. All from the comfort of my own home.”

— Clifford Stevens, Head Roaster of Elevate Coffee Bolivia

Unleashing the Potential with ROEST

The addition of the ROEST sample roaster has revolutionized Elevate Coffee Bolivia's coffee journey. It has enabled them to delve deeper into the complexities and nuances of their coffees. By having a dedicated sample roaster, they can focus on production roasting while still experimenting with small batches. Elevate Coffee Bolivia can now offer its customers an expanded range of coffee flavors and experiences. Furthermore, they can extend their expertise to the local coffee community, helping other enthusiasts explore and unlock the potential of their own coffees.

Roasting Philosophy: Letting the Coffee Shine

Elevate Coffee Bolivia takes a hands-on approach to roasting, allowing each coffee to guide them towards its highest feasible expression. Their lighter-to-medium roast style emphasizes variety, complexity, and roast-defect-free drinking enjoyment. By listening to the coffee and leveraging their experience, they craft roast profiles that highlight the unique characteristics of each coffee, resulting in a truly remarkable and memorable cup.

“With ROEST, we can dynamically, easily, quickly, and effectively roast so many small batches of coffee in such a short amount of time.”

— Clifford Stevens

Advice for Coffee Enthusiasts

Clifford Stevens, Head Roaster of Elevate Coffee Bolivia, emphasizes the importance of humility, patience, and objectivity in the cupping process. Cupping frequently, sharing experiences with others, and maintaining consistent methods and standards are key to growth and development. Clifford encourages coffee enthusiasts to have fun, embrace exploration, and always remember that it's just coffee—albeit a truly remarkable and inspiring beverage.

Inspired by this story? Read more Customer Success Stories:
Finca La Senda - Guatemala producers with importing company in Zurich

Photo credit: Clifford Stevens - Elevate Coffee Bolivia