Posted Sun Jun 15, 2008, 7:30pm Subject: Re: Hottop v. Behmor
So the Behmor looks like a toaster oven? Why on earth is the appearance even an issue?
It roasts coffee, twice the amount of the Hottop. It has smoke supression, which lessens the smell of the smoke which allow it to be used indoors, without silly looking and cumbersome venting. An outside vented oven hood is sufficiant to remove the smoke it produces. It also costs $500+ less than a new Hottop.
The Hottop is a nice roaster. My opinion is that it is not worth the amount they are charging for it.
The original question was to compare the two roasters. My opinion is that the smoke supression, price and batch size of the Behmor differ significantly from the Hottop.
Because that's what it looks like. A toaster oven that was modified to roast coffee. The Hottop, AFAIK, was specifially designed as a coffee roaster. Personally I'm wary of what looks like a modified kitchen appliance. Time will tell if the Behmor is as reliable, consistent and is backed as well as a Hottop. Having never used a Behmor I couldn't compare it's roasting potential to a Hottop.
You don't like my handiwork? I thought it wasn't a bad solution to having no oven hood to put a Hottop under. If I had an oven hood I'd have no need for custom venting. BTW, it's not cumbersome.
As far as batch size goes, that's relative to your needs. If you roast for espresso and like to blend more than 3 individually roasted SOs a big batch size can be a draw back. I can't go through more than 3 lbs of coffee in 10 days. Even with the smaller batch size of the Hottop I've gone from individually roasting SOs to blending them green before roasting.
In any case it would be hard to compare any home roasting appliances, IMHO. Roasting knowledge, experience and expectations vary. As well it would depend on what your using your roast for from drip to espresso and how good your coffee making knowledge and skill is too. It ends up being whatever works for you. All I can say after over 3 years of roasting and espresso geekdom the Hottop is a good roaster.
Posted Mon Jun 16, 2008, 4:49pm Subject: Re: Hottop v. Behmor
the Behmor IMHO should be sold as a 12-14oz roaster it is sensitive to voltage. It is $300. I'm sure most would say it roasts as well as the Hottop. You should get the Behmor if you are a practical guy. Get the Hottop If you always tend to buy the most expensive, for example is there a GS/3 in your kitchen? Get the Hottop if you feel you want to manually adjust the temp or develop temp based profiles. Get the Behmor and a high end grinder for the same money if you just want great coffee.
Prof Senior Member Joined: 10 Sep 2004 Posts: 632 Location: Seattle Expertise: Pro Roaster
Espresso: PV Lusso, Enrico of Italy Grinder: Pharos 696, Zass Drip: Brazen, Aeropress Roaster: Behmor, TO/SC, Poppery I
Posted Mon Jun 16, 2008, 9:11pm Subject: Re: Hottop v. Behmor
jghoo Said:
the Behmor IMHO should be sold as a 12-14oz roaster it is sensitive to voltage. It is $300. I'm sure most would say it roasts as well as the Hottop. You should get the Behmor if you are a practical guy. Get the Hottop If you always tend to buy the most expensive, for example is there a G3 in your kitchen? Get the Hottop if you feel you want to manually adjust the temp or develop temp based profiles. Get the Behmor and a high end grinder for the same money if you just want great coffee. For what its worth
The Behmor is not a modded toaster oven. Rather, a common shell was used with some innovative ideas that took 8 years to get from concept to market and at a price that surprised almost everyone. Joe Behm used to work for Ronco and created some of their stuff, so it makes sense that developing the Behmor came from a compact unit. I'm glad it is smaller than the Rotissorie Oven!
Heck, I've seen some sample roasters that were pretty unusual looking.
But having said that, I do like the look of the Hottop. If the $900 unit were closer to $600 I'd give it a much closer look.
Iluvdabean Senior Member Joined: 7 Mar 2005 Posts: 1,059 Location: California Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: La Nuova Era Cuadra/Gaggia... Grinder: Baratza Preciso/K-A Pro... Drip: Capresso MT 500/Pour Over Roaster: Nesco 1010/Behmor 1600
Posted Mon Jun 16, 2008, 9:49pm Subject: Re: Hottop v. Behmor
Prof Said:
Great post. +1
The Behmor is not a modded toaster oven. Rather, a common shell was used with some innovative ideas that took 8 years to get from concept to market and at a price that surprised almost everyone. Joe Behm used to work for Ronco and created some of their stuff, so it makes sense that developing the Behmor came from a compact unit. I'm glad it is smaller than the Rotissorie Oven!
Heck, I've seen some sample roasters that were pretty unusual looking.
But having said that, I do like the look of the Hottop. If the $900 unit were closer to $600 I'd give it a much closer look.
I would consider looking at a hottop if it were 300.00 but its hardly worth 900.00,somebody at hottop is really trying to get rich...they will come down after Behmor continues winning more people over.
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