Fresh Roast SR540

The SR540 model from Fresh Roast offer beginners and experienced roasters a good tool for roasting beans enough for a couple of pots. The roaster performs quickly and is capable of the full roasted coffee range from light to dark. It has no smoke suppression nor does anything else close to it in price, but that also makes it possible to do dark roasts.

The SR540 now uses a control knob to control all its functions: Fan speed, temperature and time. The single control knob located on the main panel rotates, clockwise increasing values, counter clockwise decreasing them. Settings are shown on the digital display which is substantially larger than the previous model. A fast clockwise turn will provide a real time temperature reading too. With the prior SR500 model there were just 3 levels of heat (low, medium, high) but this new SR540 provides 9 heat levels, from 1 to 9, via the control knob.

Build quality is sturdy and clean, operation is very quiet and controls are easy to read and understand. Fresh Roast machines have been on the market for years, beginning with a smaller Plus 8 models, now discontinued. The SR series has been around for quite a few years and has proven to be very reliable. The roasting technology here is hot air, so the coffee roasts on a bed of heated air; heating coils are in the base and heat is pushed upward via the variable speed fan. Fan speed can also be adjusted during the cooling cycle.

The default setting are Fan 9, Heat 5 (of 9) and Timer 6 minutes. The Run/Cool button begins the roast or cooling cycles. To make an adjustment during the roast, press the "Adjust" button, and the digit for Fan, Power, and Timer each flashes in sequence. Press the control knob to make your selection and then adjust up or down by turning the knob.

These recent changes add more features and reliability to an already established and valued coffee roaster.