The Roastino coffee roaster. All images courtesy of Naked Portafilter.
In an age of sweeping digitization and automation in coffee, the Hungarian boutique equipment company Naked Portafilter is introducing a delightfully sensorial device called the Roastino.
Winner of a Best New Product award at the 2024 World of Coffee event in Copenhagen, the Roastino is an electronics-free home or sample roaster with a roughly spherical copper drum mounted on a stainless steel stand.
The height of the drum is adjustable for use with whatever heat source the user chooses. Users load between 30-100 grams (1-3.5 ounces) of green coffee and manually rotate the drum, while a thermometer with its probe in the drum and its dial on the handle shows either Celsius or Fahrenheit readings. A wind shield is available for outdoor use.
Gábor Laczkó, the founder of Naked Portafilter and the Szentendre, Hungary-based roasting company Kávékalmár Kft., told Daily Coffee News the Roastino is suitable both for home and professional use.
“As roasters, we’ve been continuously using Roastino for sample roasting for two years now,” Laczkó told Daily Coffee News. “We feel that we’ve managed to create a product that can satisfy the needs of a coffee geek at home, while also holding its own in a coffee roastery as a consistently reliable sample roaster.”
Laczkó and colleagues developed the device over the course of about two years prior to launching sales three months ago. The mechanical design and form were inspired by an antique all-copper manual roasting device that Laczkó felt compelled to modernize.
“Manual coffee making has always been a focus for us. In the roastery, we also used small, vintage, manual roasters for sample roasting,” said Laczkó. “About five or six years ago, I found an 80-100-year-old model that produced incredibly consistent roasts, yet was very simple and enjoyable to use. At the time, I thought I had found the star for our next short film.”
Laczkó and company have made a series of fun and fascinating short films showing the roasting process from the coffee’s perspective, including shots from inside the rotating drum of commercial size roasters as beans tumble. The new film “Sample Roasted” offers a view from inside the Roastino:
“While using it, we realized that it had some minor flaws that we could improve,” Laczkó said. “So, the filming gradually took a back seat to development. We loved the little roaster and were very curious about others’ opinions too.”
Following positive feedback from coffee pros with Roastino prototypes, the company brought the Roastino to market.
The roaster starts at $180 at the company’s website and ships from its location in Hungary.
Given that Naked Portafilter is also known for the Smart Espresso Profiler, a portafilter sensor that transmits flow and pressure data wirelessly via Bluetooth into an app that graphs extractions in real time, some thought has been given to adding an electronic sensor or automated drum rotation to the Roastino.
“We ran some tests with digital measurement and a DC motor. However, these developments are currently on hold,” said Laczkó. “We understand there’s a demand for automation, but the analog experience is a key part of what makes Roastino special.”
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Howard Bryman
Howard Bryman is the associate editor of Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine. He is based in Portland, Oregon.
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