The new version is an improvement: Freshroast improved a few features and didn’t fix what wasn’t broke at the same time.
Fresh Roast’s SR500 was perfect. It was a robust machine that did exactly what it promised, evenly roasting four ounces of coffee, with intuitive controls and great chaffChaff is paper-like skin that comes off the coffee in the roasting process. Chaff from roasting is part of the innermost skin (the silverskin) of the coffee fruit... collection. Now it’s gone…discontinued…rest in peace. (Moment of silence)
Fresh Roast wouldn’t leave us hanging by discontinuing such a great machine and not replacing it with something better. Enter the SR540. They improved a few features and didn’t fix what wasn’t broke at the same time.
CORRECTION from the video: The chaff basket from earlier SR roasters will not fit on the new SR540 because the new roast chamber is much wider in diameter but the lid will fit all previous models. Fresh Roast SR540
A YouTube commenter adding some great additional information… Thanks Andrew!:
“For clarity, since she forgot to mention what “turn down my power setting a little bit” really means @ 4min, later you can see it was turned down to 7. So:
0:00-1:00 = F9 P9 8.0,
1:00-4:00 = F7 P9 7.0 ,
4:00-8:00 = F7 P7 4.0
8:00-11:00 = F9 — C.3 (cool for 3 min)
Also, the timer is actually really easy to use. Unintuitively, the tenths place is 0-9 (e.g. 4.5 = 4:30) but all you really care about is the minutes anyway for the most part. Just set your timer to 8.0 (8 minutes) and after 8 minutes it will automatically enter cooling mode.”
Overall, we are really impressed with the SR540. If you are new to roasting, or upgrading from a DIY method like a popcorn popper we think this will be a great machine for you. If you already have an SR model like the SR500 or SR700, and are happy with it, we encourage you to do your research before busting out the credit card to buy an SR540 because although the new features and wider roast chamber are attractive, the 4oz batch size is the same. If you were hoping to roast more coffee per batch, check out the new Fresh Roast Extension Tube for your SR500 or SR300.
2 Responses
Hi! I am desperate to order the replacement roast chamber for the sr 500 that I broke last week. Sadly they are out of stock everywhere. do any of the other chambers (540, 800) fit the roaster and chaff basket??
Hi Helen. Unfortunately only the SR500 chamber fits the SR500 roaster. Please sign up for an email notification on the chamber product page and we’ll let you know when we have more in stock. https://www.sweetmarias.com/roast-chamber-freshroast-sr500-sr700.html