Quest M6 Coffee Roaster

The Quest M6 comes with one analog thermometer in the face, an electric external cooling box, insulation around the drum and a chaff collector under the drum.

The Quest M6 Coffee Roaster falls in-between the current categories of small-scale coffee roasters - it's essentially a miniature shop roaster scaled down to sample roaster size but, with twice the capacity of the M3s, you can also roast several pounds in a short amount of time. Each Quest is hand-built, one at a time, in a small workshop factory in Taiwan. It has no advanced electronics, no motherboard or chipset, no heat profiling or automated cooling cycle. It is a very manual machine and therefore most suitable for an experienced professional coffee roaster. It's not a Probat sample roaster (nor is it priced like one!) yet it has some similar features: a sample trier so you can view coffee from the drum while roasting, a sight glass to see roast progress, manual temperature control (a dial adjusted gauge shows you the amperage sent to the heat elements) and airspeed control (fan speed controls volume of air pulled through the drum). A timer essentially functions as an on/off switch and acts as a safety shut off if the roaster is left unattended. The M6 also includes an electric cooling box and a small cooling tray for easy transfer of beans. Outside-the-drum cooling takes 3-5 minutes depending on your batch size - a great advantage over most home roasters. 

The M6 is designed for continuous roasting - you can roast for hours once the machine is properly warmed up. In fact, this is the way to use the machine, as heating it up to do one batch and cooling it back down right away could cause wear and tear on the drum. In this sense, the M6 is much more like professional sample roaster than your typical home roaster. There is a slight temperature dip when you drop a batch, so you may need to allow 1-3 minutes for the drum to reheat before starting a new roast. The Quest M6 has lots of power and, as a miniature shop roaster, it requires a knowledgeable operator too. You can have a chaff fire in a hurry without cleaning it, and it's not so consumer-oriented in safety design either; like a Probat, there are lots of hot surfaces to remind you where your fingers should and should not be during roasting.

With an Allen wrench and a screwdriver, the Quest M6 can be stripped of its bodywork, the drum pulled out of the motor drive, and any part accessed in minutes. It is incredibly straightforward in terms of wiring and parts. Heating elements can be changed out quickly if need be. It is ready for any type of modification you might desire, such as PID control of the burners. (Not that I would want to automate anything here - the idea is a manual roaster with a trier to pull samples. Yes, it's a tiny, tiny trier but it works!) The Quest M6 is very quiet and runs on standard US voltage (120v, 60 hertz). You'll be impressed with the ease, convenience, and consistency that you can achieve roasting coffee with this electric roaster.

The ideal batch size is 400-450 grams and the absolute maximum batch size is 550 grams. You may notice a rocking movement when roasting larger batches; this didn't cause issues in any of our tests, but be sure to keep a close eye on your roaster with batches of 400 grams or more.  Dimensions: 20" x 11.5" x 17" The Quest has a 30-day warranty. Parts are available for sale after warranty has expired - for parts and warranty service contact: [email protected]. We require previous roasting experience and signed Terms of Use. Processing of orders may take additional business days until this verification is complete. Full instructions for use can be found in the Quest M6 instruction manual.

*Digital thermometry is a really nice addition and invaluable for roast temperature accuracy! Check out our Quest-Compatible Thermal Probe and Digital Thermometer for a plug-and-play solution.