About Roast Lab
Roast Lab exists to explain the equipment and the measurements behind a coffee roast, without selling anything or pretending there is a single correct way to roast.
What this site is
Roast Lab is a reference library. It documents twenty-eight tools across five categories of a roasting setup, provides three free calculators that show their working, and publishes articles explaining the concepts those tools measure.
Every tool guide follows the same structure: what the tool does, the specifications that genuinely affect a roast, the safety considerations specific to it, and practical guidance from experience rather than marketing copy.
What this site is not
Roast Lab does not sell coffee, roasting equipment, accessories or anything else. There are no affiliate links, no sponsored coverage, and no manufacturer partnerships influencing what appears here. Nothing on this site should be read as an endorsement of a specific brand or model.
We also do not promise results. Coffee roasting depends on your machine, your green coffee, your environment and your own palate. What works in one setup may not transfer to another. Treat everything here as a starting point to test, not a rule to follow.
How the content is organised
Five tool categories
Roasting Equipment, Green Coffee & Storage, Temperature & Measurement, Cooling & Cupping, and Cleaning & Maintenance - grouped by where each tool sits in a roast.
Three free calculators
Green coffee weight, roast profile estimation and extraction ratios. Each one displays the formula it uses so you can verify the arithmetic.
Ten reference articles
Concept-level explanations of first crack, development time, roast levels, cupping, storage, grind and brew ratio, maintenance and defect diagnosis.
Safety first
Roasting involves several hundred degrees of heat and combustible chaff. Every relevant guide carries the specific hazards involved rather than a generic warning.
Accuracy and corrections
Specifications listed in tool guides describe typical ranges for a category, not any individual model. Manufacturers vary considerably, and the supplied documentation for your equipment always takes precedence over generic guidance.
If you find an error, an outdated figure, or guidance that does not match your experience, the contact page is the right place to raise it. Corrections are welcome and are made openly.
Coffee roasting carries real hazards: extremely hot metal, airborne combustible chaff, carbon monoxide from combustion, and accumulated oil in ducting. We describe these plainly because leaving them out would make the guides less useful. Always follow the manufacturer instructions for your specific machine, and treat the safety notes here as a supplement rather than a replacement.