Roast #1: Roaster Decision

How I came to purchase the Aillio Bullet

I got the Aillio Bullet in early February, and for those who don't know, it's a high-end small-batch coffee roaster.

Before the Aillio Bullet, I roasted my coffee in a cast-iron pot. I'd kick off a roast by first turning on the stove, waiting until the cast-iron pot was smoking, and then dropping the beans and non-stop stirring for 10 minutes. The resulting roasts were always unpleasant; they were always unevenly roasted and scorched.

Me furiously swirling my cast-iron pot roast

I realized that if I wanted good coffee, I had to upgrade. My criteria for a roaster were that it had to be operable through software and had adjustable heat and fan settings. Given my requirements, I narrowed my choices between the Huky 500T, the Hottop 2K+, and the Aillio Bullet.

The Huky 500T

The Huky 500T

I ruled out the Huky as it looked very complex, and its support was supposedly somewhat spotty. The Huky is manufactured and maintained by one person, Kuanho Li, in Taiwan. I think it's fantastic that Li has designed a roaster with so much positive acclaim, but I found it risky to purchase, given its small team. A team of people maintains the Aillio Bullet, so I felt its support would be more reliable and suitable for an amateur roaster like me.

Side note, check out this reddit post Looking to buy a huky 500, where and how?:

yeah, you email kuanho.li@gmail.com. it's an absolutely insane business model but it has apparently worked well for him for years now lol

The Hottop 2K+

The Hottop 2K+

Then there was the Hottop 2K+. I thought I would buy the Hottop 2K+ when I first started my search. Fortunately, they were all sold out, forcing me to consider other alternatives. The Hottop 2K+ fulfilled most of my requirements: it could output roast data, and it could adjust both its heat and fan settings. The Hottop 2K+ was also about a third cheaper than the Aillio Bullet. My issue with the Hottop 2K+ was that it could only roast 250g at a time. The Aillio Bullet could roast up to 1kg, meaning I'd be able to roast in large batches in the hopes of maybe selling my coffee in the future.

The Aillo Bullet R1 V2

The Aillio Bullet R1 V2

What confirmed my decision was the perception that the Aillio Bullet is moving towards the future of roasting. It felt like Aillio was innovating ahead of its counterparts and was considering factors not commonly considered in roasting, specifically software, user experience, and community.

The Bullet seemed like the future, and I wanted a future-proof roaster.