The Diedrich IR series roasters.

The loyalty of roastmasters for their machines rivals that of car owners. The thing that becomes very clear when talking to coffee roasters is that whatever machine a person roasts on, that's the best, period. It's a lot like cars. You're either a Chevy or Ford man. If you own a Chevy, you'll never own a Ford and vice-versa. For both cars, and the Diedrich roasters, the common phrase of "they don't make them like they used to," is definitely apt. In Diedrich's case, though, they don't make them like they used to because they make them better than they used to.

This is not your father's Diedrich. If there has ever been a company willing to take criticism and use it constructively, practically reinventing its products in the process, it's Diedrich. Originally building small-batch shop roasters for those without large batches of cash, Diedrich has greatly improved its product over the years to become a real contender, with a very loyal customer base.

Talking to Stephan Diedrich, who heads up this manufacturing company, one gets the sense of someone for whom learning is a prime importance. To own and appreciate a Diedrich roaster, indeed, takes a willingness to learn. Roasting coffee, after all, is a business which is knowledge-intensive, yet that knowledge is held tightly to the vests of those who have it, and must be actively sought out by those who don't. The dedicated and serious generally prevail. And as the dedicated and serious search, they'll find that the Diedrich IR series roasters are simple machines to master, making them especially well suited as a first roaster.

A person has to be interested in roasting coffee, though, to appreciate the Diedrich. For the roaster who is eager to learn ever-more about their craft - about coffee's variations from origin to origin, about the way our senses react to the variables in our beloved beverage - for this roaster, one of the Diedrich IR series machines (available in 7, 12, and 24 kilo sizes) could be the right one. With Diedrich's small batch, in-store roasters, the roastmaster has a good deal of control and room for personal experimentation.

For the operator who just wants an in-store roaster because he thinks he needs it to add some sense of show and credibility to his store, but doesn't want to bother with such details as learning how to cup coffee or how the various variables in the roasting process affect the final product, there are better machines. It would be best to move on in search of a more fully automatic machine with plenty of bells and whistles.