San Franciscan SF-1

the verdict

the SF-1 is a sample roaster and profiling tool, not a production workhorse. it handles 0.1 to 0.5 kg per batch, which translates to roughly 200 to 590 grams of green coffee, and can complete about three roasts per hour for a maximum of roughly 1.8 kg hourly capacity. the manual gas control and quick thermal response make it useful for dialing in new lots before scaling up to a larger machine. build quality matches the rest of the San Franciscan line: schedule 40 steel drum, brass details, walnut baseboard, powder-coated finish. it's compact enough to sit on a countertop and runs on natural gas or propane. the trade-off is capacity: if you need to sample roast more than a few kilos per day, you'll spend all your time at the machine. for roasteries buying dozens of microlots per season or cafes training staff, the SF-1 does the job without the cost of a larger machine.