Abstract: The invention concerns a method and an apparatus for the roasting of small quantities of coffee beans in a vertically aligned, cylindrical roasting chamber, to which unroasted coffee beans can be charged batchwise, and from which, following the roasting procedure, the said coffee beans can be removed. The roasting is effected by means of hot air flow through the roasting chamber (4) and the roasted coffee beans are cooled by a cooling air flow, following their removal from said roast chamber. In accord with the invention, the roasting and the cooling of the coffee beans can be regulated by means of a programmable control element, wherein at least the combination of the parameters, time of roasting, roasting temperature, and volume flow of the roasting hot air are stored as data sets in the control element and the hot air flow can be regulated by means of a frequency speed control of a side channel compressor.

Abstract: A coffee-bean roaster for small quantities of coffee, which has a cylindrical roasting chamber (11) and in which only one fan (35) is provided for roasting and for cooling, is described. The coffee beans are roasted in the roasting chamber as a result of the blowing-in of heated air via at least two blowing-in conduits (12) which are arranged off-center and of which the blowing-out direction is set at an angle of between 0.degree. and 30.degree. relative to the roasting-chamber axis in the tangential direction. After the roasting operation has ended, the roasted coffee beans are transferred, via an openable bottom (19) of the roasting chamber, into a collecting container (5), the sieve-like bottom of which is connected to the supply-air conduit (28), so that the roasted coffee beans are cooled by the sucked in supply air of the roasting chamber (FIG. 3).