I don't have any experience with either of those roasters. I hope it's okay to suggest another website for info, which is Coffeegeek.com. You'll get a lot of info from their forums section. They have one dedicated to home roasting.

I have been roasting with a GeneCafe for a few years. Mine has been a good roaster. Not as good now that the company sold out and the new owner does not allow do-it yourself fixes of minor problems. As I have heard you have to ship the whole thing back to have them fix it. The tech person at the original firm was glad to help with problems and let you fix it yourself. Nonetheless, once I learned the art of using it I get really good results. It is not automatic and there are "profiles" that you must learn to do. Here is an example: Weigh 227 grams (1/2 pound) of beans. Turn on the roaster and set to 5 minutes at 350* to preheat. Do an emergiency stop. Dump in the beans and put the cylinder back on the roaster as fast as you can so you don't burn out the heating element. Set the time to 17 minutes and the temperature to 473*. Restart the roaster. After about 10 minues listen carefully to hear the first pop of the beans cracking (first crack). Continue roasting for about 1.5 minutes and then cut the temperature to 462*. Continue roasting until the desired color is achieved or at most 2 more minutes. Do an emergiency stop and dump the beans into a fast cooler such as a colander over a vacuum to suck the heat out of the beans as fast as you can. Store the beans open to the air for 1 day, then close the container and store for 2-7 days depending on the bean. Grind and brew. If you want to get into this hobby, I suggest you join one of the online coffee roasting clubs. There you will find fellow roasters asking and commenting about the machine you are using. I belong to several, but mostly go to "greencoffeebuyingclub.com". There are pros there that search for great buys on green beans and distribute them to fellow members at a fair price. Hope this helps.

This GeneCafe looks like too much effort for an "automatic" roaster! Since you have to stay put for the whole duration of the roasting process, you might turn the handle of a stovetop roaster as well.

I've been roasting green beans using a WhirleyPop for about 2 years. Beside the fact that you can roast 1lb at a time, you can control very well the roasting process, especially if you install a dial thermometer (temperature is not important, the thermometer helps to develop a very consistent and reliable roasting procedure).

Also, IMNSHO, for roasts that stop before or just at the beginning of the second crack, the hand-cranking method gives more pleasant results than either the air-roasters or the table-top drum machines. A friend of mine has a Behmor and shares the same taste regarding the coffee origin (mostly Kenya/Ethiopia/Rwanda) and roasting profile. We both agree that my coffee tastes better than his.

The only downside of the WhirleyPop roaster is that peaberry beans are a little small and are not stirred well enough. Oh, and if you have induction, it won't work: the pot is aluminum.

If all you did so far was to use a popcorn airpopper, get a WhirleyPop - it's very inexpensive and, in the worst case, you end up using it for popcorn. But I think that you will enjoy both the experience and the results so much that you won't want to spend the money on the expensive, "automatic" drum roasters anymore.

Serban

I have a WhirleyPop that we use for popcorn. I have used an air popper, IRoast1, IRoast2, and the GeneCafe. My results were best with the IRoast1 but they are so delicate and short lived that I lost mine. Used a replacement for a while and tried the 2 until it died too. The Gene is more durable, but it costs more too.