Legendary Probatino Commercial Roaster Review 2024

Key Features of the Legendary Probatino Roaster

Are you in the business of selling specialty coffees by the drink? Do you want to start selling your brand or blend of fresh ground coffee to your customers? Do you live in a large household filled with power drinkers and want the ultimate coffee flavor experience?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, you’ll love our in-depth review of the legendary Probatino commercial roaster.

It’s the smallest roaster the company makes, but it doesn’t sacrifice quality or capability. It is an excellent choice for smaller coffee houses or home roasters who plan to roast in bulk for friends and extended family.

It’s not cheap, but you get what you pay for. Best of all, if this particular model proves to be too small for your purposes, the company also offers machines that can handle much larger capacity loads.

In any case, we’ll cover everything this great little machine can do in the sections that follow, so you’ll have all the information you need to make an informed decision.

Form Factor, Footprint & Aesthetic

The first thing you’ll notice about the Probatino commercial roaster is that it’s almost shockingly small, with a footprint measuring just 36.5” x 24” x 45.”

At this size, it’s small enough to fit on a sturdy work table or a rolling utility cart, but it weighs a hefty 260 pounds, so if you’re planning to place it on either a table or a cart, just be sure it’s sturdy enough to handle the load.

The rolling utility cart idea is excellent because it would be relatively easy to relocate the roaster if necessary.

As far as aesthetics go, it’s not a particularly attractive machine, but it’s not ugly either. You can tell, though, that the designers spent most of their efforts on functionality and performance and only gave a passing consideration to aesthetics.

That’s not a bad thing, and the machine is attractive enough to make an excellent addition to most any commercial kitchen, it’s just not something that will make people stand up and take particular notice. It’s all business.

Features, Capabilities, and Capacity

The Probatino roaster is full-featured and capable, allowing you to control every variable of the roasting process, from the amount of airflow the unit gets to the rotational speed of the drum and, of course, the temperature.

Speaking of temperature, the Probat is a ​gas-powered roaster (with either propane or natural gas configurations available), which most serious home and commercial roasters prefer. Master Chefs also prefer cooking on gas stoves rather than electric ones. It just gives you more precise control.

Even better, the control panel’s ergonomic placement makes all of the controls easy to access.

It features a solid roasting drum and a custom paddle mixer that ensure optimal blending and an amazingly consistent roast. The control panel also features a conveniently located burner sight glass, a bean sampler, and a digital thermometer for continuous monitoring of the process.

The cooling tray has a magnetic catching system that allows for easy tipping and bean dumping. This machine is designed for ease of use and convenience.

As many things as we like about it, the Probat Probatino has one shortcoming. There’s no USB port, so there’s no way to connect the machine to a PC to develop roasting profiles. Once you gain hands-on experience using the machine, getting a high degree of consistency from one batch to the next is possible, but it will take time and practice.

From a capacity standpoint, the roaster can handle batches ranging in size from 1.75-2.2 pounds, with an average roasting time of fifteen minutes. Based on those figures, you can count on being able to do 3-4 batches an hour (note: the darker you roast, the more time each batch will take, which could put you over the fifteen-minute mark).

That’s fine for coffee houses that make most of their profits selling specialty coffee drinks by the cup, but if a significant portion of your profit comes from selling specialty blends by the pound, then this roaster is likely to be inadequate for your needs. Again though, the company sells much bigger machines that are capable of handling any volume you can throw at them.

Presets and Controls

There’s not a lot to talk about here. There are no presets, and the controls are all straightforward and intuitive, which gives the machine a very gently sloping learning curve. You can learn the basics of the Probatino coffee roaster’s operation in a matter of minutes, although mastering its use will take some time.

The key here is to trust your eyes and ears. The unit’s excellent design makes it easy to view the roasting chamber, so you’ll be able to clearly see the beans as they progress through their color change. Just keep a watchful eye out and listen for the first and second cracks, and you’ll be producing world-class roasts every single time.

Chaff Management & Smoke Suppression

Most roasters struggle with these two issues to some degree, which makes the Probatino for sale a pleasant surprise because it handles both issues very well. The exhaust system is well-designed and powerful, and chaff management is excellent thanks to a separate cyclone that helps separate your roasted beans from unwanted chaff particles.

In our book, it’s this kind of excellence in design, engineering, and manufacture that more than makes up for the lack of USB support. It’s just a great machine, from top to bottom.

Using the Machine, Cleaning & Maintenance

The best comparison we can give when it comes to learning to use the legendary Probat commercial roaster is chess. Owing to the unit’s exceptional design, learning the basics will only take you a matter of minutes. True mastery, however, will take a considerable amount of time.

You’ve got to learn how responsive the controls are, what settings produce the results you’re looking for, and when to stop the process, with the understanding that the roast will continue for a brief period after you kill the heat and transfer the beans to the cooling tray.

Once again, the manufacturer deserves high marks for its design excellence in keeping the unit clean. Thanks to conveniently located maintenance ports and doors, everything is easy to access.

A good rule of thumb is to give the roaster a thorough cleaning after about every five roasts. However, the darker you prefer to roast, the more often you’ll have to stop production for cleaning. At the end of the day, just let your eyes be your guide and clean as needed.

Pros & Cons of the Legendary Probatino Roaster

Honestly, almost everything about this machine is excellent. We love it and find it to be the perfect blending of design excellence, functionality, and capacity. We’re not starry-eyed about it though, and there are a trio of shortcomings that might turn some potential buyers off. These are:

Legendary Probatino Commercial Roaster Review Conclusion

No matter how you slice it, the legendary Probatino commercial roaster is an impressive machine, offering incredible convenience and ease of use in a relatively small footprint. Not only that, but you get the company’s legendary reputation for quality and support.

Sure, it’s one of the more expensive models in its class, but given the quality and longevity of these machines, we regard that as a premium well worth paying, and we recommend the Probat without hesitation to anyone.

Recommended Reading

Fresh Roast SR700 Review

Our evaluation highlights the Fresh Roast SR700 Roaster, easy-to-use and perfect for casual coffee drinkers experimenting with small-batch roasting.

Sedona Elite 3200 Commercial Roaster Review

Our assessment revolves around the Sedona Elite 3200 Roaster, sturdy, capable, and offering exceptional value for those utilizing its capacity.

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Official Manufacturer Support

Sources & Resources

• Probatino User Manual.
• Probat, Official Brand Website. 
• Coffee Roasting Basics: Developing Flavour by Roasting, Barista Institute.
• Let’s Talk About Roasting, Barista Hustle.
• Roast Profile & Degrees of Roast, Beans.