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Idaho-based coffee roasting machine maker Diedrich Roasters has launched its first electric roaster, the 3-kilo-capacity DR3-E.
[Note: This story is part of DCN’s ongoing coverage of the 2024 SCA Expo in Chicago.]
The electric-heat model follows the launch of Diedrich’s original gas-powered DR3 two years ago, which has proven to be a popular model among small specialty coffee roasters and larger existing Diedrich clients with specific small-batch or profiling needs.
The electric model has been in development in Diedrich’s headquarters in Ponderay, Idaho, since shortly after the original DR3 launch.
It’s something that the market has been asking for and we’re glad to be able to provide it right now,” Diedrich representative Launtia Taylor told DCN at the electric roaster’s launch at the 2024 SCA Expo in Chicago. “It’s manufactured in the U.S., of course, and it’s a part of the Diedrich line that we’re very excited about.”
The DR-3 is among a wave of new electric-heat roasters to hit the market, all of which responds to commercial market interest in machines that eliminate the need for natural gas.
One row at the Expo incidentally featured high-tech electric machines from three relatively new players in roasting technology — Bellwether, Aillio and Roest — all of which had small capacity shop models or sample roasters on display. Machines such as those add to the growing field of small-batch electric roasters from longer-established manufacturers, whose new electric machines tend to resemble traditional drum models in terms of styling and feature translatability to larger models.
With built-in profiling and management software, Diedrich’s new DR3-E can also be outfitted with Cropster or Artisan solutions.
Diedrich CEO Karl Schmidt told DCN that the DR3-E is likely to be followed by additional electric models from the brand, including something up to 12 kilos of capacity.
The DR3-E is designed to accommodate batches as small as 1 kilo (2.2 pounds), while its capacity extends to about four batches and up to 26 pounds per hour.
Powered in the U.S. with 240V single-phase AC, the countertop machine sits 56.6 inches long, 22.2 inches wide and 41.5 inches high. The company recommends space requirements of 92.6 inches long, 58.2 inches wide and 59.5 inches height.
“We expect this to be very popular, certainly in the U.S., but also in other parts of the world, in China,” Schmidt told DCN. “China is an electric market.”
Representing the smallest machines in Diedrich’s line along with the gas DR-3, DR3-E comes one year after Diedrich launched the largest unit in its line, the 360-kilo capacity DR-360. That machine was designed to accommodate five to six 60-kilo sacks of green coffee per batch.
A DR3-E is currently on display at the SCA Expo through April 14, and sales are now open. Diedrich declined to disclose price specifics, but said the machine is “in line” with other roasters of similar capacity.
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Nick Brown Nick Brown is the editor of Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine.
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