We have intended to restock this mini roaster after many people showed interest and request for it. It was a great pleasure that we finally located a better source with a slightly improved design. Here I like to share – also as an instruction – how to play with this cute toy.
The new design has a 0~60 minutes timer. After you set the temperature and turn on the device, you need to set the timer to start roasting. I was told this design was intended to give users a better time control, and to prevent over-roasting thus better safety. It had happened to me when I was doing roasting and suddenly my phone rang.. and suddenly the postman came… and suddenly I smelled something burnt and the tea leaves became charcoal.
You can use it for teas as well as herbs. For example, I sometimes pick some rosemary or lavender from our garden and put them in the mini roaster. Setting the temperature to 40 for slow-releasing the fragrance or 60 or a faster room perfuming. Or if you want to dry any herb, using temperature@60 for 15 minutes, and if not enough, another 60 for 15 minutes.
For refreshening or drying the teas, the temperature may depend on the type/shape of the tea. For example, for stripe-shaped teas like yen cha or bao zhong, using temperature@60 for 30 minutes. But for pellet-shaped teas like Dong-Ding or Tie Guan Yin, using temperature@80 for 30 minutes. At the end of each 30-minute, check the condition of the teas to see if you are satisfied. If not, tossing the leaves a bit and do another 30-minute.
Refreshening will, just as its name suggests, return some freshness to the leaves and reduce the moisture content. It usually will not alter the taste/aroma profile. However, roasting is a different thing.
This device provides temperature setting to 100, which is only enough to do basic roasting. Larger or commercial roasters usually provide temperature up to 180. If you are playing with Dong Ding or even Tie Guan Yin, which have both seen more than 100degree temperature during their processing, this mini roaster can only refreshen them. If you are playing with little or non-roasted teas like High-Mountain oolongs or our Jade oolong, you can properly roast them to experience a different taste/aroma.
To do so, set temperature@ 80 for 30 minutes first. Then increase temperature to 100 for 30 minutes. Or you can set timer to 60 minutes but please do check and toss the leaves every 30 minutes.
On tip to place the tea leaves on the metal mesh (second bamboo layer) is to leave a hole at the center. The heat from the heater below can pass through the hole easily and make a more even temperature distribution inside the roaster. Otherwise, all heat has to sieve through the layer of tea leaves and can generate a temperature gradient – which sometimes cause the bottom of the leaves’ layer to over-burnt.
This is a very interesting and functional little device and tea companion. The new safety feature and a better construction are surely additional plus!
Guang 
