Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Brady on July 13, 2011 at 7:15am

Welcome, Grandma Furd. I think you've come to the right place, or at least one of them. Lots of smaller roasters here, of varying experience levels. I'm not one of them though, but I did want to share a couple of site navigation tips.

 

There is lots of information in past discussions geared toward beginner roasters. To find previous discussion on roasting, how to start, etc, click the navigation bar at the top of this window where it says "Talk Coffee", you can then either search for discussions using keywords like "beginner roaster" OR view all of the discussions on a certain topic by scrolling down the page and clicking on the topic you want to read - you'll probably want to start with "Coffee and Roasting". There are, at present, 47 pages worth of discussions in this area... so quite a bit to wade through. Please forgive me if any of this advice is too basic, I'm not sure how "new" you really are :). Also please don't hesitate to ask if you need more detailed help in starting on this site. Just click on my picture to visit my page, then click "Send a message" on the left side of the screen to send me a message.

 

Another great resource for small roasters is Sweet Maria's. They sell smaller equipment, green coffees, and also maintain a good online library. That said, I'm sure you'll get great advice from the members of our community.

 

Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Grannie Furd on July 13, 2011 at 10:46am

Brady you sweet thing you ...thank you for the heads up  young man I will take all the help I can get, as the only thing I know about coffee is how to load my coffee maker...LOL

I am very new and want to know it ALL

thanks for the info on clicking on your photo I did not know that would do that cool as my grandson says..

I will check it all out ....

                                     GF

Brady said:

Welcome, Grandma Furd. I think you've come to the right place, or at least one of them. Lots of smaller roasters here, of varying experience levels. I'm not one of them though, but I did want to share a couple of site navigation tips.

 

There is lots of information in past discussions geared toward beginner roasters. To find previous discussion on roasting, how to start, etc, click the navigation bar at the top of this window where it says "Talk Coffee", you can then either search for discussions using keywords like "beginner roaster" OR view all of the discussions on a certain topic by scrolling down the page and clicking on the topic you want to read - you'll probably want to start with "Coffee and Roasting". There are, at present, 47 pages worth of discussions in this area... so quite a bit to wade through. Please forgive me if any of this advice is too basic, I'm not sure how "new" you really are :). Also please don't hesitate to ask if you need more detailed help in starting on this site. Just click on my picture to visit my page, then click "Send a message" on the left side of the screen to send me a message.

 

Another great resource for small roasters is Sweet Maria's. They sell smaller equipment, green coffees, and also maintain a good online library. That said, I'm sure you'll get great advice from the members of our community.

 

Good luck!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by lance battenfield on July 14, 2011 at 4:34pm

Hello grandma furd,

I'm glad to see more people wanting to experience coffee in a new way. I work for a small scale operation currently and we use ambex YM2's. They are great roasters for small scale roasting. i'm not sure what your budget is to get started but if you've done any research i'm sure you can see that it isn't cheap. i think to start a small roasting operation you'll want to get:
 1. a roaster

2. a grinder

3. a scale

4. a heat sealer

5. green coffee

6. and bags and labels and depending on where you're located a three compartment sink for health guildlines. etc.

there are alot of options on roasters besides ambex. there def not cheap.

thats just some of your bigger expenses. www.Sweetmarias.com is a great place to start though.

Good luck with the business! More small towns need tis type of thing.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Paul Swanson on July 15, 2011 at 2:33pm

Hello and welcome!

I am currently roasting and selling at a very small farmers market. It is more of a hobby than a job because of the small volume of sales, but it provides an opportunity to bond with my father, who sells organic produce at the same booth. I sell enough to cover the cost of coffee, bags, labels and have a little cash left over as profit. I don't factor labor or the original cost of the roaster (which roasts 1lb at a time).

At my farmers market I've found that the cost of a pound of coffee is higher than most customers are looking to spend. At $10\lb I'm priced low for the current price of coffee, but I've had success selling 1/4lb bags for $3 each. I also sell brewed coffee for $1 for an 8 oz cup.

I took a roasting and cupping workshop at Booth Coffee Consulting in San Francisco. The information I learned there was valuable. Depending on what type of roaster you buy, the manufacturer may have a training program to teach you how to use the machine.

Good luck!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Grannie Furd on July 16, 2011 at 8:03pm

Than you for the help and info it sounds like all good advise

 

I am looking at starting off with an enexspensive roaster call the

" Homer Big Batch Coffee Roaster" it does 3 lbs at a time 

does anyone know anything about this item??

I noticed that it does not remove the chaffe is thia a big deal and how do you go about removing the chaff  if the roater doe not

this unit seems to be cheeper to start off with and see if the business will work before I spend  big bucks on a bigger better roaster ...............thoughts??????????? 

Paul Swanson said:

Hello and welcome!

I am currently roasting and selling at a very small farmers market. It is more of a hobby than a job because of the small volume of sales, but it provides an opportunity to bond with my father, who sells organic produce at the same booth. I sell enough to cover the cost of coffee, bags, labels and have a little cash left over as profit. I don't factor labor or the original cost of the roaster (which roasts 1lb at a time).

At my farmers market I've found that the cost of a pound of coffee is higher than most customers are looking to spend. At $10\lb I'm priced low for the current price of coffee, but I've had success selling 1/4lb bags for $3 each. I also sell brewed coffee for $1 for an 8 oz cup.

I took a roasting and cupping workshop at Booth Coffee Consulting in San Francisco. The information I learned there was valuable. Depending on what type of roaster you buy, the manufacturer may have a training program to teach you how to use the machine.

Good luck!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Grannie Furd on July 16, 2011 at 8:06pm

Thank you for your info it will help!!!

lance battenfield said:

Hello grandma furd,

I'm glad to see more people wanting to experience coffee in a new way. I work for a small scale operation currently and we use ambex YM2's. They are great roasters for small scale roasting. i'm not sure what your budget is to get started but if you've done any research i'm sure you can see that it isn't cheap. i think to start a small roasting operation you'll want to get:
 1. a roaster

2. a grinder

3. a scale

4. a heat sealer

5. green coffee

6. and bags and labels and depending on where you're located a three compartment sink for health guildlines. etc.

there are alot of options on roasters besides ambex. there def not cheap.

thats just some of your bigger expenses. www.Sweetmarias.com is a great place to start though.

Good luck with the business! More small towns need tis type of thing.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Dustin DeMers on July 16, 2011 at 11:43pm

I personally haven't used the "homer roaster" but the few things I've heard about it arnt good. I looked into buying one about a year ago and the few threads i saw on it talked about how it didn't produce a high enough temp. It would take 30 mins to an hour to complete a roast. In essence baking the coffee instead of roasting it. A typical roast on my home roaster(hottop) takes about 12 to 15 mins. It also only roasts about 1/2 pound at a time. Hope that helps some grandma furd! 
Grannie Furd said:

Than you for the help and info it sounds like all good advise

 

I am looking at starting off with an enexspensive roaster call the

" Homer Big Batch Coffee Roaster" it does 3 lbs at a time 

does anyone know anything about this item??

I noticed that it does not remove the chaffe is thia a big deal and how do you go about removing the chaff  if the roater doe not

this unit seems to be cheeper to start off with and see if the business will work before I spend  big bucks on a bigger better roaster ...............thoughts??????????? 

Paul Swanson said:

Hello and welcome!

I am currently roasting and selling at a very small farmers market. It is more of a hobby than a job because of the small volume of sales, but it provides an opportunity to bond with my father, who sells organic produce at the same booth. I sell enough to cover the cost of coffee, bags, labels and have a little cash left over as profit. I don't factor labor or the original cost of the roaster (which roasts 1lb at a time).

At my farmers market I've found that the cost of a pound of coffee is higher than most customers are looking to spend. At $10\lb I'm priced low for the current price of coffee, but I've had success selling 1/4lb bags for $3 each. I also sell brewed coffee for $1 for an 8 oz cup.

I took a roasting and cupping workshop at Booth Coffee Consulting in San Francisco. The information I learned there was valuable. Depending on what type of roaster you buy, the manufacturer may have a training program to teach you how to use the machine.

Good luck!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Mike McGinness on July 17, 2011 at 3:39am

Granny while I believe your heart is in the right place your business intentions are pure folly. You said yourself "the only thing I know about coffee is how to load my coffee maker" yet you intend to start a coffee roasting business you know absolutely nothing about. Coffee is not an easy business when you know what you are doing and are good at it.

 

If you had the slightest clue about coffee roasting you'd know the Homer is a piece of crap. Well, the convection oven could be good for something, just not roasting anything over 1/2 maybe 3/4lb of coffee. And at that you have to manually remove an over 400f drum full of beans and cool them somehow, cooling not provided with this so called coffee roaster. Oh, and if you roast indoors be sure and disable your smoke detectors because roasting coffee produces smoke. Roast dark and it produces a LOT of smoke.

 

In addition to roasting coffee for over a decade I'm a fairly accomplished chef. Roasting coffee well is one of the most challenging of culinary arts. Making a State Fair Blue Ribbon pie would be easier than Mastering coffee roasting.

 

If you really want to learn about roasting coffee spend a bunch of time reading up at www.sweetmarias.com .

 

I'm not trying to be harsh just speaking what I believe to be true. I've seen far too many businesses, far too many coffee businesses, open and close their doors because people thought the coffee business would be a snap.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Grannie Furd on July 17, 2011 at 1:45pm

Have not had time to read anything about just saw it

However what I have read was that it did take an hr to roat but that was for 3 lbs so would that be good or bad as if it takes you 15 o do 1/2 lb would 1hr be bad for 3lbs ?

Dustin DeMers said:

I personally haven't used the "homer roaster" but the few things I've heard about it arnt good. I looked into buying one about a year ago and the few threads i saw on it talked about how it didn't produce a high enough temp. It would take 30 mins to an hour to complete a roast. In essence baking the coffee instead of roasting it. A typical roast on my home roaster(hottop) takes about 12 to 15 mins. It also only roasts about 1/2 pound at a time. Hope that helps some grandma furd! 
Grannie Furd said:

Than you for the help and info it sounds like all good advise

 

I am looking at starting off with an enexspensive roaster call the

" Homer Big Batch Coffee Roaster" it does 3 lbs at a time 

does anyone know anything about this item??

I noticed that it does not remove the chaffe is thia a big deal and how do you go about removing the chaff  if the roater doe not

this unit seems to be cheeper to start off with and see if the business will work before I spend  big bucks on a bigger better roaster ...............thoughts??????????? 

Paul Swanson said:

Hello and welcome!

I am currently roasting and selling at a very small farmers market. It is more of a hobby than a job because of the small volume of sales, but it provides an opportunity to bond with my father, who sells organic produce at the same booth. I sell enough to cover the cost of coffee, bags, labels and have a little cash left over as profit. I don't factor labor or the original cost of the roaster (which roasts 1lb at a time).

At my farmers market I've found that the cost of a pound of coffee is higher than most customers are looking to spend. At $10\lb I'm priced low for the current price of coffee, but I've had success selling 1/4lb bags for $3 each. I also sell brewed coffee for $1 for an 8 oz cup.

I took a roasting and cupping workshop at Booth Coffee Consulting in San Francisco. The information I learned there was valuable. Depending on what type of roaster you buy, the manufacturer may have a training program to teach you how to use the machine.

Good luck!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Grannie Furd on July 17, 2011 at 2:08pm

WOW ...Mike... chill your road..im not going to make you look bad unless you live in my home town.

1st.. you sound as if I may be taking some business away from you ..I won't unless (again) you live here in my home town and you don't.

2nd. I am sure that if I decied to do this I will make it work as I have had over 11 bussness in my life and all but one was a money maker and I sold for a large profit..

3 rd. this is why im on this blog. and asking questions like what do you think about the homer...daaaaaaa. im learning about this shit!
4th. as for pies my tight butted friend I have been in over 23 Kern county & Calif mid state fairs ( one comeing up this month in Paso ..check it out ) and I have 6,.. count um, 6  blue, 3 red and 13 white pie ribbons)

But thanks for you advise I will take it to heart..

By the way what roaster would you recomend I start off with ?

is it better to go with one that only roasts 1/2 to1 lb at a time or is there a roaster that would do 3-5 lbs  at a time, as it seems that I see small home use and then large 12-25 lbs but they are way to costly to start with

also what beans would be good to start learning with and what are good price for beans

how about where to buy wholesale..

thanks for your help and advise I will take all the help you are willing to give me to be a seccess.........Granny

Mike McGinness said:

Granny while I believe your heart is in the right place your business intentions are pure folly. You said yourself "the only thing I know about coffee is how to load my coffee maker" yet you intend to start a coffee roasting business you know absolutely nothing about. Coffee is not an easy business when you know what you are doing and are good at it.

 

If you had the slightest clue about coffee roasting you'd know the Homer is a piece of crap. Well, the convection oven could be good for something, just not roasting anything over 1/2 maybe 3/4lb of coffee. And at that you have to manually remove an over 400f drum full of beans and cool them somehow, cooling not provided with this so called coffee roaster. Oh, and if you roast indoors be sure and disable your smoke detectors because roasting coffee produces smoke. Roast dark and it produces a LOT of smoke.

 

In addition to roasting coffee for over a decade I'm a fairly accomplished chef. Roasting coffee well is one of the most challenging of culinary arts. Making a State Fair Blue Ribbon pie would be easier than Mastering coffee roasting.

 

If you really want to learn about roasting coffee spend a bunch of time reading up at www.sweetmarias.com .

 

I'm not trying to be harsh just speaking what I believe to be true. I've seen far too many businesses, far too many coffee businesses, open and close their doors because people thought the coffee business would be a snap.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Tom Mohr on July 18, 2011 at 2:13pm

Granny well said I would love to roast and have look at SweetMarias but would like to find a good roaster to use that will not brake the bank

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Grannie Furd on July 18, 2011 at 4:45pm

A Men

Ya know I was thinkin, with all the folks Mike Mcginnes has seen come and go in the coffee business, you would think there would be a few good used coffee roasters out there and one I could get a good deal on

Ha Mike you know of any ?

Tom Mohr said:

Granny well said I would love to roast and have look at SweetMarias but would like to find a good roaster to use that will not brake the bank

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