Bring on the coffee!

So, I made a significant investment. I purchased 130 pounds of Kenya AA. At $2.75/lb, it wasn't cheap, but by I saved $.25/lb by buying the whole sack. It arrived at Harvest Moon on Friday, and I couldn't wait for Thor to get up so we could go get the sucker. I underestimated the size of the thing, so a kind man helped me carry it to the car. It came in an awesome burlap sack as pictured below>
Everyone who has seen it, asks if they can have the bag when I am done. The answer stands at "no", so don't bother asking. I plan on selling fresh roasted coffee to friends for about the price of Folger's. This way everyone wins, and I can reinvest the profits into our roaster. In the past week, we have roasted around 5 lbs and it gets better every time.












But, as you can tell by the picture of our roaster below, it is quite rudimentary. The thin scraps of metal welded together to make our frame, as well as the piece of crap stock pot drum do not stand up to the heat very well. They both warp, and expand at their leisure with no amount of predictability. As a result, we have had to adjust the machine--meaning hit it with hammers, and bend it with a crowbar-- whenever something goes wrong. There are two problems that have reared their ugly head.

1. The drum expands, the the box shrinks, so the gear motor locks up. BAD.

2. Beans fall out of the machine like a sieve. ALSO BAD.

These complications have had Andy and I thinking, and today he had a wonderful revelation. it is pictured below. Pardon the quality, I took it with my phone.


What is it? That is the cursed wood burning stove that started the fire that destroyed my in-laws old house... It lay in the ashy muck of a basement for a month after the fire, and has resided in a patch of trees at the back of their property ever since. This picture isn't complete--we had already stripped it down a whole lot. Anyway, it will make the PERFECT shell for our full sized final roaster. Andy thinks he can secure a huge piece of pipe that will become our drum. If he takes care of that, I confidently believe that for less than $200, we can build a roaster that will effectively rival commercial roasters that retail for about $10k. I wish you could have seen Andy and I's faces as we removed the sheet metal sides to expose the perfect answer to our prototype woes. I can hardly contain my excitement.

Nonetheless, our prototype does the trick. So, if you live in or around Canal Winchester, I will sell you FRESH roasted top quality Kenya AA for $6/lb. Of course, you may try before you buy, so give me a call, or pay me a visit. I will roast at your request and to your preferred roast. Thanks for reading!