Breeze Senior Member Joined: 3 Dec 2006 Posts: 733 Location: St. Croix, V.I. Expertise: Pro Roaster
Espresso: Pasquini Livia S Grinder: Mazzer Mini/Rocky Drip: TechniVorm/Krups MB Roaster: Toper 1 kilo
Posted Sat Dec 22, 2012, 1:40pm Subject: Small lot commercial roaster back for a visit.
Hola:
Haven't been following the threads nor have I posted in some time. Still up here in the mountains in St. Croix, Virgin Islands roasting coffee!
Given my small market (45,000 souls with plenty economic down draft) I'm still finding my 1 kilo Toper gas fired drum adequate.
I transitioned a year or so ago to Sweet Maria's "Shrub" operation, and the quality of the coffee offered, packaging and shipping are not to be beat.
My operation in this small community is, "my hand to yours, roast on demand, no adverts and no retail". I offer SM Shrub selections @ $15 a pound in a high grocery cost territory.
Comments and questions welcome and season's greetings to all and those with whom I have communicated, in the past.
germantownrob Senior Member Joined: 2 Dec 2007 Posts: 2,018 Location: Philadelphia Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Duetto 3, A Dead Oscar Grinder: Vario-W, Preciso w/Esatto,... Drip: Brazen Roaster: Diedrich IR-1, HT B
Posted Sat Dec 22, 2012, 3:27pm Subject: Re: Small lot commercial roaster back for a visit.
Great to hear from you and still jealous of you. Hope your holidays are warm, sunny, and full of magic!
I order 60lbs a time from SM's since I can get the UPS shipping deal of $21 for up to 60lbs, coffee shrub still costs me more per pound for 50-75lbs because of the non discounted shipping. I have ordered from the Shrub a couple of times and the packaging is superior in both beans and shipping carton. You probably order more then 60lbs at a time and UPS doesn't have a truck that can go under water yet so the few cents a pound I save really doesn't mean squat.
I only loose money having a 1kg machine since I give everything away but I do have the happiest customers, lol.
Can do with the sand. It's also $15 a pound plus shipping. I gotta warn you that it cups a little flat though......
I was in snow in the Rockies and San Juan Mountains in October. Our nearest snow here is on El Capitan, +10,000 elevation on Hispanola. Enjoy your white christmas and I'll enjoy the white sand at Jacks Bay tomorrow morning.
Breeze Senior Member Joined: 3 Dec 2006 Posts: 733 Location: St. Croix, V.I. Expertise: Pro Roaster
Espresso: Pasquini Livia S Grinder: Mazzer Mini/Rocky Drip: TechniVorm/Krups MB Roaster: Toper 1 kilo
Posted Mon Dec 24, 2012, 1:00pm Subject: Re: Small lot commercial roaster back for a visit.
Rob, how is your infrared treating you, after some time in the saddle? My old Toper cranks it out but probably isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. I have run so many kilo lots through it though that I kind of know how it thinks.
One big favor I did myself was to go to 50# lots from Shrub. I order three bags at a time so I usually have six offerings but increasing the stock quantity of each coffee and decreasing the number of selections and avoiding ten and twenty pound lots has helped me with the individual roasts. I was hopping around too much prior to this.
I guess I've also noticed, that like a baker, when you do something over and over and over again, rather than wondering what's going on, the roast tends to talk to you and you fine tuning becomes easier and mistakes fewer.
I was out West this year, avoiding hurricane season here, and coffee prices were somewhat of an eye opener. Selections that I offer (way down here) were selling for two to three dollars more per bag. I do OK by having 0 overhead and our economy is worse than Greece so I'm holding my fifteen dolla deal, for the time being. As always, if I retailed, advertised or anything, I could bump sales but roasting to order and swapping a bag for cash in my normal rounds seems to be the way I want to continue.
May your Christmas be white and your future bright.
Posted Mon Dec 24, 2012, 1:05pm Subject: Re: Small lot commercial roaster back for a visit.
Breeze, great to hear from you. You have the life.
Len
"Coffee leads men to trifle away their time, scald their chops, and spend their money, all for a little base, black, thick, nasty, bitter, stinking nauseous puddle water." ~The Women's Petition Against Coffee, 1674
Symbols: = New Posts since your last visit = No New Posts since last visit = Newest post
Forum Rules: No profanity, illegal acts or personal attacks will be tolerated in these discussion boards. No commercial posting of any nature will be tolerated; only private sales by private individuals, in the "Buy and Sell" forum. No cross posting allowed - do not post your topic to more than one forum, nor repost a topic to the same forum. Who Can Read The Forum? Anyone can read posts in these discussion boards. Who Can Post New Topics? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post new topics. Who Can Post Replies? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post replies. Can Photos be posted? Anyone can post photos in their new topics or replies. Who can change or delete posts? Any CoffeeGeek member can edit their own posts. Only moderators can delete posts. Probationary Period: If you are a new signup for CoffeeGeek, you cannot promote, endorse, criticise or otherwise post an unsolicited endorsement for any company, product or service in your first five postings.
= No New Posts since last visit 