Home Roasting via Internet

[Fresh Roaster]

Just curious how many home roasters or even retailers for that matter, would be interested in roasting over the internet on a fully professional style drum roaster? You select the coffees, create the blend, create a profile, control air flow, drum speed, pressure, etc., and designate a finishing color or value (e.g., Full City, "72", or some consistent color scale number or Agtron value... something like that). In other words, you operate it from your home computer like you were sitting in front of the roaster and the roast gets sent to you FEDEX. While you're waiting for it to finish maybe you create a custom label.

Anyway, we've been toying with this but we're not sure how much interest there would be. Sort of like a coffee roasting service for small quantities... or even medium and large I guess. But the point being that each roast is absolutely customized. Just interested in any thoughts.

 

[Davec]

Wow, how terrible.....unless I could see and hear the roast for myself, I wouldn't be happy to use such a system. I would be suprised if anyone would actually want to use it!

People buy roasted coffee online and pay a premium, because of the roast masters "skills".

 

[Fresh Roaster]

Wow, how terrible.....unless I could see and hear the roast for myself, I wouldn't be happy to use such a system. I would be suprised if anyone would actually want to use it!

People buy roasted coffee online and pay a premium, because of the roast masters "skills".

True, point taken, but not everyone can have a professional drum roaster in their home and as most people here usually say... it's what's in the cup that counts. :wink: Right? Now, does seeing and hearing a roast make bad coffee good? And what if you COULD see and hear the cracks? Can't do much about smell but the multimedia tools are there...

I won't go into the comparison of a roast out of a popcorn popper as opposed to one out of a Probat or similar roaster. There's also the question of selection. If you had say, 160 varietals to chose from and any desired blend thereof?

 

[Davec]

It's really like going to a restaurant and being told to go in the Kitchen and cook your meal yourself....why would you want to, when your paying for a skilled chef to prepare your meal?

Sure you get access to all his "ingredients" and his cookware and cooker....but at the end of the day, it's how you put them together and cook them that counts.......experience is what your paying for.

P.S. The multimedia experience is no substitute for being at the tiller of the roaster, many factors can affect the roast and you need to be there to ensure everything goes as expected.....roasting is also a lot about "feel" and you don't get that from the Internet.

 

[Fresh Roaster]

It's really like going to a restaurant and being told to go in the Kitchen and cook your meal yourself....why would you want to, when your paying for a skilled chef to prepare your meal?

Sure you get access to all his "ingredients" and his cookware and cooker....but at the end of the day, it's how you put them together and cook them that counts.......experience is what your paying for.

P.S. The multimedia experience is no substitute for being at the tiller of the roaster, many factors can affect the roast and you need to be there to ensure everything goes as expected.....roasting is also a lot about "feel" and you don't get that from the Internet.

Actually, it's more like having a Wolfgang Puck meal professionally prepared and delivered to your home. Regardless, there is still the issue that few people can afford to have a roaster in their home other than some cheap hand held air popper that stinks the place up and has absolutely none of the controls of a professional roasting device.

 

[pbmac]

I find it interesting that you ask for people's opinions about your idea...then when someone gives their opinion you have a reason why they are wrong.....that is an interesting approach.

If you want opinions then accept them as what you asked for - other people's input - instead you argue and tell them they are wrong.

I won't share my opinion about your idea - I get enough grief in life the way it is. The fact that you have gotten such minimal feedback I think speaks louder than anything I could say.

 

[ourcoffeebarn]

Anyway, we've been toying with this but we're not sure how much interest there would be.

Most of the people like me who post on Coffee Forums are roasters already and speaking for myself your idea is way off the beaten path and you will have a VERY hard time selling that idea to anyone who already roasts coffee for a living! It sounds more like an insult of our passion for roasting coffee.

Just curious how many home roasters or even retailers

I can't speak for the future home roasters but I would bet that the ones already roasting at home would not like it either. Wake up Fresh Roaster and let them get the entire experience of the sounds sights and smells.

 

[ElPugDiablo]

Sounded like you are trying to do toll roasting for people. You would have to stock inventory for a lot of people. For example, I use Blue Batak Sumatra, but someone else use Golden Sumatra, the two are similar but not the same. Substitute one with the other you will be altering flavor profile and peoples expectation.

 

[Fresh Roaster]

Sounded like you are trying to do toll roasting for people. You would have to stock inventory for a lot of people. For example, I use Blue Batak Sumatra, but someone else use Golden Sumatra, the two are similar but not the same. Substitute one with the other you will be altering flavor profile and peoples expectation.

Actually, think of it as toll roasting for the little guys and home roasters. As far as the selection, that would be another big advantage as there would be a very large selection... say 160-300 different coffees. Our thought is to work in conjunction with a large broker and pass the savings on to the end user who usually buys very high priced low quantities out of already premium priced small lots. So as a "partial" or co-op buyer of a container of Blue Batak, the end green price could be significantly lower.

What really struck me in considering the commercial possibility was seeing some of the wholesale prices lately. Five pound generic (non-private label) pillow sacks (non-valved) house blend medium roast at $12 per pound... BEFORE freight. WOW!

 

[caffe biscotto]

Just curious how many home roasters or even retailers for that matter, would be interested in roasting over the internet on a fully professional style drum roaster? You select the coffees, create the blend, create a profile, control air flow, drum speed, pressure, etc., and designate a finishing color or value (e.g., Full City, "72", or some consistent color scale number or Agtron value... something like that). In other words, you operate it from your home computer like you were sitting in front of the roaster and the roast gets sent to you FEDEX. While you're waiting for it to finish maybe you create a custom label.

Anyway, we've been toying with this but we're not sure how much interest there would be. Sort of like a coffee roasting service for small quantities... or even medium and large I guess. But the point being that each roast is absolutely customized. Just interested in any thoughts.

Hey Fresh Roaster, I don't understand the concept of selling roasted coffee to someone who is already set up to do their own roasting at home.

Are "home roasters" really a part of your targeted market?

That aside...

What would be the minimum order?

Could you compete with high volume roaster pricing?

Offer private labeling and dropshipping?

Thanks,
Ed

 

[Fresh Roaster]

Hey Fresh Roaster, I don't understand the concept of selling roasted coffee to someone who is already set up to do their own roasting at home.

Are "home roasters" really a part of your targeted market?

That aside...

What would be the minimum order?

Could you compete with high volume roaster pricing?

Offer private labeling and dropshipping?

Thanks,
Ed

Well, for starters, home roasting doesn't have much control. This product would allow all of the features and controls of a professional drum roaster, e.g., air flow, drum speed, precise profiling, pressure, in'line color analysis, etc.

The idea would be that you could do as little as a pound but after talking to some retailers it dawned on us that some of the smaller ones paying big bucks for small relative small quantities might also find it compelling. And yes, private label is a key. It started out as sort of a fun custom label thing and quicky gave credence to the potential for commercial private label... Drop ship? No... I don't think so. Doesn't fit the product concept unless perhaps you create and sell very unqiue private label or signature small quantities for someone like a five start restaurant or hoter at a huge premium.

It wouldn't be cheap but it also wouldn't be outrageous. Considering what small quantity green is going for I think it could be very competitive price wise given that the green purchase becomes a co-op of sorts. What do you think? $12, 13, 14 a pound? Just throwing out a number.

 

[PinkRose]

Interesting topic....

You know, if I could find a place that would customize the roasting of my coffee order, I would consider giving it a try. I guess the problem would be in finding the exact roast profile that I would like for a particular type of coffee.

As much as I would love to have the experience of the sights, sounds and smells, I don't have the time or energy to roast coffee at home. I would, however, like to have coffee roasted exactly the way I want it and not constantly have to play "hit or miss" with the coffee from my local roaster because I've caught him on a bad day.

Rose

 

[ElPugDiablo]

I would think selling roasted beans to home roasters is a hard sell. They are by nature tinkerers, just like home brewers and home wine makers, even with imprecise equipment they think they can roast with the best of them; although I doubt they are on par with the likes of top specialty roasters, judging from some of the coffees some indie roasters are hawking, I think their believe has some validity. I would concentrate on the indie cafes. I doubt many are wholesaling 5 pound generic at $12 a pound, in my area, I am seeing $5 to $7 a pound.

 

[Fresh Roaster]

I would think selling roasted beans to home roasters is a hard sell. They are by nature tinkerers, just like home brewers and home wine makers, even with imprecise equipment they think they can roast with the best of them; although I doubt they are a par with the likes of top specialty roasters, judging from some of the coffees some indie roasters are hawking, I think their believe has some validity. I would concentrate on the indie cafes. I doubt many are wholesaling 5 pound generic at $12 a pound, in my area, I am seeing $5 to $7 a pound.

Intelligentsia as of this week... 5 pound generic pillow sack, breakfast blend, medium roast. $60 + shipping & handling. Pretty scary. :shock:

Then when I see Sweet Maria's with rather pedestrian Sumatra at $6.00 green plus shipping... hmmm... Is it really worth pretty much destroying $6.00 green with a popcorn popper? Or do you experiment all that much at $6 per shot minimum? Part of this concept involves partnering with a green coffee broker which results in huge selection as well as significant savings on volume pricing versus paying the premium for small lot green and breaking up already small lots.

Regardless, perhaps the combination of fooling around with home roasting and having a real roaster as a resource to do "final" roasts might be useful. Maybe the smaller volume guys could benefit. Not sure and the reason I'd like to hear some thoughts. Again, regardless of having prototyped it already it is all very much concept still.

 

[Fresh Roaster]

Anybody want to beta test?