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Robert L. Witte
 
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Default What roaster to buy?

(Thomas Reat) wrote in message . com>...
> Is the Alpenrost a good roaster, or is the $250-$300 better spent? Is
> the HotTop worth the $600? Is a Zach and Dani's so much worse (at
> about $150, though infomercials make me suspicious)? I don't care how
> big a batch it makes, but I do want a very good one.


Well, at least the folks here are being a little more open minded.
Not all have been very charitable about the Z&D even though they
probably don't own one. I have a Z&D roaster that I got a few months
ago and have cheerfully roasted about 30 pounds of coffee in it
without a hitch, making it pay for itself about 3 times over (in
savings)from what I was paying at the local roaster for "the good
stuff". It works as well as it did the day I got it, and shows no sign
of wear at all.

I bought it after contacting a couple of folks of the group found by
searching the archives that *actually owned one* to see how they liked
it. All but one were really positive. The one that wasn't was sent a
cheerful refund.

The best tip about this machine I can give you is to put on the mitts
and pour out the coffee on cold stoneware plate (put in the freezer
when you start your roast)as soon as you are through roasting. The
auger is hot and I think it continues to cook the beans that touch it
at the base. Although the cool cycle works pretty well, spreading the
beans out on a cold plate cools them almost immediately.

Pros: Excellent for medium roasts. Your roast timer has a five
minute cool down cycle in it, so it actually doesn't roast as long as
some folks think. Further, it will indeed roast a DARK(black)oily
roast for the espresso machine with no problem. Larger roast chamber
than its competitors translates to around 6 oz of coffe per batch.
And with the auger system, all beans are stirred vigorously throughout
the roast making the roast very even. Replacement parts are available
through their excellent customer service (DAMHIKT)at a reasonable
price. Last, it comes with 3 full pounds of coffee to roast. Best of
all, if you don't like the quality of coffee it makes, send it back
within 30 days for a full refund! No harm, no foul. This is tough to
beat.

Cons: If I don't get the top on correctly, it will shut down the
machine and sit until I reset it. I think this is more of an operator
problem than a machine fault. It does put a little chaffe out on the
counter, more or less depending on the coffee beans. I think this is
far outweighed by the fact that I can roast inside anytime since there
is NO smoke at all.

Try it, you'll like it. You may or may not outgrow it. I cannot see
*me* spending hours modifying a popcorn machine to save $50 to make a
machine that roasts about 3 ozs of coffee and makes smoke in the
house. I was seriously looking at the Alpenroast, but after reading
the archives to this group on the machine I decided against it.

The best advice you received so far was to get something affordable to
see if you will actually enjoy the process enough to keep roasting. I
roast coffee for the next day or two while I am fixing breakfast on
Sunday. I roast again on Wednesday and again during the week as
needed. I drink about the normal pound a week. This little machine
makes that all incredibly easy for me to hav efresh roast on hand.

I can't imagine anything to do with roasting being too much easier,
although this dog bowl business sure looks interesting...

OK, before I get blasted: I am not affiliated with Z&D company, not a
family member or godfather to the kids and I don't even live in the
same city. They don't pay my rent or send me free coffee.

As a general contractor I have bought so many crappy machines I am
just happy to buy something that works as advertised and has actually
payed for itself.

Robert