I love my Roaster!

October 4, 2012: I used my new coffee roaster at the Gillum House Bed & Breakfast again tonight. Although this one is brand new, it is not my first.Allow me to explain. Several years ago an innkeeper friend became a tea consultant. Remember the Tupperware parties – this was tea and tea accessories. So to help her get started, I had a party, a friend booked a party and I booked a party at the friend’s (hers was in the afternoon and mine was in the evening because it was an overnight trip for the demonstrator friend) so everyone was happy. I ended up with over 100 varieties of tea for my guests to choose from!Then I started thinking that I was discriminating against my coffee guests – all they got to choose from was regular or decaf. So I went to my computer and did a search on coffee roasters. I found this wonderful roaster that was actually made in the USA (Wisconsin) AND it was affordable!!   Nesco Professional Made right here is Wisconsin by our friends at the Nesco factory (Two Rivers). The Nesco 1010 will roast as light or dark as you want while remaining smoke free. Produces great tasting coffee and a very even roast. The latest version has a higher roasting temperature, which cuts down on roast times and produces a brighter better tasting cup. Even easier to achieve a darker roast!  So I bought it and started buying green coffee beans from around the world.One day I was roasting a teaberry coffee (very small bean) and against all instructions from the manufacturer that say DO NOT LEAVE UNATTENDED WHEN IN USE, was called to the door. My husband went into the kitchen and yelled for me – the roaster was glowing red and smoke had filled the kitchen and the smoke alarm was screaming! HE was standing between me and the roaster! I could not get to it without knocking him over – with him on crutches it would not take much. (Yes, it belonged in a Mack Sennet silent film – us old folks understand what I mean.) Finally he moved, I killed the surge protector, and took the remains of the roaster outside. A small bean had gotten stuck under the auger and it could not turn but the roaster kept roasting. (I learned to heed warnings!) After clearing the smoke from the kitchen, I went to my computer and ordered #2.Now, after several years of yeoman duty, my wonderful roaster was showing signs of being tired – hey, roasting a batch of coffee every day plus several times a year being forced to roast about 10 lbs of green coffee beans in 2 days, you would be tired too. She has not quit on me yet.

Gillum House mug by Riffle Pottery

#3 arrived a couple days ago. Just in time for one of my yeoman weekends. Besides roasting coffees for guests (we keep between 16 and 20 countries plus at least 6 in decaf) every day, we are roasting coffees for a Silent Auction Donation to accompany 2 of our Gillum House mugs made by Riffle Pottery of Cowen, WV. This weekend, #2 and #3 will be roasting in concert to complete the task. Thank you Nesco for making this lovely roaster. And Burman coffee company for being so fast with coffee orders.