Hottop Roaster Review

It’s been a while since I’ve made a blog post here, so I figured when I did, it should be significant.  I think this one qualifies.

Yesterday I had the good fortune to spend an hour with a customer and friend, Mike M., observing the operations of his Hottop roaster.  We are authorized resellers of Hottops, but quite honestly I had never put one through its paces before this (shame on me, I know).  I’ve rectified that situation with a 9-part series of short videos (each is between 1 and 3 minutes long) showing the construction, features and operation of the machine.  Overall, I found this machine to be well built, nicely featured, easy to operate and produces a great result.

Each video is embedded below, but here’s a link to the entire playlist.

Here’s a link to Hottop Roasters available through our website.  We ship these roasters for free, and include a four-pound green coffee sampler to get you started.

http://www.muddydogcoffee.com

Read Full Post »

Say Hello to My Little Friend

Do you think about the planet when you buy things?  Probably.  It’s almost impossible these days to be unaware, or not care, about issues related to global warming.  It seems natural to think about the planet when you buy a car, or a big kitchen appliance.  Some of us even think of the planet when we buy our coffee – is it Organic?  Shade Grown?  But do you think about the machine that roasted your coffee, and its impact on the planet?  Does it pollute the air?  Does is suck down power derived from fossil fuels?  Joel Starr, in the September 2007 Tea & Coffee Trade Journal http://www.allbusiness.com/environment-natural-resources/pollution-environmental/5523090-1.html observes that “In fact, it’s a safe assumption that coffee roasters and retailers at home, not producers at origin, are responsible for most of the pollution that coffee consumption produces (namely CO2 emissions from the roasting of the coffee and billions of one-time-use, disposable paper cups lids, stir-sticks, etc.). This has to do with many factors, not the least of which is the artisanal roasters preference for “drum” and “fluid-bed” type roasting machines, which have essentially not changed in decades. That is not to say that these machines haven’t improved, they just haven’t “gone green.” “  I’d venture to say not many coffee drinkers think about this particular issue.

In setting up our new roasting business, however, we did think about it.  Our new roaster, or ”Rosie” as she’s been affectionately named here, is one of a kind in the world (right now), and probably about the most eco-friendly roaster on the planet.  Our friend Dan Joliff of U.S. Roaster Corp http://www.usroastercorp.com built the Revelation roaster using advanced technology that virtually eliminates emissions and reduces power consumption to a fraction of a traditional roaster.  We were happy to partner with Dan to input to the design and be the first guinea pig, er, customer, for this exciting new machine that we think will take the roasting community by storm.  We hope he sells a lot of them! 

So when you sip a cup of our coffee, you can do so knowing that you’ve done just a little bit more for the planet than was possible a month ago.

http://www.muddydogcoffee.com/

Read Full Post »

Welcome to Cyberspace

I read a newspaper article today about the future of consumer space travel, and that regular folks (well, regular rich folks) will be visiting space in just a few years. This might not be outer space, but cyberspace might be the next best thing, and here we are today! Sunday, January 27, 2008 is the official launch of Muddy Dog Roasting Company into cyberspace. We will use this forum to inform, educate and entertain, and hope that you will want to participate in the journey.

Read Full Post »