Well, all of the parts of the new roaster arrived over the weekend, and right now, I am engaged in the process of breaking my roaster in with the hope of doing my first test roasts tonight. If all goes well–and I expect it will–I should be back to roasting on a normal schedule tomorrow.
In the mean time, I should also pass along the fact that I will be selling coffee at the Downtown Troy Farmer’s Market at least for the month of June. I will decide toward the end of June whether to do the rest of the season based on sales during the four weeks I know I will be there.
Also, as promised, I will be adding some new coffees to my lineup, specifically Brazilian, Guatemalan Villa Herminia Estate, Mexican Turqueza Estate, and Mexican Chiapas Free Trade Organic. In the near future, I will also add a classic espresso blend, a house espresso blend, and a dark roast blend. If all goes well–again depending on sales–I plan to add more varieties toward the end of the year.
Finally, and unfortunately, the run-up in commodity prices has hit the coffee market pretty hard over the past year, causing some single origin coffees to go up as much as 50 percent in price since last year at this time. Because I price my coffees based on my wholesale cost, I have no choice but to increase my prices in order to cover the cost of buying green beans. Most of the increases will be between 1o and 20 percent ($1 or $2 per pound).
Stay tuned for further developments.
DLH