The Year without Small Air Home Roasters?!....

It is not as grim as all that - Christmas is still coming. But this year we find ourselves in a funny situation with a very limited number of small air roasters to sell for the next four weeks of so, our busiest time of year: a time when customers are looking to buy roasters as gifts.

How does this happen? It has to do with production schedules, shipping schedules, etc etc etc. I personally see the hand of the global financial crisis in this. Really? I don't know for sure, but I think when the economy started to tank last year, factories cut production drastically, maybe due to lack of financing, maybe just predicting drastically less demand. So now when things are trending up just the tiniest bit, there is this lag in availability.

Here is what I do know:

Hearthware i-Roast 2 machines are out likely until March 2010.

The two new models of the Fresh Roast ought to arrive the second week of December - December 7th. If they come in and are off-loaded sooner, we will have them. But they are being made this week I believe in Taiwan, so the container has not yet left port, so any ETA is very tentaive right now.

Nesco roasters we have in stock and ready to ship.

All drum roasters (Behmor, Gene Cafe, HotTop) are in stock and ready to ship.

So what to do? If I were looking to buy a small roaster for someone, someone I thought would really like it and get into roasting their own coffee, I would approach it a couple of ways.

• 1) If I wanted to get my Christmas shopping done and over with, I would buy a gift certificate and give that, with links to the pages where the roasters are described and let them figure out what they what and when;
  
• 2) I would pick one of the roasters we have in stock and buy that. That is provided I thought that the size and roasting method, feature sets, blah, blah, would work for the person I had in mind;
• 3) I would go with one of the more basic, less equipment intensive methods. So buy some coffee, by an air popper, or a stovetop popper, and maybe a book;
  
• 4) I would wait to see if I could pre-order one of the FreshRoasts that are arriving, and see what happens. If the shipment is delayed, maybe the roaster would arrive a bit late, but I could let the recipient know that it is coming eventually. I will update this page when I have new information - so check back.

So, there you have it. Having worked the holiday rush here at Sweet Maria's for the last 11+ years, and dealing with stressed out customers, I can tell you my approach is to do whatever is the LEAST STRESSFUL alternative. No one dies from lack of a home roaster at Christmas. We don't sell kidneys or heart valves here, just coffee and home roasters. Yes, coffee can be wonderful and a great joy, a real source of pleasure; not something to get stressed about.

What is most important to me at this time of year is taking time to be with special person, being with them, hoping that they are happy, etc etc. The intangibles.

I have links below for all of the home roasters both in stock and coming soon. If you need advice on choosing a roaster - I wrote this Choosing a Home Roaster some time ago - and a Choosing Coffee FAQ that might be helpful. If you still have some questions, send us an email. Maria 11/12/09

Behmor Drum coffee roaster: with a 1lb capacity and smoke reducer	Nesco Home Coffee Roaster: latest model, with smoke reducer...	HotTop Drum Roaster: a sturdy build, great cooling	Gene Cafe Half Pound Coffee Roaster with the most simple and sensible roasting controls out there!	Freshroast Coffee Roasters: A great value. New models coming soon!