Our all-time favorite popper-roaster, the West Bend Poppery 2, is becoming harder to find; it was discontinued years ago and has only been available in thrift stores and on ebay.  And the hunt for an affordable air popcorn popper that works as a coffee roaster has become quite a hassle in some areas. There are still poppers that are sold at Walgreens, Target or other stores that can work; but they can be hit or miss since they are all built differently and might not be available.

For this reason, we decided to test the waters and offer an air popper. The West Bend Air Crazy beat out the other poppers we tested and our three test models are still working. Any popper you use for roasting will eventually wear down due to the amount of time the motor and heating element need to stay on. Roasting with a popper is a very much a DIY method but we think you will get better results in comparison to using a frying pan or a stovetop popcorn popper.  The one popper that we have abused the most (about 40-50 roasts, about 20 of which were consecutive while at Maker Faire in May 2011) is starting to resist getting to second crack. Consecutive roasts are not recommended as they are a good way to burn out the fan and heating element. Although using an air popper is a good way to get started, we don't consider them to be up to par with machines actually made for coffee roasting. 1040 Watts

Warranty

So, with that said, we are finally offering a hot air popcorn popper to use as a home coffee roaster.  The hard facts:

• Hot air popcorn poppers are not made for coffee roasting.


• The manufacturer’s warranty will be voided when you use it for anything other than popping corn.


• Please keep in mind that we are selling this as the best popper we know of but it won’t last forever. Unless the machine is DOA (Dead On Arrival), we cannot accept any returns or honor any refunds. 


• All poppers are different and you might need to add an extension cord, or roast in a cooler place (or vice versa) to slow down or heat up the roast. This is strictly a DIY method.
  

So, Caveat Emptor! (Let the Buyer Beware!) We will be selling a limited stock for now and will continue to sell them if our customers are satisfied with them.  Do we sound ambivalent about selling these? We are.

Be sure to read the details page on using a hot air popper - there are two videos there to show the process so you know what to expect.