Have you ever roasted at a festival / public event?

[NickC]

Hi guys,

I've been invited to roast coffee at an East African street festival / art exhibition that is happening in Adelaide early next year. The festival is bringing artists from the grass roots of Nairobi to the streets of Adelaide to share their work. The organiser feels that having fair trade or fair crack (obviously my preference) coffee from the region would tie in well and having it roasted in front of people's eyes would add a lot more interest to the event than selling it already roasted.

But is this even feasible? I would use a 1kg electric roaster that I've just purchased and is literally just being loaded onto a ship in China. My current experience is limited to a Behmor (and popper) roasting. Which is to say, I'm way out of my depth. But, if it's possible then I think it would be great fun, and life's full of risks!

Has anyone done this before? Things like farmers markets, music festivals, food and wine festivals etc would all be relevant.

Thanks
Nick

[greenman]

Hi Nick
Years ago another CS'er and myself did roasting demos at the WA Coffee Championships in the foyer of the event venue. I used my Corretto set-up and Steve his Hottop. The interest it generated was amazing, a lot of people didn't realise you could roast coffee with a breakmaker and a heatgun!!
Taking the 1kg roaster might be a bit of an ask, but a Corretto, Behmoor or Hotop etc would do the job admirably.
cheers Trevor

[MrJack]

I've often wondered if you could make a successful weekend market stall with a few small roasters (poppers?) to roast on demand or for people to DIY thier own coffee...

[trentski]

Andy roasted some in a Behmor at one of the MICE events one year.
Greg Pullman was roasting with a hottop at the same event

[matth3wh]

Sounds like a cool idea to roast at the festival.

Just a thought and also playing with fire but there's those hand roasters you can shake roast over flames. Bit of wow factor along side the wow of the 1kg or Behmor roaster.

Fire roast would be fairly traditional roast. (?)

[NickC]

Sounds like a cool idea to roast at the festival.

Just a thought and also playing with fire but there's those hand roasters you can shake roast over flames. Bit of wow factor along side the wow of the 1kg or Behmor roaster.

Fire roast would be fairly traditional roast. (?)

A fire roast would be brilliant - really bring it to life! I've never seen it done, but it's on the coffee bucket list now!

[flynnaus]

In mid-2010, Andy got about 5 or 6 CSers together to demo coffee roasting at a Cafe Biz event in Sydney. He generously gave each of us a batch of Aussie MTE beans to roast. It didn't quite turn out as planned as there were 3 or 4 roasters plugged into one power outlet. The combined power draw tripped the circuit breaker before the roasts could finish. I had my beta KKTO plugged into a different power outlet so I was able to complete my roast. Andy was MC and called up a member of the audience to roast on a Sunbeam popper.to demonstrate how easy it was. In fact, if i remember correctly, this produced the best result.

[NickC]

Hi Nick.
That sounds like a good idea. When you get that 1kg roaster from China please share pics and notes. I would love to know your thoughts on quality and performance.

Will do. It's a product that is going well in Europe so hopefully it's all its cracked up to be when I unpack it here.

[NickC]

In mid-2010, Andy got about 5 or 6 CSers together to demo coffee roasting at a Cafe Biz event in Sydney. He generously gave each of us a batch of Aussie MTE beans to roast. It didn't quite turn out as planned as there were 3 or 4 roasters plugged into one power outlet. The combined power draw tripped the circuit breaker before the roasts could finish. I had my beta KKTO plugged into a different power outlet so I was able to complete my roast. Andy was MC and called up a member of the audience to roast on a Sunbeam popper.to demonstrate how easy it was. In fact, if i remember correctly, this produced the best result.

Yes power is probably one of the main hurdles especially for a 1kg roaster - it will need to be plugged into an outlet all of its own. Will need to test how long an extension cord it can handle without losing so much power it doesn't roast.

[matth3wh]

Have you ever roasted at a festival / public event?

I was thinking of this Handy Roaster.


Or a big pan style.





Wouldn't some of the smaller gas roasters work off 10A to power the fans / drum ?