Fresh From The Roaster….

Pressure Washers Are Your Friends!

Yesterday was the task of power washing the Universal (green bean) loader. Impressive! The 2500psi of PURE POWER. Or “More Power” in Tim the Tool man fashion! Arrrrh! Arrrrr! r! Worst part about it was I had no sidekick named Al.

Maybe I should have given a name to it, like “Crud Cutter 2000″. Even though the Crud Cutter 2000 worked like a charm, I still was drench like I had fallen over Niagara Falls. With most of the gunk now off the machine, it was time to disassemble the plastic buckets from the belt.

Another great tools for guys, the “Air Ratchet” from MAC Tools. I haven’t used it in over tens years. Last time was 1994 doing factory repairs on driving school race cars (All from Crash damage). It still worked like a champ and helped remove the bolts holding the plastic buckets with ease.

Today I will start to soak these buckets and give them a final cleaning. Next week I will attach them to the new conveyor belt and slowly start reassembling the loader.

I’ve been drinking our Organic Guatemala Huehuetenango. It is a real treat. Some nice dark chocolate notes with a bright, but not too powerful touch of acidity.

I’ve also been cupping and ordering in our new selected coffees. I have a few pallets coming in tomorrow, and another next week.

With the fall cool weather starting to kick, the roaster has been getting a workout. It has to earn its keep and keep our doors open!

Next we’ll be giving our packaging machine some due work. Folks are starting to look at the fundraising needs for the fall. We aim to meet the need there too. If you know a school, church or any other group who needs to raise money send them our way.

Now is also the time to start planning the company gift giving needs for the holidays. How many weeks is it? September is just about over.

Today I took the 3 Phase Motor off the head of the elevator. Boy what a work out. The input shaft was rusted just enough to make the separation of motor shaft from gearbox assembly a chore!

Now the question is the integrity of the gear box. The seal seem to leak, but is that because I had tilted it to where the level of gear oil makes it drip? Or should these seals be leak tight? Guess I’ll have to call Universal Industries about it.

When I had talked with them before, the gearbox assembly was $872 on a B-3 Model. The motor was extra. Wonder what the C-3 model will cost. Yikes!

Working hard and hardly working.
Yesterday I decided to start the dismattling of the Universal Elevator. This will be used to load green coffee beans into our roasters.

It was hard work breaking it down into small peices. The hardly working part was discovering that it will need a new 30 ft. loading belt. It was torn almost all the way across the belt. It was hanging on by a couple of threads. Good thing I decided to go crazy and clean every part.

Next I will remove the motor assembly and decided how I want drive it. Currently it is 3 phase 480 Volt motor, not sure what Voltage or Phase electrical motor I want to use.

Maybe next week I’ll rent a power washer and blast it clean.

Wow! Here I am getting up to speed like Duck Dodgers in the 21st and a 1/2 century!

We’ve opted to start using blogger.com for a few reasons.
1. easier to update – don’t have to keep re-publishing our website!
2. better chance of you finding us online.

That’s it for the moment.

We’ll keep you posted!

Archived Blogs From Stanton Coffee

8.28.2006.
We’ve been cupping more coffees and gearing up for the Holiday seasons. We are looking for a great Kona coffee to feature during this time. Yep, Christmas is 17 weeks away!
Schools back in session! We are working with schools helping them with fundraisers for the fall. If you know a school function in need of a boost, give us a call and we can help you raise that desired funding. Everyone enjoys gourmet coffee verses a candle, candy bar and cards etc..
8.4.2006.
We’ve been held up with a few plumbing issues installing our cabinets. I think it should be completed at the end of next week. Typical construction delays, glad we planned accordingly.
We acquired a used La Marzocco Linea 2 group machine for the training lab and will start rebuilding it. I’m thinking of making it PID controlled on the espresso boiler. There are two boilers in this unit. One for steam, the other for espresso extraction. First we’ll do all the repairs before we play Mad Scientist!
7.28.2006.
Yesterday I went to Henderson, Kentucky to a Van Houtte roasting plant that was being dismantled. I was there to purchase a used Universal Elevator I plan to use as a green coffee loader for our roasters. Wow, what a long drive. It was 250 miles one-way and five hours to get there. So I was driving a good percentage of the day, now I know why they want the I-69 freeway to get to Evansville.
While there I was amazed at what was or use to be a roasting facility that roasted 20 million pounds of coffee per year. Still in place were (3) four bag Jabez-Burns roasters. There is still one for sale if anyone is interested. Our next roaster will be a one bag unit or I would have considered the offer.
This facility was originally Millstone, then purchased by Proctor and Gamble then Millstone operations were moved to Ohio. After that Van Houtte purchased and operated until last year. This facility was built around 1992 and now being liquidated. I couldn’t believe that this is happening, but a sign of the times. Van Houtte is regrouping and improving their facilities in Canada. Even though there wasn’t much to look at there, I could tell it was a very impressive operation.
Now I need to get the time to disassemble the bucket elevator and do a complete cleaning and power wash the snot out of it! This will really help us as we are expanding for the future.
7.23.2006.
Were half way done building our training room. Check out the progress. We hope to have this finished off by the second week in August. JNT did an excellent job on these beautiful cabinets. Can’t wait till we get the espresso machine installed.
7.14.2006.
Our online store is now up and running. We should be finished with our tea section by Monday. Yeah! Its been a long and tedious process. We decided to go the safest and simplest system which was Americart. That’s was what we were using before, and never had any issues. We liked a lot of the newer systems out there. The fact that we never have to store any of the customers information on our servers was the deciding factor. In this day of online fraud, we are sure our customers appreciate this.
7.6.2006.
A Note From Mary:Greetings from Dublin! It is a fabulous city filled with friendly people. I don’t know if I naturally look confused but it seemed every time I stopped on the street to open a map someone stopped to help me with directions!
The city is filled with a bunch of great coffee shops – and of course the tea was plentiful. I started each day at my Bed and Breakfast with a stout cup black tea and ended it with a very smooth chamomile. I added a bit of milk and felt like a local. During the day I made a point of stopping by and checking out the local coffee shops – Panini’s are definitely the sandwich to enjoy in Ireland. I am looking forward to trying Tim’s version when I get a chance. I also had mocha or two—maybe three. It was definitely a treat. The espresso was good but I do admit to being spoiled by Tim. I enjoy his Café Vera. Luckily he makes sure I don’t run out of it here. I had the chance to visit Bewley’s Oriental Café, one of the oldest coffee shops in Dublin. It has been around for over 150 years. Lot’s of atmosphere and a well used Probat roaster on the first floor.
I did visit the Guinness Brewery. I was surprised to discover I enjoy the Guinness almost as much the coffee!
7.5.2006.
Got an email from Mary today. Apparently on her tour of Dublin, Ireland she made an excursion from her tea shopping. Can you say Guinness? She is supposed to send some pictures of visiting the oldest coffee shop in Ireland. We’ll keep you posted.
6.30.2006.
The process to get our website shopping cart up and running has been tough. There are so many choices and technology is changing so fast, Arrg! We’re getting there and will keep you posted!
6.22.2006
I was reminded to add a link to our Office Coffee Program. Couldn’t believe I forgot that one!
Who says summer is our slow time? I’ve burned out a sample roaster – now I’m sourcing a new more robust one! Looking to spec out a new Universal green been loader and plan for the future expansion of another coffee roaster.
All this talk about the High price paid for the Panama La Esmeralda. Hey its like fine wine. If you enjoy it, its worth it! Also its very limited. Maybe Mary has been working to get a me pound of green beans for Christmas! Hint Hint!
6.8.2006
We visited our friends at Deanos Vino last night. We tasted a sampling of the Good Juice! Dean gave us a plug and speech for supporting the Independent. “Chains can survive without your business. We can not!” How true.
If your in the Fountain Square or Massachusetts Avenue area, stop in. Tell them Stanton’s sent you!
Bj set up a grinder for single origin (S.O.) espresso on the bar at our retail location. We had done some Daterra Sweet Yellow – “Can you say smoooooth!” Also did a Guatemala – really awesome add for the Frappe drinks! We did it with the Java Chip Frappe. I think I’ll try it in the Peanut Butter Chocolate Frappe today. It is Summer, and our Frappes rule!
We also added a Panini Grill to the store. We have been featuring Turkey Panini’s. My favorite is the Turkey Basil Pesto. Man, its making me hungry writing about it. Can’t wait till we add the Ham.
5.25.2006
Reason number #122. Why you should never come up with your own marketing slogan: “Coffee, Booze & Sex – Nothing Else Matters.” Sounded really funny – thought about a t-shirt. Then I remember what happened to the “Bad Ass Coffee” locally
Also added a Links Page.
5.23.2006
Bj recommended that we start a Flickr account. Now folks can see us in action at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stantoncoffee/
5.18.2006
Just received our Daterra coffees. I’m chomping at the bit to brew up some Sweeeeeeet Yellow. Who knew a Brazil could have this much flavor. Light, sweet and satisfying. 100% Yellow Bourbon coffee.
5.15.2006 Just completed cupping some Guatemalan coffees. In the process we had an Ugg! factor pop up. It made Bj Davis cringe. She said from the aromatics of breaking the crust – she knew!
With that past us we did find a pleasant Huehuetenago – Huixoc. Organic and Fair Trade to boot! Nice fruity notes, sweet and a smooth acidic fade to the finish. Has a light milk chocolate mouth feel – yummy! This one will definitely be added to our inventory.