Thanks for all the great advice. We will be starting very small and probably investing quite a bit to start up - not trying to do this on the cheap at all. Used machines and a large learning curve to start. Like any business it's a risk and that's all being figured out by our go-to social enterprise...

I'm also curious if anyone has experience with roaster maintenance costs and gas costs. Assuming roasting 20lbs per day 5 days per week on a roaster that can do 3 - 5 lbs per session

Heckie, thanks very much for your response. Yes, we should be selling predominantly online. Ads will be bought for a couple of big magazines and probably for some online venues like HB and maybe CG. We will aim for high end product marketed to espresso nuts (like us). We may market local but there a...

Jim, I've been passionate about coffee for nearly 10 years. I have been home roasting for 3-4 years and creating blends. I've had several espresso machines including a plumbed-in setup with filters. I give out my roasted coffee to friends for free and usually have had periods of high demand. Lately ...

Thanks for responses, everyone. As far as I know there is no plan to open a shop to serve drinks. We may wind up doing a very small espresso service in the large building we rent space from. There are at least 30 other businesses and no place to get good coffee. I do know sales can vary

Hopefully it's alright to ask this here... I've done lots of research on roasting, have done 4 years of home roasting and blending, and now have an opportunity to help start up a new roasting company. I've been asked to do some homework and I've found much of the information I need except a couple o...

When my order went from having an 8 week lead time to almost 16 weeks I expected there to be some sort of discount or consolation, but there was none...and I did ask. I met a concrete wall that told me there were no discounts but I could cancel if I wanted to do so. I don't recall there being

Zoomchick, The pressurestat is at the rear of the machine. There is a little yellow dot on top, if you remove that you will see a metal adjustment piece like a screw head. Use a wide flat screwdriver to turn it. There is a marking right there that shows which direction to turn to go up or down. You ...

Thanks, Linny. If anyone's steam tip does not have an o-ring between it and the steam wand you may have some steam squirting through since it won't be an air-tight seal. If your machine did not come with an o-ring for the steam wand like there is on the hot water tap then I suggest you ask Salvatore...

I have gone through several cycles of using the machine since installing the new gasket. It holds in place like it should. It is 73x57, which is listed as an e-61 gasket available for about 6 bucks on both chriscoffee and espressoparts.com. Another "fix" I have found is for the drippy reservoir fitt...