“Chinese Coffee Roasters”

This is another ancient post and many, many things have changed. Since this post we’ve officially partnered with our team in Shenzhen, redesigned all of the roasters, and helped fund the new factory expansion. We are currently producing the only NRTL certified roaster built in Asia and build the most powerful, most sophisticated specialty coffee production platforms ever created.  These old posts are intended to show people who we are and where we came from, but they no longer reflect what we have since grown to become.

Steve

Original post from Spring 2015

We generate a lot of buzz on forums and somebody invariably lumps us in and dismisses us with a “cheap Chinese roasters” type statement. I generally try to control myself enough to not post snarky responses on community forums, but this is my forum. I can be as snarky as I want to be.

Just for the sake of transparency this is the text of a private message I composed in response to a recent attack:

———

I’m a little ticked that you felt the need to trash my company and the products we offer with your “crappy Chinese roaster” and “huge markup” nonsense.

We sell roasters on par with the best you can buy for a fraction of the price. If you want to know how we do it, check out this post: Why Do Commercial Coffee Roasters Cost So Much?

As for my cost basis, I might just as well be a non-profit. I make about $500 per roaster and half of that goes to rent and the other half to payroll and I’ve yet to take a check.***

Fortunately I make a great living as an engineer operating a thriving import/export business in oil field equipment and US manufactured 3D printing process equipment. I’m also a home coffee roaster, have built my own roasters, and have a large and close family in China.

MCR was/is a hobby with all of our coffee lover employees either part time and either semi-retired or in school. -myself included, although I am on call 24/7 for my other businesses anyway and I take MCR calls 7 days a week. 

That’s how much I love coffee.

We’ve shipped about a 120 roasters over the last year and several of those people have already upgraded to larger models. 

If you can find someone that has actually dealt with us or actually used one of our roasters that has anything but good things to report, I’d be astounded. 

To be clear, I don’t blame you for your thinking. The Chinese roaster industry is confusing and yes, you can buy a crappy one pretty easily. There’s somebody producing poor copies of just about everything somewhere in that country and I bought several of them before settling on the North machines. Heck, there’s even a Chinese company copying their design now. It’s strictly a buyer beware type of deal.

Fortunately for my guys, I’m the buyer. I administer the warranty for North America from Minneapolis, inventory a small stock of replacement parts, and remain on call for installation and tech support. I’ve been doing this type of work for over 30 years and not only do I love it, I’m actually pretty good at it.

That’s the real deal. Take a look at the website and see what we offer. It’s all there. If you need to, give me a call. If you really want to, visit the shop.

We’re there every day.

Now, do me a favor and quit breaking my b-lls.

——-

*** For the record, I pay extra for the options of variable drum speed, the installation of 3 logging thermocouples, and an analog ET gauge. I also buy the Phidget we include for data logging from Canada and include it with the roaster at no additional charge. None of this is free. All in, including the extra gas fittings and miscellaneous hardware we include, these upgrades total almost $500 beyond the base price of the roaster.

This is all the stuff I’d want if/when I opened a crate, so I make sure it’s in there for my guys.