My Ambex 5kg Baby Has Landed

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My Ambex 5kg Baby Has Landed

Postby Steve » Tue Sep 16, 2003 10:14 pm

My ambex 5kg baby has arrived on these fine shores from the states (did you bring it with you eward?) I cant tell you how excited I am. I hopeing to pick it up on Friday but I'm not holding my breath.

This means im moving into the more serious market of being able to roast 21 kg an hour (in your face CM :) ).

Should be in by the following week so then its over to you guys to come up and play with my new toy :) .

I'll keep the saga going here
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Postby Steve » Fri Sep 19, 2003 8:33 am

Well it was all to good to be true ! Customs have decided to take a look at the roaster as I dont have a VAT number they think its dodgey :( This means its going to be delayed. Looks like I wont get my mits on it till wednesday thurdsday at the earliest.

Life is never simple
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Oh dear

Postby phil » Fri Sep 19, 2003 10:01 am

They are sods aren't they? Don't get me started on (the subject of) Customs & Excise .... they screwed me over big time a few years back.
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Postby Steve » Tue Sep 23, 2003 9:58 pm

its through its available. I've booked the van and im off to liverpool to fetch it in the morning. I'll keep you up to date with developments.
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Postby phil » Tue Sep 23, 2003 10:04 pm

Woo hoo!
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C'mon Mate

Postby phil » Wed Sep 24, 2003 9:04 pm

Have you got Baby? Have you?

(sorry my keyboard is starting to stick with my slavering at the thought of your luvverly 5kg roaster)

You lucky soul you
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Postby Steve » Thu Sep 25, 2003 5:04 am

ITS HERE :)

Its big heavy and still in the crate but its here. I plan to take it out tonight, and my Farther in Law is going to take some digital pics of it in its various states of being in a crate. So I'll post them up as soon as I have time.

Christmas Day !
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Postby DrZeus » Thu Sep 25, 2003 10:02 pm

So, you bought an Ambex from the U.S.? May I ask why a roaster from the States, when there are European models available for less money (not to mention the service contracts).

I'm curious, since I'm from Seattle (recently moved to Portugal) and will be starting a little coffee-roasting shop soon. We did all the homework, and decided to go the gas grill drum roaster route (up to 5lbs for under $700). No problem for me, since the coffee will taste just as good. :)
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Postby Steve » Fri Sep 26, 2003 6:40 am

Its as easy as go with what you know is good. I've got a 5lb ambex already and really like what the machine does. The only european roasters I found where more expensive and didnt appear to be as good. Which were you talking about, the price sounds super.

I've took some pictures of the roaster being born (the happy dad that I am). I have found out shes a girl ( like here little sister bettsy). Both farhter and baby are doing well. I'll post the url up later when I've uploaded it.
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Postby Steve » Mon Sep 29, 2003 8:37 pm

The page is up with the birth of the roaster. Take a look at ithere

Now the dust has settled on the roaster got to say I'm not 100% happy with it. I received no instructions or maintenance papers. The stack doesnt have an attachment (the 2kg does) and on the door type hatch there is a little rust. Also they didn't include a gas pipe or regulator (£8.00 to buy but it's the principle).

The stack guy has quoted me even more than the last one that cost me appendages, (who wants to make money anway ;) )

But overall I'm still pleased. Dr Zeus let me know that supplier you talked about I'd like to take a look

Cheers
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Postby phil » Mon Sep 29, 2003 11:12 pm

Shabby customer service from Ambex.

So how much would a Probat L5 have cost in comparison do you know?

And where the devil is the old Probat web site - the Probat-Burns jobbie seems to be US oriented? :x
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Postby Steve » Tue Sep 30, 2003 5:25 am

The probat was around £1000 on top of the Ambex so it was an easy choice. Also I was more than happy with the ym2 from them so thought it would be the better option. Oh well its still a cool machine, its took the gloss off a little
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Postby DrZeus » Wed Oct 01, 2003 8:21 am

Eeffoc wrote:The page is up with the birth of the roaster. Take a look at ithere
But overall I'm still pleased. Dr Zeus let me know that supplier you talked about I'd like to take a look


Sorry, I haven't been checking the forums regularly. :oops: The only supplier I've been in touch with is Beira Douro Cafes in Portugal (www.BeiraDouro-cafes.com). They said they've never supplied green to others, but can't see why they wouldn't do it. We're going to visiting them in the next couple of weeks (it's quite a ways up North from here) and check out their roasting operation.

Still...looking for more suppliers. Perhaps Spain? Is it too difficult to find a green supplier as good as Sweet Maria's that can get me fairly-traded coffee :?:
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Iberia

Postby phil » Wed Oct 01, 2003 10:27 am

Dunno, how do the Spanish & Portugese generally rate issues like fair trade & organic produce? North Americans & Northern Europeans are keen on such things (well some of them are :( ), but I'm not clear where the rest of Europe stands on this sort of thing.

Is buying locally an important part of how you want to run your business? I'm just a bit surprised that the shipping costs are such a major issue (if that's it) - but what do I know? I repeat that someone like Mercanta does the sort of stuff you want, shipped from the UK though.

Observation - buying really fancy stuff from Sweet Maria's is actually reasonably cost effective if you ship surface rate (I was thinking Tom's 20lb bags). At least it is to the UK. Our sometime member Nass found it was even cheaper to ship his stuff to France :x - maybe it is to Portugal as well?
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Re: Iberia

Postby DrZeus » Wed Oct 01, 2003 10:45 am

phil wrote:Dunno, how do the Spanish & Portugese generally rate issues like fair trade & organic produce? North Americans & Northern Europeans are keen on such things (well some of them are :( ), but I'm not clear where the rest of Europe stands on this sort of thing.


I don't know about the Spanish, but the younger generations of Portuguese are becoming more keen to it. I've seen organic and fair trade items available at various shops around Faro. But it's nothing like what I'm used to (roasters who sell nothing but triple-certified beans).

phil wrote:Is buying locally an important part of how you want to run your business? I'm just a bit surprised that the shipping costs are such a major issue (if that's it) - but what do I know? I repeat that someone like Mercanta does the sort of stuff you want, shipped from the UK though.


I readily admit that I'm very new to this part of the business. I've roasted for a couple of years, but I've always gotten my green from local shops. Now that I'm here, it's a different story. One thing to keep in mind is that I'm not going to be roasting as a hobby anymore -- so buying green at retail may be inexpensive for a hobbiest (and far less than roasted coffee), but it isn't as good as it could be for a business. I'm looking for a supplier that sells to roasters, and so sells for substantially less than what they'd sell it at retail. Shipping costs are always a factor to consider, since keeping costs down are important, but even more than are the customs fees and taxes.

Perhaps I'm completely off-base in all this...would it just as easy to get it from the UK as it would from somebody closer to me? I suppose I was thinking it wouldn't.
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