After just shy of 300 roast cycles [or 56 pounds of coffee] my Hearthware [Home Innovations] Gourmet roaster has given up the ghost. It would seem that the circuit board is no longer on speaking terms with the heating element. Hearthware responded to my email request for service within 24 hours, and I am told a replacement board is on its way. Meanwhile I’ve been sampling with the FreshRoast again… it *really* does a spiffy job of preserving the bright characteristics of single origin beans like Kenya, and the Central American beans. Still, it has great difficulty pushing dense beans into second crack [after having roasted 80 pounds or more itself] so I’ll be without fresh espresso beans until I get the Gourmet repaired [or until the FreshRoast Plus arrives]. This could be a problem….
