Buckeye coffee roasters

[Joe]

Don't forget adventures with coffee. I'm not a fan of the Chinese roasters and I'm definitely not a fan of Mill City (mainly its main people) so if this turns into a promotion in any way for spamming histrionic Steve and his buddies this thread will go "poof". Not that you are doing that Hank but just a warning on where i stand with those clowns. Buckeye and AWC are cool with me as they never threw rocks at us.

[hankua]

Joe, I'm not a Mill City fanboy either, just ask Steve. LOL

Not sure who AWC is, the roaster looks like a DY. (Which I have the PDF with pricing from 2016)
And have messaged with them concerning the sale last year. There is a YouTube video from an owner from NZ pointing out some of the minor flaws he had to correct, no problem if your handy or have friends with a lathe.

One of my issue with Chinese coffee roasters has do with politics and trade policy. Other thing are some design flaws and mistakes that can ship uncorrected.

My connections are in Taiwan, specifically with the Yang-Chia machines manufactured in Taichung. I'm on good terms with the Dealer in Taipei, and can help any member who might want to spend more money on a quality built roaster from a reputable builder/dealer. It would need to be self imported.

There's another Taiwan brand machine that's considerably more expensive than Yang-Chia; Kapok in Kaohsiung. One of our members has the 500g machine; self imported.

Circling back to the North, that's what everything else in it's price range gets compared to.

[kaotep]

The case with Chinese roasters is basically "you get what you pay for". There are some products out there that are good but you'd have to sniff them out from the thousands of offerings there. Santoker is a pretty good roaster for it's price.

+1 on the Yang-Chia. A roaster friend on another island, has two of those and swears by it. Good value for it's price.

I have a chinese made roaster that looks like a clone of a proaster. It's not the best but I have learned to live around it's quirks.

[hankua]

Buckeye's Oro also looks like a clone of a Proaster, and he's selling Santoker as well. The other Chinese roaster I'd like to see is the HB; think Crop to Cup is re-branding them, just a guess. The guys behind HB are coffee roasters themselves; a big plus.

The guy in Chicago shopped around and found a FF who picked up the machine at the factory and delivered it to his home; and handled all the paperwork. I used a FF (freight forwarder) and a local customs broker who treated me right. She also explained how it all takes place, de-mystified the process. They didn't tell me about every charge, like the customs warehouse charge for instance; there's some "nickel and dime" stuff that occurs.

Chicago guy saved around $1500 overall on the roaster, haven't heard back on how it's working out however.

[Ascholten]

That is another advantage possibly for going through a local person, if they get say 10 of the things, the price per piece to ship my be a lot cheaper than  just doing one.  It's like when shipping bags of coffee, it goes in stages sort of, it's all by pallet size / height.

Aaron

[peter]

That is another advantage possibly for going through a local person, if they get say 10 of the things, the price per piece to ship my be a lot cheaper than  just doing one.  It's like when shipping bags of coffee, it goes in stages sort of, it's all by pallet size / height.

Aaron

Not only that, if the manufacturer (wherever it is) knows the state-side reseller is going to continue placing orders, chances are the machines will be built correctly.

[Joe]

The case with Chinese roasters is basically "you get what you pay for". There are some products out there that are good but you'd have to sniff them out from the thousands of offerings there. Santoker is a pretty good roaster for it's price.

+1 on the Yang-Chia. A roaster friend on another island, has two of those and swears by it. Good value for it's price.

I have a chinese made roaster that looks like a clone of a proaster. It's not the best but I have learned to live around it's quirks.

Yes i agree to a point and I would suspect in roasters more so. However in my anacdotal evidence in my own purchases. You don't always get what you pay for, and sometimes you can pay a premium and get crap, sometimes you pay way less and get an exceptional knock off. All the more reason that if i was looking to save money which is the whole point of buying a chinese roaster then i wouldn't buy from a US seller. If i was looking to get a good product for a good price i would go Taiwan roasters or Turkey etc... and if i was opening a shop i wouldn't look to anything that has excessive risks..I would buy a used well known roaster.

1. Saving money buying chinese- buy from china direct.
2. Good product good price- Taiwan, turkey,etc.
3. Starting a business- buy Ambex, probat, etc...

[Joe]

I noticed that the available logo for this machine (which looks almost identical to the north to me) shows Buckeye and Arizona roasters (1 in the same?)

Buckeye roaster?

[Joe]

Buckeye's Oro also looks like a clone of a Proaster, and he's selling Santoker as well. The other Chinese roaster I'd like to see is the HB; think Crop to Cup is re-branding them, just a guess. The guys behind HB are coffee roasters themselves; a big plus.

Is that the arc roaster? That thing looks pretty spiffy. Small footprint 800g

[hankua]

Yeah I think the Arc is they're version of the HB-M3. Set up for 110v and with some other unnamed changes. Comparing the photos is how I've come to that conclusion. Of course a phone call would clear that up, hopefully.

I went over my old emails and found some info about Buckeye. Chicago guy says he was importing Dongyi and Blueking; Blueking is also the 300g. Bideli/Dalian Amazon looks to be the maker of the "Oro". The one that looks like the the North 1K is also made by Dongyi and Blueking, and possibly others. Knock-off's of the knock-off's? Typical Chinese rip off trade practice, and they have no qualms doing it to themselves. (Sorry about the political diversion)

Was also told Randy was "transparent" about the machines; which I interpreted to mean disclosing who his China suppliers are. Another thing you can research is thru a shipping database such as panjiva or similar, which can show import shipments to the US.

One thing the OP needs to be aware of, some of the 1K Chinese roasters are downsized 2k's. You get an added benefit here, so it's wise to compare drum thickness and dimensions (diameter x length). The reverse of that is roasting 200 or 300 grams, you're using ET as the BT probe probable is above the bean mass.

[kaotep]

Right. If you're getting a chinese made roaster from a US seller, there's virtually no savings to be made. The challenge there though is finding where to buy it in China.

I just checked and yes the Oro is the same roaster that I have. I just recently discovered that it had a double walled drum so you really need to preheat it much longer. I've always wondered why I never had any tipping issues whatsoever.


cheers!

Joseph

[donnie cole]

Right. If you're getting a chinese made roaster from a US seller, there's virtually no savings to be made. The challenge there though is finding where to buy it in China.

I just checked and yes the Oro is the same roaster that I have. I just recently discovered that it had a double walled drum so you really need to preheat it much longer. I've always wondered why I never had any tipping issues whatsoever.


cheers!

Joseph

Joseph, What are the pros and cons of your roaster? is it well built? How long have you had it?

Thanks
Donnie

[donnie cole]

Yeah I think the Arc is they're version of the HB-M3. Set up for 110v and with some other unnamed changes. Comparing the photos is how I've come to that conclusion. Of course a phone call would clear that up, hopefully.

I went over my old emails and found some info about Buckeye. Chicago guy says he was importing Dongyi and Blueking; Blueking is also the 300g. Bideli/Dalian Amazon looks to be the maker of the "Oro". The one that looks like the the North 1K is also made by Dongyi and Blueking, and possibly others. Knock-off's of the knock-off's? Typical Chinese rip off trade practice, and they have no qualms doing it to themselves. (Sorry about the political diversion)

Was also told Randy was "transparent" about the machines; which I interpreted to mean disclosing who his China suppliers are. Another thing you can research is thru a shipping database such as panjiva or similar, which can show import shipments to the US.

One thing the OP needs to be aware of, some of the 1K Chinese roasters are downsized 2k's. You get an added benefit here, so it's wise to compare drum thickness and dimensions (diameter x length). The reverse of that is roasting 200 or 300 grams, you're using ET as the BT probe probable is above the bean mass.

Randy claims the Oro 2.5 can roast batches from 4oz. to 3lbs. I'll have to question him on whether the BT probe is in the mass on the small batch.  The Oro actually says Bideli right on the side.

Randy him self has a lot positive feed back for his customer service. sounds like he backs what he is selling.

I'm not in a hurry so I'm keeping my option  open. Also browsing for used as well.

I appreciate all the input.

Donnie

[kaotep]

Hi Donnie,

I have the Bideli (Oro) 2kg. Which is the 2.5k. It can roast as little as 500g to as much as 2.4kg green beans but it's a matter of knowing your roaster. I can only roast the 500g sample roasts at the first roast but I can no longer do that later on as the drum already has that much potential energy. Same goes for the 2.4kg load, you can only do it as one of the last roasts for the day.

Pros:
Double walled drum - I rarely get any tipping or scorched issues with it. 
Airflow control - great air control
BT - it automatically shuts off gas flow when it reaches the temp limit and switches it back on when it starts going 10deg below the limit (e.g. limit is 250C, restarts when it goes below 240C)
Looks - really looks good especially in rose gold color

Cons:
Chaff Cyclone - badly designed joint from the cone to the collection box as dust constantly spews out of it and the drawer has no lock.
Double walled drum - takes a while for the drum to get really heated up.
Burner - seems a bit underpowered but I realized that the problem really was that I had a double walled drum. It wasn't ramping up as much as I wanted to.
Gas control valve - the valve they used is a bit weird! but I've learned to live with it. If i used a standard LPG regulator, it would only go up to 1.2kPa. i had to use a variable regulator to make it go higher.
ET probe - i would have wanted it to be inside the drum open space, not at the back of the drum where the air is flowing through.
Beans release - Really bad design. Caused many accidental releases.