02/19/2006

by anna sowa  / associated press

two months ago, medford resident michael hartkop and his brother, david, packed some belongings and a 12-foot solar coffee roaster covered with 138 mirrors into their honda civic station wagon.

the machine was the brothers' first attempt at building their own solar-powered coffee roaster, which they were bringing to their new home in bend. they hoped the sunny climate could help expand their small business, solar roast, into a successful producer of organic coffee.

once in bend, the hartkops set up their solar roaster on the front lawn of a business called the solar store, and began roasting and selling their solar roast coffee.

michael hartkop roasts seven different blends in pound, half-pound and quarter-pound bags for $12 to $14 per pound.

"we're more expensive than starbucks or another local roaster because we're completely a niche market," hartkop said of his organic, fair trade coffee. "we're now completely in the red (operationally) and i figure we'll be in the red another year or two before coming into the black."

while he's only in his second year of business, hartkop, 24, said his customer base is expanding slowly and steadily. he ships coffee beans throughout the northwest and beyond, as far as new york city.

during the sunniest seasons, hartkop sells 40 to 50 pounds of coffee beans per month, but even then he has trouble keeping up with demand because of the roaster's limitations.

other times, weather is the limiting factor.

"in the winter, we can't fill all orders because we have to wait for the sun to come out, which prompted us to move to bend from southern oregon," he said.

los angeles resident felicia flick has been a solar roast customer since its start but admits buying the coffee can be difficult in winter.

"i haven't been able to get many (coffee bags)," flick said. "but i would recommend it to anybody. his coffee is (my) favorite coffee."

other local roasters applaud hartkop's ingenuity.

strictly organic coffee co. owner rhonda ealy of bend roasts her own coffee but said hartkop may be on to something.

"i think it's a great product," ealy said. "it's something we would be interested in in the future. but right now, his method of roasting just takes too long."

drum roasters, like hartkop's, take 20 minutes to roast coffee, creating rich and developed flavors, ealy said. but 20 minutes is too long to produce a large amount of coffee, so she uses air roasters that take eight minutes.

hartkop's current roaster is an evolution from the satellite-dish roaster the brothers first built in their medford backyard in july 2004.

"we had a 10-foot satellite dish just sitting in our backyard and we were trying to think of what to do with ourselves that summer," hartkop said. "my brother is an inventor and builder and i have always wanted to go into coffee, so we put our minds to trying to build our own coffee roaster."

the brothers disassembled the satellite dish and attached 122 mirrors to its curved surface. then they figured out how to capture the sunlight using a solar concentrator, which connects to the roaster.

two years later, the solar machine is a larger, more rectangular version of its former self.

the solar-powered roaster that now sits in the front yard of the solar store is a 12-foot-tall machine covered in glittering mirrors and foil. the machine can swivel 360 degrees, following the sun.

"it reflects about 140 square feet of focused light onto the drum roaster," hartkop said. "the external plate heats up to 1,200 degrees, which radiates heat to the inside of the oven."

the machine roasts five pounds of coffee beans at once. hartkop says he will soon build a new roaster that can hold 10 pounds of beans.

hartkop's goals include selling his coffee beans to local cafes and coffee shops and maybe opening his own cafe. he believes central oregon is perfect for his environmentally friendly invention.

the solar store owner michael ridden agrees.

"central oregonians like something different," ridden said, adding that having hartkop's products in his store is good for business. "we just try to turn people on to how much energy there is in the sun. there are so many things you can do with that energy."

hartkop hopes his solar roaster will inspire other green-energy enthusiasts to invent solar-powered machines.

"it shows what people can do with alternative energy," he said. "it sparks the imagination and sparks people's ideas. if you can roast coffee with the sun, what else can you do?"

hartkop's roaster can fire bricks and purify water, he said, but its primary use is for coffee beans.

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on the net:

solar roast: http://www.solarroast.com
the solar store: http://www.thesolarstore.com