Now that I am blogging again I though I should post a few pictures of our trip to see Willie of Willie's Cacao - it was some months ago but I never got around to posting the photos.  Steve Leighton from Has Bean Coffee and I spent a day with Willie and his family.  To our surprise when we arrived there was a container full of cacao beans that had arrived late.  Steve and I looked at each other and we figure we may as well get stuck into it and started helping to unload - 16 tons worth of unloading - no, no machines. 

The main idea however was to take our coffee and roast it at Willie's old Victor Gruber ball roaster - why?  Just for the fun of it.  It was great to see Steve and Willie working together around the 100+ year old ball roaster.

Here are some photos of the day:  

 Steve working hard unloading the cacao.  Yes, of course, taking pictures is a good excuse for me to take a break.

Checking the progress of the coffee.  This machine is over 100 years old and mostly used for cacao roasting so it was a bit tricky to get it right. 

 

Steve and Willie at work.