Appliance of the Week ~ Roasting Beans & a GIVEAWAY!

This was a most happy Christmas surprise from my parents.  Along with a coffee roaster, we received a cute little burlap sack filled with green Sumatra beans.  My new little machine makes roasting coffee beans a breeze.  There is simply no reason for me to buy pre-roasted beans now; once you go green, you'll never go back.  What a difference it makes.  I was seriously surprised at the noticeably superior taste freshly roasted beans yield.  Besides amazingly tasting coffee, why on earth would you want to go through the hassle of roasting your own beans, you ask?  Well, I will tell you, bullet point-style:

*  The pre-roasted coffee you buy at stores was roasted who-knows-when, and once the beans are roasted, they begin to lose their flavor in three days.

*  Green coffee beans stay fresh for 2 years.  Buy in bulk for great savings and wonderfully fresh coffee every day by roasting when-needed.  I just ordered a 25-pound sack of organic, fair trade green beans that ended up costing $4.78 a pound, including shipping and tax!  Want to know how much that same pound of coffee costs to buy, pre-roasted at a store? $11.25 Yikes!

*  You can customize your roast; from light cinnamon to French to espresso.

*  Get creative.  Become the ultimate coffee snob, er, connoisseur and experiment blending different beans and roasts.

But guess what?  You don't need to own a roaster to roast your own beans.  If you have a skillet, an air popcorn popper, or an oven, you're equipped!  Do you want to learn how?  Or better yet, do you want to learn how and win a burlap sack filled with 1 pound of Colombian Supremo green beans?  I thought so.  One of my new favorite companies, U-Roast-Em, has very kindly offered to sponsor a giveaway here at Riddlelove!  Win one of their awesome starter kits (scroll a little over halfway down to check it out) by entering below.  Here we go!

*This giveaway is for US residents only.  Sorry, international friends.*

This giveaway begins Wednesday, February 10, 2010 at 8:00am PST and ends Wednesday, February 17, 2010 at 4:00pm PST.

HOW TO ENTER:

1.  Sign up for U-Roast-Em's monthly newsletter (scroll all the way down for the link) & post a comment here saying you did so. 
2.  Tweeting about this giveaway gives you a second entry, just leave your tweet link in a separate comment. *note* Although you are of course welcome to tweet about this more than once :), only one entry for tweeting, please.
3. Post a Facebook link to this giveaway.  Leave a link to your post in a separate comment.

4.  Blog about this giveaway, linking back to riddlelove and U-Roast-Em. Leave a link to your post in a separate comment.

Just so we're clear, 1 comment=1entry.  If you want more than one entry, do more than one thing listed above (up to 4) and leave a comment about each way you entered. (Example: Comment 1: "I blogged about this giveaway."  Now post a different comment: "I posted a link to this giveaway on Facebook." etc.)

I will go to Random.org to pick a winner on February 17th, 2010 at 4PM PST.  I'll post the winning result shortly afterwards that afternoon.  The winner will have 48 hours to contact me.  If I don't hear from him/her by then, I will pick another winner.  Cheers!

~ Take a gander at more Katie's Quick Home Keeping Tips Here. ~