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Solar Roast Coffee was started in 2004 by brothers Michael and David Hartkop. At the time, Michael was an apprenticed coffee roastmaster, and David was a special effects artist with an interest in alternative energy. So that they could move out of their parents' house in Oregon, they decided to combine their talents and go into business together!
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Michael and David Hartkop, Solar Roast Coffee
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They constructed their first solar coffee roaster from an old satellite dish in their backyard. It used 100 plastic mirrors to focus sunlight to create heat, and a broccoli strainer, which served as the roasting drum. Dubbed the Helios 1, the roaster could produce one pound of coffee at a time. When Michael and David tried the coffee they had made, the realized that it was not only excellent in flavor, but also the most eco-friendly coffee ever created! Michael and David went online in the summer of 2004 with their website SOLARROAST.COM and were in business!
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